For Nathan Mah, it will be a chance to run on his home track and celebrate his 20th birthday.
It will be a jog down memory lane for David Mattiazzo.
Both know there will be no ‘taking it in stride’ at next week’s Harry Jerome International Track Classic, where an elite class of national and international competitors will merge at Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium to test their various skills.
Mattiazzo will be there in his capacity as a coach with the St. Thomas More Collegiate boys 4x100 metre team, but adds the perspective of someone who did the event nearly 20 years ago, up against the likes of Canadian Olympians Donovan Bailey and Robert Esmie.
“I ran anchor at this meet against Donovan Bailey and the Canadian Olympic gold (medal) 4x100m team. It was an experience I never forgot,” said Mattiazzo.
Mah, a Burnaby Central alum who races for Simon Fraser University, will line up Wednesday for his 200-metre national division event with an eye towards building on a strong season.
“I’m pumped for it,” Mah said. “I’ve been training with the Coquitlam Cheetahs (track club) for the past month or so. … After (the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championships) I felt a bit fatigued from the long NCAA season, but now I feel I’m getting back into it. The past few weeks I’ve been slowly getting those times down again.”
The Jerome, which goes June 26 and 27, attracts world champions and provides first-rate competition for athletes from around the globe in preparation for Olympic qualifying meets. This year’s edition – which sees the Classic return to Swangard Stadium after a one-year stop in Coquitlam, while Swangard underwent a major renovation – features a unique dual challenge between Canada and China’s sprint teams. Among those competing are Canadian standout sprinters Andre De Grasse and Aaron Brown (100m and 4x100m), Langley’s Georgia Ellenwood (100m hurdles and long jump), France’s Justine Fedronic (in the women’s 800m) and Canadian Olympic medallist Damian Warner (110m hurdles).
Mah, who at the GNAC championships set a season’s best of 21.93 seconds in the 200m and a personal best (PB) of 10.75 in the 100m, will approach his 200m race (scheduled for Wednesday at 6:40 p.m.) as a chance to keep that momentum going.
“Honestly, I’d like to hit a season’s best. I’d be pretty happy with that and wouldn’t complain if it’s a PB,” Mah said. “Usually when you PB it comes when you least expect it, at least for me. You just run; you don’t expect anything and afterwards you see that time pop up, OK, I PB’d.
“Before every race I don’t really have a set time I want to aim for. I just want to clear my mind and run off of instinct.”
Mattiazzo’s 4x100m men’s team will take to the track alongside the Chinese and Canadian national squads – a formidable lineup for kids who will have spent the past few weeks hitting final exams.
“(Our) team is a confident group, and I like how they want to compete. Our expectation is to run a strong race and have good handoffs,” said Mattiazzo of the race, scheduled for Wednesday evening.
The squad, which won the B.C. high school 4x100 title just three weeks ago, includes Grade 11 Julian Valerio, and graduating runners David Osho, Tyler Eckert, Emmanuel Dadson and Aaron Field.
Both Osho and Eckert are heading to university to continue their gridiron careers and studies (universities of Toronto and Wilfrid Laurier, respectively), while Dadson will be taking his track shoes up Burnaby Mountain to compete for SFU.
“I feel that this will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the boys and (want them) to just enjoy the moment,” said the coach. “We teach them that in track you can’t control what your competition does; all you can control is your performance. Focus on the things in our control, such as good handoffs, staying relaxed and being prepared.
“Track and field is not about winning or losing (but) rather competing to the best of your ability.”
Mah will not only have birthday cake as extra fuel, he’ll be embracing the opportunity to run on his home turf. As a youth competing for both the Burnaby Central Secondary and Burnaby Striders track teams, he has run the Swangard track countless times. This time will be extra-special, he said.
“I’m excited but also nervous. Nervous excitement, I guess,” he said. “I’m excited to run before a bigger crowd than I’m used to and that’s got me a little bit nervous. I’ve been running there since high school, at district championships. … Definitely I’ll have my family out and hopefully a few friends, but certainly my family will be there for support.”
The list of scheduled competitors is long and loaded with great achievements. Other local athletes slated to compete are Burnaby’s Cam Proceviat, in the international men’s 1500, New Westminster’s Ben Tjernagel, in the international 200m, Grace Fetherstonhaugh, in the women’s under-20 800m, and Bogdan Pavel, in the men’s international 110m hurdles.
The Vancouver Sun Harry Jerome International Track Classic starts Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and continues Wednesday at 6 p.m. Tickets are available by visiting www.harryjerome.com.
