One local athlete’s fast feet are carrying her all the way to Florida for a major international track and field meet later this month.
Rachel Francois, who recently graduated from Paul Kane High School, has earned herself a spot on the Canadian team for the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, to be held in Miramar, Fla., from July 22 to 24.
Francois, who will compete in the 800 metres, said this was her ultimate goal heading into this year’s track season and she is elated to have achieved it.
“I’m so excited. It’s the one thing I wanted this season,” she said. “It’s awesome to actually [make it] after the third time, being so close.”
Francois has tried to make national teams in the past for competitions like the World Youth Games and the Pan Am Championships, but was unsuccessful until now. Those setbacks only made her determined.
“I saw my friends make teams, I saw the results and thought, ‘I could be there. I want to run the times they’re running,’” she said. “It motivated me a lot, especially because this is my last year as a junior.”
Elite competition is nothing new to Francois, but she is expecting a few twists in Florida.
“I’ve raced in competitions where the girls are just as fast as they’re going to be down there, but this is the first time they’re going to be my age,” she said. “It’s going to be really different. I’m excited.”
Francois earned the Pan Am spot thanks to a silver-medal performance in the 800 metres at the Canadian Junior Track and Field Championships, which were held in Winnipeg July 8 to 10. She clocked in with a time of 2:10.97, second only to Annie Leblanc of Quebec.
“It was hard because I was struggling with sickness throughout the week so I was just trying to get better — I guess it happened just in time,” she said. “I was really happy with how it went. Everything just clicked.”
Francois also placed second as part of Alberta’s 4x400-metre relay team.
In order to compete for Canada at the Pan Am Championships, athletes had to meet a certain standard in their event — which Francois did at a meet in Victoria earlier in July — and then finish in the top two at nationals.
Having the need to finish strong in the back of her mind made Francois a little more nervous when she got to Winnipeg, she said.
“Usually, I’ve always raced as an underdog, and this time, I was already in contention, so it was a really different mindset than I’m used to,” she said.
Also competing in Winnipeg was fellow recent Paul Kane graduate Garrett King, who won silver medals in the 400-metre hurdles and the 4x400-metre relay. King also placed seventh in the 110-metre hurdles.
“I had a slow start on the first day, but then on the second day, it ended up going really well,” said King, who is heading to the University of Calgary this fall.
“I came in there just wanting to have a good run and everything just clicked for me,” he added, noting that the silver-medal run of 54.46 seconds was a personal best by one second.
In June, King won gold in the senior boys 400-metre hurdles and the 100-metre hurdles at the Alberta Schools Athletic Association provincial championships at Foote Field in Edmonton. At the same meet, Francois captured the gold medal in the senior girls 800 metres. Her sister Hayley also finished first in the junior girls 800-metre and 1,500-metre races.
This fall, Francois will attend the University of Victoria and compete on the Vikings’ track team. But she has her sights on ever higher levels of competition, perhaps even reaching the Olympic Games one day.
And the experience of competing in Florida — where she hopes to at least make it past the first round in the 800 metres — should serve her well as she strives to reach those goals.
“It’s going to be a new step up from what I’m used to racing,” she said. “I love getting new experiences with types of races, types of environments. It’s going to be really good for me to grow.”
