There’s no doubt that success can be contagious – just ask North Vancouver’s rising track star Caleigh O’Flaherty.
The teen has proven in her first serious season as a heptathlon athlete how one win can lead to another.
The 15-year-old, who trains with the New West Spartans, wrapped up a tremendous first season in the seven-sport event, capturing a bevy of personal bests (PB) and finishing fifth overall at the Legion national championships in Brandon, Man. earlier this month.
Each taste of success only whetted her appetite for more. At least, that’s how it unfolded after O’Flaherty nailed a new best time in the first event – the 100-metre hurdles.
“I think when you have a good event and already have some points under your belt, that it totally helps your mind space in the next event, knowing that I don’t have to jump a PB to make up for that, I can just jump and have fun. I don’t have to throw this far,” said O’Flaherty.
Funny how fun often is matched by PBs. The St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary athlete established four of them in Brandon in the women’s under-18 division, beginning with the 100-m hurdles in 15.54 seconds. That new personal mark brought a smile to her face, and set the ball in motion for more of the same.
“That really set the tone for the whole competition,” she said of the hurdles. “High jump was next and I got a season’s best in that, which I was really happy about. In shot put, which is one of my favourite heptathlon events, also went really well with a personal best, and the 200-metre was awesome – another PB, which was a crazy day for me.”
Three new career bests already marked the national championship as a great success. While the second day began with respectable results in both the javelin (10th overall) and long jump (eighth), O’Flaherty capped it by legging out a top time of 2:31.00 in the 800 metres.
All told, she left the Legion nationals with a pair of silver medals (200 m and 800 m), a bronze (shotput) and a fifth-place finish (100-m hurdles) and the sense that the wind was in her sails.
“I knew it was going to be possible because I had been working so hard and my coaches have been working so hard for me, helping me and training me non-stop and adding another practice day for me. I knew this heptathlon was going to be better than the one at provincials, but I didn’t know it was going to be that good,” she said.
She credits the past year of training under the Spartans’ coaches Tatjana and Besnik Mece, who were instrumental in coaching New Westminster native and NCAA pentathlon medalist Nina Schultz to realizing her potential.
A year ago, in O’Flaherty’s first trip to the Legion championships as a midget (under-15), the experience was quite different, with just three events on her schedule.
“Last year wasn’t as good as I was hoping but I had a really fun time. We did a relay and we came fifth. … I competed in the 80-m hurdles and unfortunately had a little tumble. I also competed in the 200-m hurdles but just wasn’t in the right headspace after my fall,” she said.
Still, at that time O’Flaherty was considered to be a two- or three-event athlete who was searching for a specialty. Flash forward to a few months ago when the Meces suggested she revisit the whole menu of events for her repertoire.
“When we were looking at it this year, we realized that every year I had specialized in a heptathlon event,” she said. “So we just thought, ‘Well I can jump, I can hurdle, I can run. We’ll work on javelin. I can throw a shotput with enough training, why wouldn’t this work? Why not at least try?’
“We just decided to jump in the deep end and do one (pentathlon). It worked out really well and decided let’s do it. This is what we’re going to focus on now,” O’Flaherty said.
Having experienced similar success in 2016, when she placed second at the B.C. midget championships for pentathlon, was an indication she was on the right path.
“I also gained a lot of confidence and I have a great relationship with my coaches – I love going to practice and seeing them. It’s just a really good coach-athlete relationship that is really helpful.”
While she doesn’t favour one event over another, O’Flaherty admits to being a hurdling fan. Clearing the bar quicker and cleaner is always a great feeling. But they don’t call them hurdles for no reason.
“Hurdles can be very intimidating, totally. They are kind of tall, sometimes they’re big,” said O’Flaherty.
“It’s kind of something that I think has to be treated very delicately, when you fall. You get back out there and do it, but it might take a few tries.”
All this enthusiasm and dedication towards the gamut she’s embraced traces back to her first recollections of running at school. The success wasn’t immediate, but once it arrived, she was hooked.
“I remember when I was in elementary school I wasn’t the fastest by any means and then I think the dice got rolling when I won my B flight race for this 100-m (race), I won it at a little mini-meet.
“I was so happy, and I asked my dad ‘I want to do it again, I want to do more of this.’ He put me in track (with the Norwesters track club) just to try it. Everyone was so nice, everyone was so welcoming and friendly. I think I just found my calling and my passion.”
