It didn't take long for the Comox Valley presence to be felt at the Western Canada Summer Games.
The Games got underway Aug. 5 in Kamloops, and on Aug. 7 Haleigh Lloyd of Ladysmith, who trains with the Comox Valley Cougars Track & Field Club, missed the podium by the narrowest of margins in the 100m hurdles.
Lloyd finished fourth with a personal best of 14.88 seconds, just off her previous best of 14.54. The bronze medallist's time was 14.80 seconds. The winning time was 14.46 seconds.
On Aug. 9, Lloyd won silver in 400m hurdles in 62.12 seconds. Gold medallist Melissa Kitching set a Games record of 61.53.
On Aug. 8 Cody Parker won gold for Team BC in javelin. His toss of 63.66 metres was well short of his 73.50PB, but more than enough to beat out James Turner of Kelowna, who won silver with a toss of 57.24. (Watch for more on Parker in Friday's Record sports).
On Aug. 9, Nick Blackburn, another Cougar, won gold in the 400m hurdles with a Games record of 52.89 seconds, eclipsing his PB of 54.90. Along with Lloyd, Blackburn and Parker, the Comox Valley has Mark Valliere (golf), Jordan Duncan (cycling), Kerri Denninger (swimming), Chelsea Tancon (volleyball), Amanda Wakeling (cycling), Nigel Ellsay (cycling), Gillian Ellsay (cycling) and Brad Gunter (volleyball) competing.
Updates, results and photos are at www.2011.wcsg.ca or www.teambc.org.
Team BC has sent 345 athletes aged 12 to 22 and 72 coaches to the Games. BC has won the Western Canada Summer Games Cup every year since their inception in 1975.
The Games bring together approximately 2,300 athletes competing in 19 sports, along with coaches, managers and officials from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory.
sports@comoxvalleyrecord.com