What an amazing day at the FIRST EVER H+P Trackfest!! PBs were shattered, racers jumped into shorter events after running longer races, and a surprise relay race had everyone sprinting on crushed legs.
Trackfest began with two heats of the combined 5000m and 3000m racers. 1500m and 800m races followed, capped off by a surprise (roughly) evenly stacked 4x400m event!
The 5000m was insanely deep – 13 runners broke 20 minutes, 6 broke 18 minutes, and 6 new H+P Club Standards were earned. Coach Sean took the overall win in 16:46, and Coach Gill took the women’s win in 18:23.
It was an EPIC showdown in the 3000m! The was the first time racing 3000m for most of our athletes, and their performances did not disappoint. All of the Wave 1 athletes finished within 1 minute of each other, and many ran top 3 H+P Ranking times.
Jordan Schmidt edged out Nick Burt to claim the overall win in 9:50, only 2 seconds ahead of his rival. James Rhydderch, Nate Van Heyst and Caity Chiappetta all ran noteworthy races; their performances earned them a Career Best H+P Work Ranking time!
There were only 4 entrants in the 1500m race, but it was fast! Kailey Haddock took the overall win in 5:13, barely coming in before Jody Rice in the same time! This incredible time also earned Jody a new PB and top 3 H+P World Ranking time!
The 800m was a short but painful race! Several of the 3k/5k racers jumped into the race at the last second (literally), making the race much more exciting to watch! Up and coming all-star Aidan Rutherford took the overall win in an impressive 2:10, while Coach Gill took the women’s win in 2:35. Noteworthy performances include Aidan, Holden Ehgoetz and Anne Aschwanden, who all ran Career Best H+P performances!
After all of the main events were said and done, the SURPRISE 4x400m relay was announced! All of our runners were split into (roughly) evenly matched teams, and hunted each other down one at a time on tired legs. This was the most fun event of the day!
The winning team composed of Kailey, Coffee, Jody and Erik, who all won some H+P and NB swag!
Young H+Pers participated in a fun 200m dash after their parents were done racing, which was fun to watch as always. A noteworthy performance from Cohen Vicujnik, who ran the entire distance at only 2.5 years old!
A MASSIVE thank you to everyone who helped make H+P Trackfest a success – we couldn’t have done it without you!
Timers – Gabriel, Janice and Steve worked hard to time the events and count laps.
Food – Mike Hewitson, Realtor provided all of the drinks, baked goods, watermelon and freezies.
Pictures – Julie Schmidt of Run Waterloo, Dave Rutherford, Will Spaetzel, Nicole Goodbrand, Ahmed Ahmed, and Terry Edwards all took amazing photos & videos.
