ATHLETICS CANADA ANNOUNCES NATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD TOUR FOR SPRING AND SUMMER 2022

Athletics Canada is pleased to announce the creation of the National Track and Field Tour, a series of ten high-performance track and field meets scheduled for the 2022 outdoor season. 

World Athletics and NACAC have recently included Athletics Canada into the World Athletics Continental Tour's Silver, Bronze, and Challenger Series, which comes with funding that will make possible the creation of ten total meets across ten cities and four provinces, as well as a total prize purse of $400,000 for competing athletes. 

The purpose of the Tour, said Athletics Canada Director of Domestic Programs and Safe Sport Chris Winter, is to provide meaningful competition opportunities for athletes at home, to host events whereby Canadian athletes can earn valuable World Ranking points, and to help develop athletes for future National Team representation. The Tour is scheduled to begin on May 14, and is expected to run until the 2022 World Athletics Championship in Oregon in mid-July. 

“Building off the success of the 2021 Tokyo Qualifying Series, which helped provide important competitive opportunities to our Canadian Athletes during the pandemic, I am thrilled to announce The 2022 National Track & Field Tour,” said Winter.   

"This series of competitions is the result of fantastic collaboration between Athletics Canada, The Provincial/Territorial Branches, and our Meet Directors with support from both NACAC and World Athletics.” 

The news comes at a time when race directors and athletes alike are working hard to build momentum after a dearth of races in 2020, followed by a 2021 outdoor season compromised by ongoing COVID-19 and travel restrictions. Nigel Hole, Race Director of the Harry Jerome Track Classic, is thrilled that his meet is included in the Tour’s schedule, and said recognition by World Athletics should help to rebuild any lost momentum.  

"Harry Jerome has always been one of the better international meets, and having it be part of the Continental Tour will put it on the radar of more international athletes and will help build its reputation for years to come.” 

Hole says that, last year, The Harry Jerome organizing committee worked hard to host a competitive meet despite pandemic restrictions, and were rewarded by some of the best athletic performance the event had ever seen: 3,000m steeplechaser Alysha Butterworth, race walker Evan Dunfee and 5,000m specialist Luc Bruchet, among others, qualified for Tokyo at that meet. Still, Hole said last year’s event suffered from a lack of international – or even interprovincial – competition.  

“A spot on the Tour is a good step back towards normal,” said Hole. “And it could make the Jerome really strong, and pair really well with the World Championships in Oregon,” which begins one month later on July 15. 

Canadian athletes like Regan Yee are just as pleased to hear about the Tour. Yee also hit the Olympic standard – her, too, in the 3,000m steeplechase – at last year’s Harry Jerome Track Classic. She said that, last year, she completely relied on the local meets and Athletics Canada’s Tokyo Qualifier series to punch her ticket to the Games. As travel restrictions linger, she sees the opportunity of competing in Silver and Bronze-labeled races at home as a huge advantage.   

"Being able to stay in the country takes away a lot of the stress of travelling, and generally the more relaxed I am the better I perform,” she said. “Having Canada be included in the WA Continental Tour means that my races would also be worth more in the ranking system which could be extremely important for future team qualifications” 

“The difference between staying in Canada and going to the US was that the races here were focussed on the success of Canadians," she said of her 2021 season. "Race directors were actively working with us to plan for good performances, like scheduling races during cooler parts of the day and bringing in pacer-extraordinaire Jenna Melanson. There's a whole other level of support when I compete in Canada and it really makes a difference.” 

NATIONAL TRACK AND FIELD TOUR SCHEDULE: