With the 2016 B.C. Summer Games steadily approaching, a group of Saanich middle schoolers are eyeing spots in the track and field events.
Fourteen-year-old Isabel Murphy, a Grade 8 student at Arbutus Global middle school, has been training all season with Pacific Athletics, a challenge she’s enjoyed.
“I always ran track at elementary but I really like the training, [added] competition and challenge of being in a club,” Murphy said.
The B.C. Summer Games are July 21 to 24 in Abbotsford.
Murphy’s focus at the club level is the 800- and 1,200-metre distances but she also raced the 2,000m at the June 2 Lower Island middle school championships, where she won silver, a half second back of Colquitz middle school’s Maddie Pickford.
Pacific Athletics coaches Jenn Erickson and Taylor Chestnut lead the group which has athletes in short and middle distances, as well as jumping and throwing.
“When [Murphy] races it’s the middle distances but when our athletes train they do everything together, they aren’t totally specialized yet,” Erickson said.
Murphy is an ideal student of the sport who works super hard at practice, is quiet, respectful to coaches, and a good supporter of her teammates, said fellow Pacific Athletics coach Laurie Willet.
“Our coaches who work with the athletes are 18-22 years old, some Summer Games attendees themselves in the not too distant past.”
reporter@saanichnews.com