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Vanderhoof kids at provincials

Alexander Nemethy and Emma Floris were at the track and field provincials in Kamloops racing in the extreme heat.
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Alexander Nemethy (far left) racing in the steeple chase at the track and field provincials in Kamloops.

The provincial track and field championships took place in Kamloops this year and the weather was sweltering for the athletes.

Running and jumping in 35 degree Celsius for three days takes a toll on anyone's body but Alexander Nemethy and Emma Floris from Vanderhoof gave it their all.

Emma Floris, grade nine, placed tenth in long jump, seventh in 200 metre and third place in the 100 metre, a new personal best for her.

"It definitely made it harder, in all my races I didn't quite beat my personal best probably because I'm not used to that kind of heat," said Alexander Nemethy. "But I still did really well, in the 2,000 metre steeple chase I was only three seconds off my personal best.

Nemethy had one race at 9:30 a.m. and it was "already super hot" he said. So by the time he had to race at 3:30 p.m., the hottest part of the day, the track must have been molten.

Nemethy, grade 10, placed fifth in the 2,000 metre steeple chase, and ninth in both the 3,000 metre run and the 800 metre run.

Nemethy mostly did the 800 metre run just for fun, his main event being the steeple chase.

"The long stuff you want to go out and pace yourself well not go too hard otherwise you'll suffer a lot at the end and fade away whereas the 800 metre you can almost go full out the first lap and then in the second lap you basically try to hang on and not slow down too much."

Nemethy trains every week. He runs at least three or four times a week, does core workouts, cycles and even does something called roller skiing which looks like skiing but on wheels.

There were 523 athletes attending the provincials aged 14 to university level. Both Vanderhoof athletes qualified for Legion Nationals in Langley on August 9-11.