Gary Reed saw a bit of himself Saturday night as he prepared to address the young runners of the Western Hub, which is the Victoria-based Athletics sa国际传媒 western training centre for the nation鈥檚 promising middle-distance track athletes.
鈥淚鈥檒l share my experiences with them. I was in the same place they are in 2002 when I came to Victoria to train,鈥� said Reed, sa国际传媒鈥檚 greatest 800-metre runner.
鈥淭hese are young athletes climbing to the next level and I hopefully can inspire them to do great things,鈥� said the 2007 world championships silver-medallist and fourth-place finisher in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Reed was the keynote speaker for the Western Hub reception at the Hotel Grand Pacific. It was billed as a 鈥淐elebration of the track community on the Island鈥� and was hosted by 94 Forward, which administers the legacy fund from the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
Athletics sa国际传媒鈥檚 Western Hub is among several national team training centres on the Lower Island. They include those for Rowing sa国际传媒, Rugby sa国际传媒, Triathlon sa国际传媒, Swimming sa国际传媒, Golf sa国际传媒, Tennis sa国际传媒 and Cycling sa国际传媒.
A major component of the training centres are the NextGen programs, in which sa国际传媒鈥檚 emerging post-Tokyo 2020 generation of Olymipans is being incubated.
The coaches of the Athletics sa国际传媒 Western Hub are 2012 London Olympics 800-metre semifinalist Geoff Harris and former national-teamer Heather Hennigar. The general manager is Julianne Zussman, who has 45 caps in rugby and has played in three World Cups for sa国际传媒. Zussman never ran track but her insight as a Canadian international athlete is invaluable to the young running group training in the Western Hub.
鈥淚 can offer a unique perspective as an athlete who relocated to a training centre [Rugby sa国际传媒鈥檚 in Langford],鈥� said Zussman.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a new experience for a lot of the younger athletes and a steep learning curve.鈥�
In a country of such vast distances, centralized national training centres are crucial in developing and nurturing national-team athletes.
鈥淚t certainly is critical. You feed off each other鈥檚 energy, ideas and performances,鈥� said Reed, now co-owner of a development company in Kamloops.
鈥淒uring my eight years in the Victoria centre [2002 to 2010], we had myself and [fellow-Olympians] Zach Whitmarsh and Diane Cummins and great leadership and coaching. That doesn鈥檛 happen in isolation. I loved my years in Victoria. They were some of the best years of my life.鈥�
It鈥檚 a co-ordinated effort that includes myriad support services provided to the elite athletes by Canadian Sport Institute-Pacific and the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus.
鈥淲hat I liked about the Victoria programs was the strong community behind them,鈥� said Reed, who still holds the Canadian 800-metre record of 1:43.68, set in 2007.
