My First Track Meet

This morning Skip and I ventured westward to attend Scooter's track meet at Etobicoke's Centennial Park. Although Scooter is in Grade 11, this is the first year he has tried out for his school's Track and Field team, so it was the first time I had a good reason to attend an actual track meet. Skip ran track in high school and won a 4 x 100 relay with his brother (and two others) when he was in Grade 11 (which we realized today was 49 years ago !).

We got to the venue a few minutes before the 9:30am start. We watched hurdles and several 800m races. Scooter was competing in the senior men's 800m race which wasn't going to start until a bit later.

It was a cold, overcast and blustery day. Skip and I were fairly well bundled up but I felt sorry for the kids who were competing, many in shorts and tank tops.


Had it been less windy and even a wee bit sunny, we wouldn't have had to be so well bundled up.









Here, Scooter, is relaxing with his teammates before his event was called for first marshalling. The sunglasses were strictly ornamental.


















Before the race, Skip gave Scooter some tips on how to run an 800m race effectively and a brief pep talk.


Scooter seemed genuinely pleased that we made the effort to be there. We didn't see any other parents. I guess someone has to work to keep the economy going.









At about 11am, his heat was called to the starting line. Three or four kids shared pairs of lanes and at 100m, they could all run to the inside lane of the oval. Scooter is 224 in the centre with the enormous red shorts.

And off they went.

Here, Scooter is just completing the first of two laps of the track.
















And before we knew it, it was over. He had a good run for his first time ever competing. Unfortunately, he didn't advance to the finals, nor will he be travelling to London for the Ontario Finals next week.

He was originally set to run the 400m yesterday but decided to stay at school and write his Physics test. Also, the 4 x 100m  event he was training for fell apart when one of the other 3 kids got yanked from the team because he was failing a subject at school.

Back in the fall when Scooter ran cross-country, his plan was to do it again next year, his final year before heading off to university, and also run track the following spring. We'll see if he still plans to do that.

After bidding farewell, Skip and I headed for the nearest Tim Horton's to warm up and have lunch. My coffee has never tasted better.