A local athlete is back at work in achieving her goal of becoming an elite Canadian shot put thrower after recently making another successful trip to the Canadian Track and Field Championships.
Taryn Suttie placed second in the senior shot put event at the annual national competition held June 27 to 29 at Moncton Stadium in Moncton, New Brunswick. Suttie, who represented the University of Saskatchewan Huskies at the games, won the silver by throwing a Saskatchewan senior record distance of 16.48 metres.
“It was a fun weekend,” said the 23-year-old Hanley-raised athlete who now calls Kamloops, B.C. home. “The girl who got third was very, very close to me. She was on my heels and was beating me actually for part of the competition. I was definitely hoping for a top three finish (going in), so I was happy to steal that second spot.”
Suttie has participated in the Canadian Championships every summer since 2009 and has placed in the top three at the shot put event in five out of the six years. In those six appearances, she has represented the Huskies three times and the province of Saskatchewan as an independent athlete in the other three.
The shot put competitor left the U of S and moved to Kamloops to train at the national throw centre in 2012 to pursue a “strictly throwing” regime, but competed as a Huskie this year because she was enrolled in online courses this past winter that allowed her to also compete in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) indoor shot put season. Now that her university season is over, Suttie is focusing on attending as many meets as possible during the normal April to August outdoor season along with spending the rest of her time in training at Kamloops.
“There are a few different aspects of the training,” she said. “It’s very technical, so we spend a lot of time with a coach. My coach is always at my practices (and) gives me feedback after every throw because you want to get everything perfect technically.
“Speed and strength are (also) very important, so after every throwing session I’m in the gym lifting weights. It’s a power sport, (so) speed and strength combined. It’s lots of really quick powerful movements and lifts. When I train in Kamloops I train twice a day. I do two throwing sessions and two weight session per day five times a week.”
Suttie endures this regime to attain her goal of first competing for Saskatchewan in the Pan Am Games next summer in Toronto. From there she hopes to make it to the World Championships before attaining the ultimate goal of a 2016 Olympic berth.
“I still definitely have to step it up,” said Suttie. “I haven’t qualified yet or anything like that, so I’m within a metre of Olympic standard. I will have to get up to that in the next two years. It really depends on the year and it depends on who else is competing in my events.
“I will keep trying and hopefully it will all fall into place and the hard work will pay off and I’ll make it. We’ll have to see I guess.”