A winter’s worth of training is paying off for Airdrie Aces runner Aiden Good, who opened his outdoor season May 3 at the Portland Twilight track and field meet in Portland, Ore.
Against tough competition that included collegiate athletes from the United States, the 16-year-old, middle-distance specialist ran to a 1:57.84 finish in the 800-metre (m), with lap-times of 57.23 and 60.6 seconds.
“To get the season off on a good note is always helpful and it sets you up for progress and success throughout the rest of the season,” he said. “That’s why we went down – to run a fast time.”
Good’s time marked a new personal best for the athlete, who said he beat his old record in the 800-m by more than a second. It also ranks him second in Canada for the U18 male age group, according to athletics.ca
“It feels really good to see my name up there, but I know I’ll have to keep fighting to keep my spot,” he said. “A lot of Ontario guys are going to start racing now, and they always produce fast times.”
Good credited his strong showing at the Portland Twilight to the lower elevation and the training regimen he followed throughout the winter. He enjoyed a strong winter season, which included a 10th-place showing at the Simplot Games in Idaho – the premier indoor track meet in the United States for high-school-aged athletes.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to stay relatively injury free, so I’ve been able to train hard all the way through the winter,” he said. “I had really great training and – as far as showing up on the meet day [in Portland] – I had my head in the right place, the weather was good and I had fast competition.
“When you put those all together, you end up with a really fast time.”
Good, a Grade-11 student from Hugh Sutherland School in Carstairs, won’t have much time to rest before he’s back in action. He’s scheduled to compete May 11 at the Spring Challenge in Calgary, which will immediately be followed by the 2019 high school track-and-field season.
Once school meets wrap in mid-June, he’ll race for the Airdrie Aces for the remainder of the spring and summer, with the club season culminating in the National Youth Track and Field Championships, Aug. 9 to 11 in Cape Breton, N.S.
After a lengthy winter, Good said he is excited to continue competing on outdoor tracks.
“The program [my coach] has set up for me is fantastic and we put in a lot of training over the last six, seven, eight months, to really progress me for the 800-m outdoor,” he said.
“That’s what we’ve been training for...and now it’s show time.”
