Several athletes from the North East Alberta Track (NEAT) Club, which is based in St. Paul, will head to Calgary this weekend to compete in the combined events provincial championships at Foothills Athletic Park.
According to coach, Reg Green, the club has been training outdoors since the beginning of April, despite the poor weather conditions, and the event will help judge its progress.
“It’s not the biggest meet of the year, but it is a provincial championship so it should be fairly well attended,” Green said. “The kids that are going down are all experienced athletes and they’ve been to this type of meet in the past.
“I want to see where we are,” he added. “It’s been a very difficult spring to be outside. You really need a good competition to see how effective the training is.”
The club recently competed in another provincial championships in March at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, where all the athletes did very well, Green said.
It’s been an exciting year for NEAT as this past February it was given the Club of the Year Award for the second time at the 2011 Athletics Alberta Annual Awards. The commitment shown by both athletes and coaches helped set the club apart, the coach said.
“We do a lot of work with these kids,” he said. “A lot of technique work and a lot of physical training. Usually the kids we get coming are relatively good athletes to begin with. We teach them the skills that they need to take those and put them into practice.”
Green said he would like the club to win the annual award again, but for now is focused on this weekend’s meet.
“We usually do well down there in Calgary,” he said. “It’s a nice facility. The one we’re going to has been upgraded. The Canadian nationals were held there last year and will be again this year.”
