The Speed River New Balance Euro Tour came to an exciting close Saturday night with the tour’s two youngest members showing, why they are names to watch in the coming years. Competing Memorial Léon Buyle track meet in Oordegem, Belgium, the club was lead by Tim Konoval’s personal best performance in the men’s 1500 meters. Konoval recorded a time of 3:42.90, which is roughly the equivalent of a four minute mile. At only 24, Konoval has shown great strides this year, recording personal bests at every distance between 800 and 5000 meters. Konoval’s teammate, the precocious 20 year old Kyle Boorsma also recorded a substantial personal best in the 3000 meter race. Boorsma who entered the year with a personal best of 8:29 recorded a time of 7:59.72, to finish just behind Olympic bound teammate Eric Gillis . This performance brings to a close a staggering year for Boorsma, who also lowered his personal best in the 1500 meters by an incredible 8 seconds and placed fifth in the extremely competitive Olympic Trials. Boorsma and Konoval are two of the bright young lights in the men’s 1500 meters, which is quickly becoming one of Canada’s deepest and strongest events.
Teammate Eric Gillis, as mentioned, finished just ahead of Boorsma in his final race before next month’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Gillis has been putting all his energy towards aiming to peak on August 17th, the date of the 10000 meter final, and today’s effort was another solid indicator that he is ready to be at his best on the sport’s biggest stage.
Rounding out a busy day, Cleve Thorson recorded a time 3:49.09, to narrowly missed his personal best which he set earlier this week in Braaschaat, Belgium.
In other track and field action, the Canadian Junior Track Championships were a huge success for University of Guelph track athletes. Leading the way was University of Guelph Female Athlete of the Year Lindsay Carson who captured the silver medal in both the women’s 1500 meters and 3000 meters. Battling the strongest and deepest fields in recent memory Carson showed incredible tenacity as she completed the double in a mere six hours, recording a life time best in the 3000 meters. Joining Carson in returning some hardware to the University of Guelph campus was teammate Karoline Hoy who captured the bronze medal in the women’s 2000 meter steeplechase. Local youngster Lauren Doherty was an impressive ninth in the steeplechase her first junior national appearance.
Members of the incoming Gryphon recruiting class also left an impressive mark on the championships. Leading the way for the recruits was Guelph’s own Rob Jackson who was fifth in both the men’s 1500 meters and men’s 5000 meters. Jackson was the only athlete to attempt this grueling double and showed impressive resolve in the 5000 moving through the field as the race progressed. Future teammate Shauna Mallek of London also recorded two top five finishes placing fifth in the 400 meters and fourth in her speciality the 400 meter hurdles. Right behind Mallek in the 400 meters was another future Gryphon, Rachel Aubry of Ottawa who was sixth in the 400 meters and fifth in the 800 meters.
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