The NWT Track and Field Championships in Hay River is in the stretch run with just one more day to go before it comes to an end for another year.
Everything got underway beneath a sunny sky and warmth on Wednesday with the long-distance events and some of the field events for the older competitors. The first records of the championships fell on opening day as Amy MacDonald of the Hay River Track Club set the new mark in the women’s 5,000-metre event, winning in a time of 22:27.
The other new benchmarks included Louisa Henry of William McDonald School breaking the record in the 13U girls high jump and Belle Smith of Hay River setting the new distance in the 13U girls triple jump with a leap of 9.35 metres.
The bulk of the events got underway on Thursday with the heats for the sprint races kicking things off and a plethora of field events. One of the more exciting competitions on Thursday afternoon was the 15U boys high jump. The final came down to Garritt Mbimbo of St. Pat’s and Byron O’Brien of Hay River in a straight duel to determine the winner. Mbimbo would miss all three attempts at 1.53 metres to finish second, but O'Brien ended up making clearing the bar to win it all.
After clinching victory, O'Brien had a chance to go for the record as is custom in high jump. For the 15U boys, the mark was at 1.68 metres set by Hay River's Bryce Smith in 2016, meaning the bar was set at 1.69 metres. O'Brien missed all three attempts at the record height, but he asked officials for one more shot just for fun knowing it wouldn't count.
Guess what happened? He beat the mark.
O'Brien said if he's being honest, his ankle wasn't feeling great after winning.
"It kind of gave out after my third jump and when I did the fun one, I could really feel it," he said. "It was still fun being out there and competing against the boys."
He's not upset about it, he added, because it's just one of those things.
"You just have to learn and grow and keep getting better," he said.
In all, a total of 1,039 athletes are at this year’s championships with teams from 12 different communities. William McDonald School has, by far, the largest contingent with 121 athletes.
Thursday’s conditions were less favourable than opening day with clouds, cooler weather and a heavier concentration of forest fire smoke. That smoke led to a postponement of the proceedings at around midday Thursday, which lasted around 20 minutes after officials deemed it acceptable to resume.
“We just took the precautions and we had to stop things for a bit, but we got through it and everything picked right up where they left off,” said JJ Hirst, co-chair of the meet’s steering committee.
Overall, Hirst said he was pleased with the proceedings.
“I’ve always said we have the toughest kids in the world,” he said. “They’ll run through snow, sleet, rain, whatever gets thrown at them. Our volunteers do such a great job and they’re making sure they still have their spot from the year before. They just do an amazing job.”
The overall champions weren't known as of press time. See the next edition of NWT News/North for the results of the closing awards.
