Leah Pells resides beside large, lush Mundy Park and religiously runs through its many twisting trails.
So it was literally a mere hop, skip and jump for her Wednesday to the Coquitlam Sports Hall of Fame awards banquet Wednesday at the nearby Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex.
The distance runner Pells, 46, was among six inductees for 2011 to the Hall, joining another three-time Canadian Olympian Neal Marshall, a speedskater, and former national soccer standout Geoff Aunger in the athlete category.
Also joining this year's Hall class were builders Stan Shillington, for his dedication in lacrosse, and track and field coach Percy Perry, along with the 1972 Centennial Centaurs provincial-champion high school basketball team.
"I'm really honoured," Pells told The Tri-City News. "It's really nice to be recognized by the community I lived and trained in.
"I always appreciated any award or recognition I receive, knowing somebody was nice enough to have thought of me. But for me, it's always really been about the fact I just love to run. All [these accolades] come from doing what I love to do."
Pells competed in three Summer Olympic Games, including finishing an amazing fourth in the women's 1500 metres in 1996 in Atlanta.
As for Marshall, he was the first Canadian speedskater to win a world individual title and won the national all-around crown six times. Aunger played in pro soccer leagues in North America and Britain, and achieved 44 Canadian national team caps.
Perry, who passed away in 2005, was the driving force behind rebuilding the Coquitlam Cheetahs track and field club, while Shillington has been instrumental in turning his journalism training into scripting out Canadian lacrosse history.
