Therrien to represent Canada on international track stage

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Ryan Therrien's 18th birthday is bound to be a memorable one. The runner will be marking the milestone in Santa Fe, Argentina, where he will represent Canada at the 2001 Pan American Junior Track and Field Championships taking place Oct. 18 to 20.

"My birthday is Oct. 19, so I'll be competing, probably, on my birthday," said the Edmonton-born Therrien, who has been living in Ottawa since he was seven.

"Not too many Aboriginal kids become national champions in track and field," said father Richard Mirasty. "He's being doing this for a couple of years now, and its kind of a well kept secret. Not too many people know he's an Aboriginal kid. And he's doing really well."

Therrien qualified to be part of the Canadian contingent in Argentina with a victory in the 400-metre dash at the Canadian National Junior Track and Field Championships held in Calgary from July 27 to 29. He was ranked third going into the nationals, but turned that into first place with a finishing time of 47.79.

"I was ecstatic," Therrien said of his performance.

"It was like a dream come true. I didn't believe it at first. The time was 47.79. That's a huge PB [personal best] and I just didn't expect to be running that quick. It hadn't really hit me, but then I just realized I was the national junior champion and I was going to represent my country, and it was just a great feeling," he said.

"If I'd just run that and come third, I would have been happy."

Before the national event, Therrien's personal best had been 48.48, more than half a second slower than his championship run in Calgary.

"I wasn't expecting to win. I was hoping to maybe get a medal at the best, but I just felt good. I ran well and I won. And I ended up qualifying for the Pan Am Juniors. It's just like a dream."

Therrien's accomplishment is even more impressive considering he is a recent comer to the world of track and field. He started running three years ago, although this is only his second full year with the sport.

"Right now, I'm ranked first in Canada for juniors. A lot of the guys that have been up there have been training for five, six years. So it is kind of unusual, I guess."

Therrien said he initially got involved in track and field just as a way to keep busy at school, but his success in the sport made him decide to stick it out.

"I made the actual high school finals for the 200 in my first year in track, so I figured, it might be something I'm good at, so I gave it a shot," he said.

"I came second at the provincial high school championships in the 400 this year. The guy that beat me at the high school championships, I beat him. He was second at the national juniors."

Therrien had been involved in sports before taking up track and field, playing baseball and hockey, but now he focuses just on track. He's joined the Ottawa Lions track club, and was named as one of the club's juvenile athletes of the year for 2000.

The competition is one of the things Therrien likes most about track and field.

"The competition is great. In team sports, it's good being in a team sport, but this is one-on-one, who is the better runner. It's just pure competition. It's the greatest, and I enjoy that."

But each time he steps on the track, Therrien is also competing with himself.

"In setting a PB, bettering yourself and knowing that you can run faster than you've ever run before, it's a good feeling, personal satisfaction."

Therrien is hoping to capitalize on his success on the track, using his running skills to earn an education. And, with one year of high school left before he graduates, he's already begun looking at his options.

"I want to go to university in the States. I've been talking to some schools, and it would be great just to continue and get a free education or a cheap education down in the States, just because I can run," Therrien said.

"I've been talking to a few schools already, some Ivy League schools like Cornell and Columbia, and also California at Berkey, and Utah. I want to go into engineering, computer engineering or electrical engineering."

As for the games in Argentina, Therrien has set his sights on making it into the 400-metre final.

"Just making the final would be great," he said. "Just going to an international competition like that, and being able to be among the best in the Pan American world would be great, would be an unbelievable achievement, and I think that's what I'd like to do."