The Coquitlam Cheetahs track and field club lived up to its nickname, speeding to eight titles and 14 medals in total at the provincial event group challenges last weekend.
Nathan George led the way by sprinting to victory in the 200m and 400m Open events.
George, who’s ranked second in Canada in the 400m, outpaced his nearest rival by almost more than four seconds in the event, that was held at MacLeod Park in Langley.
His finishing time of 46.75 seconds was .81 seconds off his personal best that he set at the 2016 Canadian Track and Field championships.
George's accolades come as he wraps up his track season, which included a chance to represent Canada at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Canada's second-ranked 400m runner this year fell short in the mixed 4x400 mixed relay after several other countries performed slightly faster in their trials.
"I was disappointed to miss out on Tokyo this year but it is always exciting to represent the Coquitlam Cheetahs locally," he told the Tri-City News.
"It felt good to achieve a double gold at provincials and hopefully inspire some of the younger and upcoming B.C. athletes as well."
Anthony Amenta also won a pair of gold medals, in the U18 100m and 200m races while Marty Bajarunas won the U18 100m hurdles event and finished second in the U18 high jump.
Delaney Self won the women’s U16 high jump title and finished third in the U16 80m hurdles.
In the distance events, that were held at Centennial Stadium in Victoria, Adam Crespi won the U18 800m and 1500m events.
Other medalists included:
- Makenna Self, silver in the U16 100m
- Joseph Curtis, bronze in the U20 1500m
- Natasha Smigelski, bronze in the Open 400m
- Leipa Bajarunas, bronze in the U18 high jump
The challenges, that also included throwing competitions at Hillside Stadium in Kamloops and combined events in Kelowna, were held instead of the provincial championships, which had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- with a file from Kyle Balzer, Tri-City News
