Victoria Track Classic

June 11, 2009

Track Classic - Victoria, BC – June 10, 2009 – The 21st annual Track Classic took place in Victoria, BC at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium. The evening was capped by two main events, the women’s and men’s 1500m Invitational, respectively.

University of Victoria Vike, Geoff Martinson won the men’s race in 3:41.97 with Mexico’s Jose-Juan Esparza close behind in 3:42.14 and Canadian, Daniel Mallie nearly 2 seconds behind Martinson with a 3:43.96 - personal best. Results from the men’s 1500m race are below, full event results are available at www.trackclassic.com.

The sizeable crowd showed enthusiasm for both the men and women’s 1500m invitational races. Canadian, Kendra Schaff brought the crowd to life first with her strong finish achieving a 4:18.61 for the win ahead of fellow Canadians, Ashley Hinther and Jessica Smith who finished an exciting .01 of a second apart from each other in 4:22.67 and 4:22.68 respectively.

A malfunction caused the trackside clock to read 4 seconds fast during the men’s 1500m first lap, which threw off the athletes. Although Martinson is satisfied with the win, he jokingly referenced the clock in a post race interview with Flotrack. Martinson’s personal best of 3:39 was achieved at the 2008 Harry Jerome Track Classic, which takes place again this Sunday, June 14 in Burnaby, BC (suburb of Vancouver)

Canadian record holder, Dylan Armstrong won the shotput event handily, with his best throw of the evening of 20.92m. Armstrong’s lifetime personal best throw came during competition at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he managed a stunning 21.04; he finished 4th throwing within 1cm of bronze.

Armstrong was an international junior hammer thrower who switched to the shotput. When asked why he switched to the shotput he replied, “I just got too big for the hammer.” Dylan weighs in excess of 310 pounds.

Dylan said, “I train 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, everyday.” Interestingly after winning the same event in 2007, Dylan finished his final throw, walked of the field and began practicing technique in an adjacent field, while the rest of the Track Classic continued on behind him.

Gary Reed, who plans to race the 800m event at the Harry Jerome Track Classic took in an under-distance race Wednesday night to work on faster paced running, he finished a close third in the 400m with a 47:53 behind Dewayne Barrett of Jamaica 47.17 and Justin Byron of the Virgin Islands with his 47.45.

Reed was a junior 400m specialist who switched to 800m. Gary Reed is the Canadian Record holder in the 800m with his personal best of 1:43.68, he is a two-time Olympian achieving a high of 4th during the Beijing Olympics and is a silver medalist from the Osaka IAAF World Track and Field Championships.

Reed will take in the Harry Jerome Track Classic, The Canadian Track and Field Championships, which will take place July 3 to 6, 2009 in Windsor, Ontario. Then head over to Europe for some international competitions.

Men 1500 Metre Run Invitational
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    Name                    Year Team                    Seed     Finals Points
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1 Martinson, Geoff             Canada                          3:41.97
2 Esparza, Jose-Juan           Mexico                          3:42.14
3 Mallie, Daniel               Canada                          3:43.96
4 Borrego, Diego               Mexico                          3:44.15
5 Konoval, Tim                 Canada                          3:44.43
6 Kellar, Adam                 Canada                          3:47.04
7 Suarez, Alejandro            Mexico                          3:48.53
8 Romero, Juan-Carlos          Mexico                          3:50.24
9 Corrigan, Peter              Canada                          3:50.37
10 Burke, Logan                 Canada                          3:50.78
11 Magness, Stephen             United States                   3:55.30
12 Flores Partida, Marco Ta     Mexico                          4:01.56
-- Keino, Josephat              Kenya                               DNF
-- McKenzie, Ryan               Canada                              DNF
-- Yedra, Misahel               Mexico                              SCR