By Travis Cummings Special to the Eagle About 300 of Alberta’s best cross country running athletes descended upon the Cochrane Agricultural Grounds on Saturday to contest the Athletics Alberta Age Class Provincial Championships. The participants were met with staggering views, a challenging course, and some quality competition. Age ranges of competitors varied from tyke runners (ages 7-8) to masters athletes, where our oldest competitor was 57. It was truly an exceptional event that celebrated the accomplishments of all athletes. We had a National Champion race (Claire Sumner, Physi-Kult) and athletes looking to just finish the races they were entered in. Whatever the individual goals were, many people achieved significant personal accomplishments in a beautiful setting on Saturday. Cochrane’s fledgling track club, Cochrane Endurance Project, had excellent representation. Twenty-one athletes crossed the finish line for the new program and many athletes also brought some serious hardware. The day started with the Cochrane Endurance Project’s Masters women’s team of Amy Swedlo, Shelley Brolsma, Elke Nowicki, Jenny Kennerd, and Pamela Moores contesting the eight-kilometre course. The women won the provincial team title in the Master’s division, a significant accomplishment. It set the tone for the rest of the day and demonstrated great role modeling for our younger athletes. The women on this team are also coaches, parents, teachers, and contributing members of the Cochrane community, their efforts are greatly admired by the other athletes in the Endurance Project. The next race that saw Endurance Project athletes compete in the Pee Wee division, where Aaron Swedlo placed fifteenth. Following Aaron was Raedyn Spademan in Bantam Girls, Raedyn ran a very strong race, finishing ninth place overall. The Cochrane Endurance Project’s second team title came in the Bantam Boys division. Led by a silver medal from Brock Gilbert, the boys team narrowly triumphed over CALTAF Track Club with a score of 17 points to CALTAF’s 20. Brendan Maguire placed fifthh, Liam Keyes placed sixth, Alex Johnson placed fourteenth, and Ciaran Keyes placed eighteenth. Fine run by all these young men. The Endurance Project also won two team silver medals. Our midget girls team, also led by a silver medal performance, this time from Darci Petersen, placed second behind the Edmonton Harriers, with a Harriers score of 17 points to the Cochrane club’s 25. Following Darci was Emily Carvalho in eighth place, Makenna Myatt in tenth place, and Holly Moores in eleventh place. Holly gutted out a fine performance even though she was having a tough day individually. Her contributions to the team were vital for securing their silver medal. Cochrane Endurance Project’s midget boys team also won a silver medal, led by a breakout performance from Logan Tessier, who finished 11th in a very strong field. The boys team scored 31 points to Go Athletics’ 14. Liam McCullough followed Logan in fifteenth, Luca Rott placed nineteenth, and Trenton Spademan finished in twenty fifth. Coach Cummings, Coach Moores, and Coach Swedlo are ecstatic with the results on home soil this weekend. The coaching staff is excited for the future of what will come will this new venture, the next stop will be getting singlets!
