Athletics Yukon held a camp Saturday to identify athletes for the 2022 Canada Summer Games.

It was a windy day with some rain in the morning, but according to Kristen Johnston, president of Athletics Yukon, the conditions didn’t really affect the athletes’ performances.

“We’re basically doing a mini-meet, or have a variety of events,” said Johnston.

The competition took place from 10 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m.

Events included the 100, 200, 800, and 1500 metres, and shot put, long jump, high jump, discus and javelin.

Athletes taking part ranged in age from 15 to 23.

Lisa Vowk and Don White were also coaching the young athletes.

“Some of the kids were on our past Yukon teams and some of the athletes are brand new to Athletics (Yukon),” related Johnston.

Emily King, 19, had a full day, competing in the 100 metres, shot put, javelin, high jump, long jump, and triple jump and said it was going “pretty good. It’s a lot to compete in one day, cause usually I compete in heptathlon, which is seven events in two days, so doing six in one is a lot.”

“We’ve been training the past few weeks,” King related.

“It’s the beginning of the season. There’s a lot of room for improvement, for sure, but I’m happy with how it’s going so far.”

“I did Western Canada Summer Games a few years ago and I really liked that, so I’d like to continue that and bring it to the next level,” she added.

King said there are two competitions planned in B.C. and Alberta in the near future.

“This is just to identify people who are interested and see where we’re at,” explained King.

Brahm Hyde, 22, ran in the 800 metres and 400 metres. The Star spoke with him after the 800-metre race.

“It was nice, actually. I haven’t run with some of the younger athletes for a long time and it was nice to have someone to give me an idea of pace and also definitely someone to chase at the end.”

The 800 is not a regular event for Hyde.

“I usually compete in the 3-km and 5-km but I found it hard to rest and get faster in those events and it’s very exciting and fun to run in the 800 and I can improve my time much more easily ... I’ve had trouble in the past with starting too fast for me to handle because I was running against athletes from other provinces who are just going to go fast, so if you try to keep with them, you’re just going to burn yourself out, but here if I try to follow someone a little slower in the first one (lap), I can push and catch people in the second one, which is really satisfying.”

“I would have liked to have (caught) the first-place runner but I think I needed another 50 to 100 metres to keep closing,” he said.

Hyde, however, was happy with second.

“It’s kind of nice because it means ... I have someone to chase and maybe catch because I haven’t done a lot of training with the 8 (hundred metres) yet, but I’m excited to get faster at it.”

Alysha Gullison, 23, competed in the discus event.

“Discus isn’t my strongest event, but I think it went pretty good ... it went better than I expected it to. “It’s been a little bit since I’ve come out and practised ... but it actually went all right.”

Gullison competed in the past three Games in discus, but hammer throw is her main event.

She threw in the shot put earlier in the day.

“I wasn’t intending on doing shot put, but I just stepped into the ring for a second and it seemed to work out all right.”

Gullison would be competing in her fourth Canada Games for Team Yukon.

Zeb Blower won the high-jump competition with a jump of 157 cm.

“I think it was a lot of fun. First day of the year, nice to come out and do some jumps.

Despite the high jump success, he said his main event is probably going to be the long jump.

Blower attributes that success to “probably just training for volleyball, getting my jump higher – vertical.”