During their winter season, numbers of the track and field club work on drills that build strength, speed and flexibility at the CMCC.
Once again this winter, Peterborough Pacers Track and Field Club are using the walking track at the CMCC for their practices twice a week around the dinner hour. For an hour on Monday and Wednesday evenings, the track is unavailable to the public and club members go through their drills.
During the winter term which runs from January through March, the club caps its membership to twenty members due to the limited space on the track which is their only indoor training facility. During the spring and summer months, membership of the club swells to as many as 80 members and practices are held at Thomas A Stewart Secondary School. Members commit to a minimum of two 1.5 hour practices per week, with additional optional practices available particularly during the good weather.
The winter group consists primarily of high school students but this year there are two participants from grades seven and eight. They spend an hour doing drills, running and stretching along the forgiving surface of the track. Participants don’t mind the cool temperature- it helps them keep moving during their challenging drills. The work is hard core but the faces on the participants and the camaraderie amongst the members makes it clear they are all happy to be there. They commiserate with each other’s injuries and challenges and encourage each other to do their very best.
The coaches all have day jobs in schools. Head Coach Eric Sutton is the head coach at Fleming College. A graduate of St. Francis Xavier in Science in Human Kinetics and a former collegiate athlete, he brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the fitness, health and sports performance industry. Samantha Leigh, is also an athletic coach and teacher at TASS. The club actively recruits high school students and find once athletes join, they often become hooked. Track and Field activities help athletes develop a wide range of skills and often members who arrive from other sports switch allegiance, finding the variety of activities from hurdles to relays, vaults and long jumps more interesting than their other spots.
Formerly known as the Peterborough Legion Track Club, this group has been around for almost 30 years, offering recreational and competitive divisions for adults and youth ages 13+ track. At the end of the pandemic, the club rebranded itself as the Peterborough Pacers, and now seen its members grow particularly during the summer and fall seasons.
Sutton explains that their program helps athletes develop a wide range of skills which help them improve their performance in other athletic endeavours. He has also noticed that some who arrive with different sports background become converts to track and field, perhaps because of the variety of activities it encompasses, from sprints and hurdles to relays, vaults and long jumps. In addition to improving results at provincial and national competitions, club members have also earned athletic scholarships at universities in Canada and the US.
To learn more about this club, contact them at peterboroughpacerstfc@gmail.com.
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