North Vancouver’s Lindsey Butterworth has kicked her track and field career into top gear in recent weeks, topped off by a golden performance in the 800 metres at the national championships Sunday in Ottawa.
The 25-year-old set a personal best time of two minutes .87 seconds to claim the Canadian title, running away from the field down the home stretch at Terry Fox Stadium. Her blazing pace beat her old personal best time of 2:01.13 set at the Festival of Miles meet in St. Louis on May 31.
In the lead-up to the meet Butterworth indicated she was gunning to become the sixth Canadian woman ever to run the 800 in less than two minutes. The list of racers to achieve that standard includes Butterworth’s training partner and fellow North Vancouver runner Jessica Smith.
Butterworth didn’t quite crack two minutes in Ottawa but she did set the fastest time of the season for a Canadian woman and also qualified for the 2018 NACAC Track & Field Championships, a meet running Aug. 10-12 in Toronto that will feature athletes from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Butterworth’s national championship win came less than two weeks after she won gold at the prestigious Harry Jerome International track Classic in front of friends and family at Swangard Stadium.
