LOSE WEIGHT
Pelham’s independent news source from the Heart of Niagara
The Smart Weigh
FREE ASSESSMENT
www.djweightmanagement.ca
JAYNE
Certified Weight Loss Consultant Lost 65 lbs, 5 yrs. experience
289-897-8903
Weight Management
Vol.16 No. 23
The
VOICE
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Proud to be
The Voice of Pelham
for 15 years
Celebrating our 15th anniversary in print
Fonthill athlete breaking provincial records BY SARAH MURRELL VOICE Staff In May Niagara Regional Athletics coach Randy McDougall asked one of his young athletes if he wanted to try the javelin. In June that young athlete had broken an Ontario record and earned himself a silver medal at a Guelph track meet. By July he’d broken his own record twice more and had added a gold medal to his trophy case. His early success has that young athlete, 10year-old Colin Ratcliffe of Fonthill, thinking about breaking more records. Ratcliffe started training in running with the Niagara Regional Athletic club last fall, noting he wanted to improve his track and field results at school. In the spring, when McDougall handed Ratcliffe the javelin it was apparent the young track athlete had a natural talent. “It was obvious right away he had talent,” said McDougall, explaining javelin is one of the top three technical sports in track and field but Ratcliffe just had an aptitude for it. “It was easy,” Ratcliffe said. “Once you have the technique it’s like nothing.” Ratcliffe says McDougall told him he was training
well and he could break an Ontario record if he kept it up. The previous tyke level record for Ontario in javelin was 19.95 metres. In Guelph, Ratcliffe threw for 20.74 metres to become the new tyke record holder.
“It was easy. Once you have the technique it’s like nothing.” - Ratcliffe “I didn’t really know I broke it (the record) on the throw. Then coach announced I was the new record holder and then I was really excited,” he says. At the next meet Ratcliffe broke his own record, twice, throwing 21.67 and then 21.92 metres. “I just wanted to throw farther and I did,” says Ratcliffe. “I trained like I wanted to break it.” “I predicted he’d break the record,” says McDougall, adding it’s not very common for a young athlete to have such a natural talent for an event, but it does happen. It is apparent right away when an athlete is good at a sport, he says. At 10 Ratcliffe is considered a tyke athlete, but most track
meets don’t offer javelin in the tyke division, so Ratcliffe competes with kids an age level up, in atom. While his medals are for his placement in the atom division against the older athletes, his record throws are recorded in the tyke division. Talking with the Voice last week, just before the Athletics Ontario meet in St. Catharines, Ratcliffe said he had one more chance to re-set his own record. He was also looking to break a record in the discus throw, his other event. Ratcliffe met his goals. He threw 23.04m to break his own Ontario Tyke Javelin record and threw 18.13m in discus to break the Ontario Tyke Discus record, which had been 17.19m. McDougall said he expected Ratcliffe would break his record once again at the St. Catharines meet. McDougall says his job, when an athlete takes to a sport so easily, is to encourage them to put in the hard work necessary to advance. “He has a bright future,” says McDougall of Colin. “He has the potential to at least get a scholarship, if he wants it. I hope he sticks with it.” Next year the young athlete will move up to the atom division but his sights are set beyond, to about 2020 when he could be competing in the summer Olympic Games.
TRACK Athlete Colin Ratcliffe shows off the medals he has already accumulated in track, not to mention the 10-year-old broke provincial records in the first few months of competing. Sarah Murrell/Voice Photo
WATCH FOR OUR
FACTORY WAREHOUSE CLEARANCE SALE STARTS 8 am SHARP!
• Walk behind mowers • Lawn tractors • Time Cutters • One-of-a-kind items • Scratch & Dent • Demos No Mone
Thursday, August 23rd 2514 Hwy. 20 E, Fonthill (one mile East of old location)
y No paym Down e No Intere nts st For 12 www.toro.ca For 12 m Months onths OA C
905-892-3041 www.picsmotorclinic.com Mon - Tue: 8 am - 5 pm • Fri 8am - 5 pm • Sat 8am - 12pm