Track North Athletic Club's Ross Proudfoot won gold in both the 800-metre and 1500-metre events at the Athletics Ontario bantam, midget and youth championships held this past weekend in Timmins.
Competing against the top 17 and under athletes in the province, the 17-year-old Lively runner first struck gold in the 800-m event with a finishing time of 1:58.03. This race saw Proudfoot outkick a large field of athletes over the final 200 metres as eight runners broke the two minute barrier in this closely contested race, according to a press release.
In the 1500-m event, Proudfoot charged home to a new personal best of 3:58.16.
Proudfoot also anchored Track North's silver medal-winning 4x800-m relay team, which also included Sebastian Diebel (Nairn Centre), Joe Burke (Espanola) and Jeremy Cooper (Manitowaning). In a 10 team field, the Track North squad placed just a half a second behind the winning team from Mississauga.
"It was a great weekend of racing,” Proudfoot said. “The 800-m and 4x800-m relay were really exciting with deep, crowded fields. I was surprised how good I felt in the 1500-m race, particularly leading start to finish they way I did. I'm excited to race it again in two weeks in Sherbrooke at the National Youth Championships."
"Ross has been working really hard this whole summer and its great to see it pay off for him this weekend,” coach Darren Jermyn said.
“He was sick at OFSAA and couldn't compete at the level he normally does, but his performances last weekend at the National Junior Championships in PEI (12th in the 1500-m) and this weekend show he is one of the top 17-year-old distance runners in the country.”
