It will be far more than just another weekend meet for Garrett Collier and the Kajaks.
Saturday’s Richard Collier Big Kahuna Throwsfest is in recognition of the tremendous work the longtime coach did with the Richmond track and field club. So is the venue where the competition takes place.
The Collier Throws Centre opened last spring at Minoru Park. Months later, Richard Collier lost his battle with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. His son Garrett is now continuing his legacy as the club’s head coach.
“This is probably one of the top places to throw in the country,” said Garrett. “It’s one of the few with a dedicated throws area and just the amount of time and money that the city put into this is impressive to me, coming from an NCAA Division One (background).”
The Collier Throwsfest will feature all four disciplines — shot put, discus, javelin and hammer — with athletes ranging from Midget (14-15) to senior (under 35) age. The competition gets underway at 10 a.m. Other than the Bondarchuk Cup in Kamloops, it’s the only meet exclusively for throwers in B.C.
“My dad came up with this idea around the fall of 2014 as a way to keep throwing going throughout the year,” explained Garrett. “We have since found a weekend that was pretty open and decided to do a reboot and move it to now. We had a meet earlier in the spring and had some really good feedback and this will be a shorter version of that.
“We have had athletes like (No. 1 ranked Canadian in hammer throw Heather Steacy and (Canadian record holder) Sultana Frizell come through here and love it. It’s one of the only places like it.”
And it most certainly beats the previous training area at Minoru where Garrett bloomed into one of the top throwers in the country under his dad’s nurturing. “The old discus cage was about half this size and wasn’t necessarily safe either. There was a (walkway) about 62 metres out so we had to be careful once we could throw beyond that.”
Garrett took his discuss/hammer talents to the University of Cal Berkeley and remained with the sport after his competitive career by working as the throws coach at the University of Hawaii for nine years. The position brought the Honolulu native back to where he spent the first five years of his life until his parents moved to Vancouver in 1984.
Even with a good job in a fantastic location, Collier yearned for a change that would bring him back home. He was hired by B.C. Athletics as technical director in 2012 and took on the Kajaks head coaching role last summer.
“Hawaii is an amazing place and I have the luxury of having family there,” added Collier. “A lot of my friends here were doing some things, moving and shaking, and I just didn’t want to stay in Hawaii the rest of the time. I moved back here on a whim and knew of a couple of jobs that had opened up.
“When my dad way ready to pack it up, I just stepped in and took over the reigns. (Lead coach) Byron Jack has been amazing to work with. We both have busy schedules but the love for this club is strong. It’s a good relationship.”
The Richard Collier Throwsfest gets underway at 10 a.m. and is expected to wrap up around 3 p.m.
