Mission accomplished for Dean Ellenwood.
Heading into the Canadian Legion track and field championships over the weekend, the 15-year-old from Langley was intent on finding the podium.
“My goal was to medal in my events, but I really wanted to win the 800m,” he said.
“That is my speciality event and there was some big competition and I wanted to prove that I could.”
And Ellenwood, who was representing the Langley Mustangs Track and Field Club, delivered, winning the 800m race and adding a silver in the 300m.
Ellenwood was competing in the midget (U16) division.
He won gold on Sunday, the final day of the three-day championships which were held at Langley’s McLeod Park.
The championships brought together close to 1,000 track and field athletes between the ages of 12 and 17. The event will again be held at McLeod Park in 2014.
In his gold-medal victory, Ellenwood crossed the finish line in 1:56.12, which was more than a full second ahead of Ezana Wossen of Centro Scuola, a track and field club out of Toronto.
Taking bronze was Team Quebec’s Najib El Andaloussi.
On Saturday, Ellenwood was second across the finish line in the 300m race with a time of 36.67 seconds. The gold medal went to Team Quebec’s William Gagnon while Colesen Faunt of Team Alberta/Northwest Territories took third.
“I didn’t expect silver actually,” Ellenwood said.
“I was ranked fifth going in (to the finals, after preliminaries) and finished second with a big personal best.”
Overall, Ellenwood said it was really fun competing at the Legion championships and an exciting experience.
“It is a big meet and all the provinces are there, which makes it great,” he said.
Ellenwood, who enters Grade 10 at Langley Secondary next month, won a pair of gold medals in the 400m and 800m races this past June in the Grade 8/9 division at the B.C. high school track and field championships, which were also held at McLeod Park.
