First off, I'd like to publicly thank all of the volunteers that were on hand to help at this year's Bob Vigars Classic. I say it every meet, we can't put on this kind of event without your support, so THANK YOU! I hope the athletes acknowledged your help, too. Secondly, thank you to our sponsors that allowed us to expand on this meet, by offering prize money! KGK Science, Tourism London, REV3K, McKenzie Lake Lawyers and SheffarPotterMuchan. We hope to see you again next year!
What a gorgeous day for a meet. We've had such a rough spring, it sure was nice to finally have our athletes compete in great weather. It's no secret that our facility is old, but athletes from around the region keep coming back, because they perform so well. Maybe we shouldn't bother getting it resurfaced. KIDDING!
Money in the bank. Caroline Ehrhardt wins TJ (13.60m) and Joy Spear Chief-Morris wins 100H (13.22s)
Meet and stadium records drop in multiple events
The best performance of the meet comes from the Open Men's 400m. The top 2 guys went under the existing meet and stadium records! Philip Osei ran a blistering 45.29s to take the win, which is under World Championship standard! Following closely was Speed River teammate, Graeme Thompson with a 45.75. Both were big PB's and Thompson had never broken the 46sec barrier.
The Open Women's 100H (Sponsored by Tourism London) was a great event this year with the top 3 women all going under the existing meet record! Joy Spear Chief-Morris took the win in 13.23s with a new PB, followed by Chantel Ray (13.24s) from USA and Tia Thevenin (13.29s) from Project Athletics. Tayah Desousa of STL broke the U18 Girls 100mH meet record in the heats with a time of 14.37 in the heats.
(R-L) Brittany Crew, Leija Koeman (owner of REV3K), Sarah Mitton, Trinity Tutti. Women's shot put prize winners grab a pic with Leija Koeman, Olympic shot putter and owner of REV3K, who also sponsored the event.
Olympian, Gavin Smellie, set 2 new meet/stadium records this year! In the Open Men's 100m (Sponsored by KGK Science) with a very solid 10.19s. He ran 10.06s in the prelims, but it was slightly wind-aided at +2.3m/s. Just a short time later, he went 20.53s in the 200. Gavin has attended this meet a few times now and great to see him running fast.
Mason Basson of STL set a new meet record in the 800m of 2:03.39. This event is typically run by the younger athletes at this meet, so that's a great performance.
Becky Pieterson took down the Open Women's 1500m meet record, going 4:29.25. An interesting side note here... Emma Tallman rabbited the race for Becky and she was the existing record holder!
Jack Sheffar is the new meet record holder in the Open Men's 1500m (Sponsored by SheffarPotterMuchan), going 3:54.95.
(R-L) Josh Zilles, Jack Sheffar and Marcus Noble. Your prize winners from the Men's 1500m, sponsored by SheffarPotterMuchan
Another event where the top 2 went under the existing meet and stadium records. Caroline Ehrhardt took the win the Open Women's Triple Jump (Sponsored by Tourism London) with a solid jump of 13.60m. Divya Biswal was 2nd with a new PB of 13.44m.
Alexis Brenzil is the new meet/stadium record holder in Open Women's Javelin with a throw of 48.92m.
Grace Tennant of SISU Throws took the win in Open Women's Discus with a new meet record of 49.04m.
Jordana Badley-Castello of SISU Throws set new meet record in Open Women's Hammer Throw with a 57.32m, and the Jr. Women's Hammer Throw meet record went down, as well, to Kristina Tchoumak of Etobicoke TC with a 49.96m.
A new meet and stadium record was set by Deryk Theodore of Edmonton International in the Open Men's Pole Vault with a new mark of 5.41m!
Open Women's Shot Put (Sponsored by REV3K) impressed with the top 3 women going under the existing stadium record! Olympian, Brittany Crew, of SISU Throws took the win with 18.24. She's been writing the Canadian record books this year with a personal best 18.69m. Teammates Sarah Mitton and Trinity Tutti were 2nd and 3rd with throws of 17.36m and 16.04m, respectively. Olympian, Leija Koeman, and owner of REV3K was on site to watch this great competition unfold.
Jared Skeath of SISU Throws set a new meet record in the Open Men's Hammer Throw of 62.72m
NEW MEET RECORDS: 15
NEW STADIUM RECORDS: 7
(R-L) Eli Pawliw, Mark Bujnowski, Dennis Ohene-Adu. Your prize winners from Men's Shot Put, sponsored by KGK Science.
Other notable performances...
Shaina Harrison of Flying Angels ran 11.23 in the prelims of the Open Women's 100m. Unfortunately, it was a little too windy with a +3.9m/s.
Josh Hamilton of Speed River and Khalil Parris of Border City both ran great 400mH and battled it out to the finish going 52.54s/52.67s, respectively.
The top 4 guys in Open Men's Long Jump were over 7m. Arren Young of Phoenix Athletics was 7.49m, Matt MacNeil of Speed River 7.35m, Daniel O'Brien of London Western 7.16m and Michael Miglietta of YUTC was 7.04m. Special shout out to Daniel O'Brien, as that was his first time over 7m and he did it 3 times in the competition!
Zoe Sherar of Speed River was strong in the Open Women's 400m (Sponsored by McKenzie Lake Lawyers) as she took the win in 53.30s
Thanks again to all that attended. We look forward to hosting you again next year!