Airdrie athletes fare well at Edmonton meet
Seventeen athletes with the Airdrie Aces Athletics Club recently returned from the Golden Bear Open Track and Field meet held at the Universiade Pavilion in Edmonton.
Out of those 17 who made took the trip to Western Canada’s biggest indoor open track meet, nine found themselves on the podium, while every single athlete improved their personal best times in at least one event.
“The Golden Bear Open is the largest indoor open track meet in Western Canada, it draws clubs from all over Alberta, some from B.C., Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories and sometimes Montana,” said Jodie Matsuba-Szucs, president of the Airdrie Aces Athletic Club. “It was huge, there was easily a couple thousand people in there, including the athletes.”
Jacob Aulin, who competes in the peewee level for 11-year-old boys, took home a medal in every event he took part in. Teammates Scott Chalupiak, Jalen Greenidge, Paul Riek, Madi Schultz, Jasmine Szucs, Alexander Tyssen and Ryan Zachary each found at least one medal around their necks at the end of the weekend.
Matsuba-Szucs said that a lot of the athletes were nervous about attending the bigger track meets over the course of the winter.
“They had huge butterflies. It’s excitement and nervousness,” said Matsuba-Szucs.
“There is that unknown of how big it is going to be. The kids all had a blast.”
The Airdrie Aces Athletics Club is still in its infancy after being founded in May of last year. It has been focusing on the running side of the events, but entered a majority of its athletes in events they have never tried before.
Despite no experience, Matsuba-Szucs said a lot of the athletes were successful.
“A lot of our athletes never had a chance to do some of these field events,” said Matsuba-Szucs.
“They are all just natural athletes. There is a lot of discovery happening this week.”
Next up for the club is the Jack Simpson Open this weekend, which is the third of four events in the Calgary Indoor Track Racing Series.
For more information about the club, or for a full list of results for Airdrie athletes, visit www.airdrieacesathletics.com
Comments
The Airdrie City View welcomes your opinions and comments. We do not allow personal attacks, offensive language or unsubstantiated allegations. We reserve the right to delete comments deemed inappropriate. We reserve the right to close the comments thread for stories that are deemed especially sensitive. For further information, please contact the editor or publisher.
blog comments powered by Disqus