Timmins' track and field community is celebrating several high schoolers' success after a meet in Brampton.
Local Real North Athletics Club athletes competed at the Athletics Ontario U14, U16, and U18 championships in Brampton on July 26 and 27, with two of them bringing home some hardware.
Kiana Charest won gold on the track in the U16 women’s 1200m and 2000m and silver in the 800m, and Ella McCarty won silver in the U18 women’s javelin.
“One on the track and one on the field, and they work hard,” said Marcy McCarty.
Both girls said that the experience at the championships was a good one that allowed them to meet other athletes and reconnect with friends they’d met at other events.
“It was more relaxed,” said Ella McCarty. “I saw some people I didn’t know and some of my friends.”
She will go to Sudbury this year to play basketball but said she’ll be back when the track and field season starts again. McCarty is currently ranked nationally for javelin at 4th in the 200-seed Canadian ranking.
“I want to do this at the next level,” she said.
Kiana Charest said that running is her happy place, and she is proud of the progress she sees herself making.
“I love the team aspect at meets and meeting new people who share the same interests and talents,” she said. “I love the feeling of getting better and achieving your goals that you work hard towards.”
Charest will be competing as part of Team North at the Ontario Summer Games, and she said she’s also got her eye on future successes.
“Maybe the Olympics someday, but that’s far off goals,” she said.
Both girls are heading to the Canadian Legion National Track and Field Championships in Calgary next week.
