http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=264421&sc=99Runner's world
New Haven’s Jared Connaughton will be running
the 100- and 200-metre events
The Guardian
The beat goes on for sprinter Jared Connaughton.
The New Haven native will run in the men’s 100- and 200-metre races at the Canadian track and field championships and world trials, which started Thursday in Toronto.
This after he finished sixth (10.51) in the 100 metres at the recent Festival of Excellence in Toronto, won by world 100-metre record holder Usain Bolt (10.00).
Heats for the 100 metres at the nationals start today at 1:30 p.m. while the semifinal and final are Saturday at 4:40 p.m. and 6:40 p.m., respectively.
The 200 metres is on Sunday. Qualifying starts at 2:15 p.m. and the final is at 4:35 p.m.
Canadian titles and spots on the 2009 world championships team are up for grabs.
Connaughton, the defending national 200-metre champion (20.24), has run only one 200-metre race this season.
He said he has focused more on the 100 metres this season while pushing the 200 metres away, but not too far.
“It’s one of those races that just comes to me. It’s an organic race,” he told The Guardian this week from the Charlottetown Airport. “I have the (200-metre and 100-metre) pedigree, but it doesn’t mean I can breeze my way through.”
The 100 metres won’t be a breeze at all.
Connaughton’s 4x100-metre relay mates from the 2008 Beijing Olympics — Pierre Browne of North York, Ont., the defending national champion (10.19), Anson Henry of Pickering Ont., who finished last in the Festival race (10.57), and Hank Palmer of Lasalle, Que. — are also on the bill.
Connaughton, who had Canada’s top 100-metre time of 10.15 last year, won’t predict a winner’s time in his events.
Experience for international hoopla (the Olympics) and waiting to run (two false starts at a rain-soaked Festival and a half-hour power outage in the starting blocks of a 200-metres event in Guadalupe earlier this year) has taught him patience and the spotlight might not be such a hot place to be.
“It’s tough to tell time because every track is different. Weather changes a track pretty quick,” he said. “I can’t say it’s not tough. Rain is my kryptonite. You can’t control the uncontrollables (or) get caught up in the other crap that goes around. The celebrity, the press conferences, that’s not me.”
After Toronto, Connaughton is scheduled to compete in Halifax on Wednesday and then expects to attend a series of meets in Europe over the summer, leading to the world track and field championships, Aug. 15-23, in Berlin, Germany.
Kurt McCormack
Souris triple-jumper Kurt McCormack, a sophomore at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, is also competing at the nationals.
Event qualifying starts at Saturday at 1 p.m. and the final is Sunday at 3 p.m.
He finished 10th overall in triple jump last year with a jump of 14.40 metres in his first Canadian senior meet.
Dickinson State is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
McCormack had a personal best of 15.29 metres at the NAIA national championship in March.
CBC Television will broadcast the nationals live on Saturday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. AT.
Live results available at www.athletics.ca/toronto2009
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