The 2019 Harry Jerome Indoor Games at the Richmond Olympic Oval is less than two weeks away and meet directors Vincent Doyle and Kim Young are expecting to equal the over 700 entries from a year ago.
This event has been co-sponsored by the Achilles International Track and Field Society and the Richmond Kajaks since 2011 in the legacy of the 2010 Olympic Games. It provides opportunities for age group, U16, U18, open through masters athletes in the Oval’s five-lane Track Zone. The Games will take place on Saturday, Feb, 2 with this coming Friday being the deadline for race entries.
Amazing talent has been recognized over the years and Surrey’s Jasneet Nijjar is a great example of an outstanding athlete who has been a fixture since she was an age group sprinter.
This year’s Queen Elizabeth Secondary student body president, holds the Jerome Indoor Game’s meet records in the 60m and 60m hurdles for 13-year-olds, U16 and U18. In 2018 she was the B.C. High School Champion over the 100m, 200m and 400m and represented Canada at the World U18 Championships in Argentina.
Nijjar has been coached by Jessie Dosanjh at the Universal Athletics Club in North Surrey since she began the sport.
“She’s such a talented athlete,” he said. “She’s a hurdler, a jumper, a distance runner, she’s a sprinter, and last season we focused more on her pure speed for the future plan.
“This year I’m going to change her events into multi-events, the heptathlon, to use all of her talents. In the future I see her to reach the world-class level, and she has the potential to be in that.”
Next fall Nijjar will attend Washington State University in Pullman. The head coach at WSU is Prince George native Wayne Phipps. In 2018 Phipps coached Alissa Brooks-Johns to the PAC 12 Championships with 5977 points in the heptathlon.
Full entry information in the Harry Jerome Indoor Games is available at www.harryjerome.com
