On Friday evenings during the winter months, the walking track at the CMCC is unavailable for an hour as the Peterborough Pacers Track and Field Club have it booked for practice.
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 has as many as 45 members during the summer and fall season.
Most participants are Peterborough high school students, and the club actively recruits at local schools. It helps that one of the club coaches, Samantha Leigh, is also an athletic coach and teacher at TASS. The group is led by Head Coach Eric Sutton who is also 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.
The season consists of three terms: January to March; April to August and September to November. During the winter season it’s challenging to find practice space indoors, so the group is happy to use the walking track for an hour a week on Fridays at the CMCC. Most practices take place 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.
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 in encompasses from sprints and hurdles to relays, vaults and long jumps. In addition to achieving ranking in their events, some students have also earned athletic scholarships at universities in Canada and the US.
To learn more about this club, contact them at peterboroughpacerstfc@gmail.com. KG
