Prince George senior breaks his own national decathlon record

Photo: Citizen photo by Christine Dalgleish.

Tom Ukonmaanaho is seen here during the Spruce Capital meet held at Masich Place in June and hosted by the Prince George Track & Field Club.

Track & Field records, gold medals and personal bests followed Prince George Track & Field Club masters athletes home this August with more opportunities for success slated for September 13-17 at the 55+ BC Games in Victoria.

Tom Ukonmaanaho, 77, saw his biggest achievement this competition season, which took place August 27 and 28, when he attended the Greyhounds Multi Event in Surrey.

Ukon Tom, as he’s known at the PG Track & Field Club, participated in the decathlon for the second year in a row.

Ukonmannaho had waited years – through the pandemic and before – as the 10-event, two-day competition is a beast to organize and host. The Greyhounds rallied their extraordinary volunteers and held the multi-event once again – and Ukon Tom was ready and injury free.

Last year he beat the BC record for decathlon by more than 2,000 points and the Canadian record by 200 points.

Last weekend he bested his own record by 792 points with a score of 6089.

Last year Ukonmaanaho had suffered an injury to his left leg so when it came time to sprint the 100m this year with a healthy body he managed to shave three seconds off his time, giving him a whopping 500 more points to the tally. After that first event, he just had to perform at least equal to his last year’s times and distances and he was golden.

And on his way to creating a new Canadian decathlon record, Ukonmaanaho managed to leap to a new BC record in the 80m hurdles as well.

Here are his scores for the decathlon 100m 14.71 seconds, long jump 3.24m, shot put 9.09m, high jump 1.15m, 400m 1:14:59, 80m hurdle 18.08, discus 21.50m, pole vault 2.30m, and 1500m 8:47.28 minutes.

“It was nice to have a healthy body to work with this year – my left leg was injured last year and didn’t help me at all – so this year everything went off with no hiccups,” Ukonmaanaho said.

The biggest challenge for the record-holding sprinter was the last event – the 1500m.

“I started the race too fast and ended up running out of breath and I had to stop three times but I did manage to finish it,” Ukonmaanaho said.

Earlier in the season Ukon Tom was part of the indoor world record breaking 4x400m team for M75, and the 4x800m team for M75, and took the indoor pole vault BC record at the BC Indoor Championships held in Kamloops in February.

Then he broke meet records at two local competitions, attended the Canadian Masters Championships in Regina July 29-31 and brought home six gold medals along with his latest BC pole vault record.

Then he attended the BC Masters Championship hosted by the Greyhounds Masters Track & Field Club in Surrey August 13 and 14, where he brought home another bunch of medals – five gold and two silver, including the BC record for the outdoor 4x400m M75.

Ukon Tom has the opportunity to break more records at the 55+ BC Games in Victoria in a couple of weeks.

Joan Harris, 60, has had a very successful season after months of dedicated training, beginning with a gold and silver at the BC Masters Indoor Championships for shot put and weight throw, respectively.

Then she broke several meet records at the two local meets hosted by the PG Track & Field Club.

Harris went on to compete at the BC Masters Championships in Surrey, hosted by the Greyhound Track & Field Club August 13 and 14 where she took home one gold and five silver medals. Then Harris attended the Cory Holly Throws Challenge in Vernon on Aug. 20, where she took gold in the throws pentathlon where she threw five implements including hammer, shot put, discus, javelin and weight throw. Harris threw several personal bests.

The highlight of the season so far for Harris is when she competed in the Canada 55+ GamesAug./ 23 to 26 and brought home three gold medals in discus, shot put and javelin.

Harris’ throws pentathlon score is just 100 points off the national record of 3432 held by Rose Hare since 2013. Harris will have a chance to beat that record when she attends the 55+ BC Games in Victoria Sept. 13 to 17.

Brad Frenkel, 57, broke local meet records earlier in the season, and came home from the BC Masters Championships in Surrey with silver medals in hammer and weight throw and a bronze in discus.

Christine Dalgleish, 58, (yes, that’s me!) earned three BC records this year, including the indoor weight throw record, the outdoor weight throw record and the super weight throw record. Dalgleish – yes, it’s weird referring to myself in the third person! – took one gold and one silver medal at the BC Indoor Masters Championships in February, broke two local meet records, took six gold medals at the BC Masters Championships hosted by the Greyhounds in Surrey August 13 and 14 and gold in the throws pentathlon at the Greyhounds Multi Event where she squeaked by her own weight throw record with a toss of 9.74m.

All four Prince George Track & Field masters athletes will participate at the 55+ BC Games in Victoria Sept. 13 to 17.