Bruce Burton
Although not the only local taking part, 14-year-old Abby Martin may be the busiest athlete in the track and field portion of the upcoming Ontario Summer Games, to be held in Mississauga July 22-24.
Martin normally competes as part of the Oakville Track and Field Club Athletiques International, but she won't be wearing the banner of the local club during the Games. Like all the Under-16 athletes selected, she was named to one of four teams making up the athletics competition.
Martin, representing the "White" team, has been slated by the team coaches to contest six individual events, plus a possible two relays, over the three-day event. The other three teams are denoted as "Black", "Red", and "Gray", and attempts were made to make the teams as even as possible by distributing the event talent amongst the four teams, thereby making for better overall competition.
Like the Canada Summer Games (CSG), being held in Niagara Region three weeks later, medals will be presented for each event. Unlike the CSG, where each sport earns points toward a Championship banner, the members of the winning team get a special medal in addition to any individual medals they might have won.
Martin's opening event will be the pentathlon, which is comprised of five elements (80m hurdles, long jump, shot put, high jump, and 800m). In addition to the two relays, on the track, she is also pencilled into the 300m, in which she recently recorded a personal record (P.R.) of 43.31 seconds, and the 800m, with a P.R. of 2:22.83, set the same day as the 300m. In the field, she has the three jumping events beside her name.
Part of her preparation for the Games, in addition to the Queen's Jubilee meet in Hamilton on June 26, where she recorded her 300m and 800m P.R.s, are two Wednesday evening meets in Welland. In the first of these, on July 6, she set P.R.s of 60.73s over 400m and 4.61m in the long jump.
On July 13, in Welland, Abby finished fourth behind two high school seniors and a recent graduate of McMaster University to chop two seconds from her previous best over 800m, recording a new P.R. of 2:20.76
She finished in the same position in the triple jump, where she posted a mark of 9.59m.
The club currently trains Mondays and Wednesdays at Garth Webb S.S. in West Oakville. Anyone interested in joining them is invited to contact them by phone or text at 289-400-8725 or by e-mail at "athletiques2@hotmail.com"
