COCHRANE— Following a club-best performance at the Calgary Track and Field (CALTAF) Classic, several members of the Cochrane Endurance Project will be heading to provincials from Friday (Aug. 6) to Sunday (Aug. 8). to compete against the best endurance athletes Alberta has to offer.
Twelve of the club’s athletes competed at the CALTAF Classic, July 23 to 25, and came away with eight medals between six of the contestants.
Terrell Keys won himself a silver medal in the 1,500 metre, and 800-metre races, Nick Hooper took bronze in the 400-metre race, Caden Jones took gold in the 200 metre and bronze in the 800-metre competitions, Ellie Barlow earned a silver in the 2,000-metre run, Julia Hooper earned silver in the 800-metre run, and Csenia Irvin came away from the 1,200-metre run with a bronze medal.
The Endurance Projects’ Terrell Keys, Nick Hooper, Brendan Maguire, Caden Jones, Clay Grattidge and Julia Hooper have all cracked the top 10 of Alberta’s provincial track and field rankings.
Head Coach of the Cochrane Endurance Project Travis Cummings said he is proud of the athletes who put their all into this last competition.
“The kids have been resilient through COVID and in the last three or four months, we’ve been hammering to get to this point. What happened on the weekend has really shifted what I thought was possible with the club and what can look to expect as a baseline for excellence now,” he said.
Cummings said he believes the results of the CALTAF classic are proof that the club’s lack of sophisticated training facilities is not enough to hold his athletes back.
“It proves that what we’re doing is working and it shows that even though we have a bit of unique model— I guess you could think of these things as weaknesses or limitations, we don’t have a track, we’re a smaller club in a town, we don’t train indoors in the winter, we’re outside year-round, we’re on the pathways— It doesn’t matter, as long as kids buy in,” he said.
Cummings said he sensed a bit of an “inferiority complex” in some of his athletes because of some of those “limitations,” but the athletes in the program all bring a sense of determination, motivation and a will to win to their training.
Their recent performance, placing several of the club’s members in the top of provincial rankings, is an affirmation that they are good enough to compete with the best.
“We’ve got multiple kids ranked right up there at the top of the province. They’re motivated, they’re committed, they get it and they’ve put a ton of work in,” he said. “The kids know that they’re as good or better than anyone else in the province, and they’re coming to competitions with that attitude.”
Nick Hooper, who won a bronze medal in the 400-metre run, said he felt that the club’s modest facilities and small size were a strength of the program, rather than a weakness.
“There’s not a lot of people in our program, compared to other programs, and I think that keeps our program really tight with the community … We’re dependant on each other as a team. I feel like we aren’t like a big program just pumping people through the program. We’re all joining and growing with the program and all the people here are helping to develop it,” he said. “All of the people here are helping develop it. Our parents, the whole community is brought together and we’re all putting a little bit of ourselves into it, which makes it better for everyone else.”
Hooper said being so close with his teammates gives them an edge over other clubs, as they have the support of each other as well as their coaches.
“There are some guys who are better at different distances, shorter, longer, whatever. When you have those people but you’re all running the same workouts and you’re all running the same distances half the time, the guy at the front is always going to be pushing the guys at the back. We run as a group and that benefits everybody. We all help each other in our weaker areas.”
In preparation for the CALTAF Classic, Cummings said, he placed a large emphasis on mental coaching and preparing his athletes to compete at a high level, encouraging them to defy their own expectations.
“It’s getting them to buy into what we think they’re capable of, breaking through their own barriers and then showing them what’s possible. That’s what happened on the weekend, we had massive breakout performances,” he said. “When they’re in a workout, they think they’re working hard and it hurts, but it’s hard to teach them exactly how a race should feel until they lay it on the line and understand what it means to hurt, to have really, really optimal performance, and I feel like they did that on the weekend.”
Hooper, medaled for the first time in his competitive track career with the Cochrane Endurance Project, said he felt like that preparation worked. In the lead-up to the race, Hooper said, Cummings encouraged him to push himself harder, which seemed to work.
“He gave me and my buddy a couple of things on trying to stay cool, and where to run hard and how to think about your races before after; that was a big part of it as well,” Hooper said. “This competition was a big step-up from the competition that was held earlier in the week … It seemed like I had a little more in the tank this time and I just ran really well. It felt really good.”
It was a day of firsts for Hooper. Not only did he receive his first medal as an athlete with the Endurance Project, it was also the first time he finished at the front of his heat.
After coming in near the back in his first race, he was included in the slower heat for his second run. If he wanted to win, he knew he would have to run hard, he said.
“I was in the slower heat— My last race wasn’t as fast,” Hooper said. “I was just like ‘I’m going to run this one out hard’ and I did, I came third. I came in faster than most of the people in the fast heat. It just felt really good to be a contender and to have a good time. It was a fun experience too to be at the front of the pack, finishing my heat first as well. That’s never happened before.”
The big difference in this race, Hooper said, was all of the preparation lining up to allow him to run his hardest.
“The way I was eating, the hydration, my coaching, my mentality, and my body were just ready to go at the same time that weekend. All of that put together just allowed me to run a good time,” he said.
The Cochrane Endurance Project has been involved with a higher volume of competitions this summer than any other in the club’s history. The constant training and racing have put the entire team in a good position to compete at provincials.
“We all did really good. It’s our first year that we’ve been running this many races, we’ve just been building, and building and building,” he said. “It seems like everybody was just ready … we’re all ready to go, we’re as fit as we’re going to get and we’re as ready as we’re going to get for any of the races we’re about to do and I think everybody showed that.”
Hooper said he is not sure where he will stack up against the competition during provincials, but he is excited to find out.
“I just feel like it will be a good time for the team,” he said. “I expect that the pressure will be there and everyone will feel it and will put in some good times.”
Eric Swedlo, Jack Bentley, Julia Hooper, Nick Hooper, Clay Grattidge, Terrell Keys, Caden Jones, and Brendan Maguire all from the Cochrane Endurance Project, are off to Edmonton to compete in provincials at Sherwood Park from Aug. 6 to 8.
