Bewdley’s Lily Ryan captured gold in the under-16 girls 800-metre run at the Legion National Youth Track and Field Championships in Calgary on Sunday.
Ryan won the race in 2 minutes 13.37 seconds, just ahead of Maeve Agres from the Etobicoke Huskies-Striders club in 2:13.54 and Alberta’s Victoria Halbert who was third in 2:14.41.
“It was a very physical race,” Ryan said after returning home Monday. “I got elbowed and stepped on.”
She entered the national championship ranked second in the 800 metres and knew to expect a challenge from Agres despite beating her in a previous race with a strong finish.
“I was wondering ‘what if Maeve has a stronger finish?’” Ryan said.
It turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the previous meeting.
“I started off strong for the first like 80 metres and then I let Maeve get in front of me and I kept up with her and then in the last 80 metres I passed her,” Ryan said.
Not only did she win the 800 metres, Ryan was the youngest on the podium at just 14-years-old, besting two counterparts who are both 15.
Age also wasn’t a factor in the U16 girls 200-metre run. Earlier in the day prior to her 800-metre win, Ryan placed second in her heat in the 200-metre preliminaries with a personal-best time of 25.34.
That time ranked her seventh heading into the final after her 800-metre race. Ryan placed eighth in 26.30. She was the youngest in the field with the other seven runners all age 15.
Mom Elizabeth Ryan was back home, but says she was able to watch the events.
“We watched the races in a nice little quiet room, although the room didn’t stay quiet for very long,” she said, especially of the 800-metre final. “That was electrifying, it was a lot of energy in the room. My co-workers were all supporting Lily, I was having messages sent to me left, right and centre and very proud of this young lady.”
She added “Lily had a lot of support from her community.”
In fact, Ryan was surprised by members of the Hamilton Township Fire Department which gave her a lift for the final leg of her journey home Monday.
“I was not expecting that at all,” she said. “That would probably be the last thing I’d expect coming home from a track meet.”
It was a fitting ride for a national champion.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
