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Back on track: Yukon high schools compete at meet

Watson Lake Secondary has gone from zero track meets in 20 years to three in three weeks.
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Watson Lake Secondary has gone from zero track meets in 20 years to three in three weeks.

The school, which recently had its track refurbished, was a new addition at the Yukon Schools Athletic Association’s Track and Field Meet on Wednesday at F.H. Collins Secondary.

“Today’s meet was absolutely awesome ... We’ve never had any formal competition like this in track,” said Watson Lake track coach Rollie Comeau. “They all had the opportunity to run in their own categories, instead of being combined.

“In Fort Nelson as well as in Watson Lake, we had to combine categories because there was only one or two participants.”

Watson Lake sent seven athletes to the annual meet, bringing the total number of athletes to 203, up from about 140 last year. Also competing were 45 from Porter Creek, 30 from Vanier, two from Dawson City’s Robert Service School, while the hosts entered a monster team of 119.

With an injection of funds from the Department of Education, Watson Lake Secondary was able to restore its running track and host a meet for the first time in 20 or more years two weeks ago. The school team then attended a meet in Fort Nelson, B.C., last week.

“We have a couple athletes that show some promise. Training is going to be very important, and getting the appropriate coaching assistance that we want,” said Comeau. “We’re basically just a bunch of hicks trying our best to help kids with different events, but we’re not experts in any way, shape or form. When we get some proper assistance, some proper help, from people who competed in the past or coaches who have training, the kids we have in Watson Lake could do very, very well.”

Contact Tom Patrick at

tomp@yukon-news.com