Fleet-footed locals on track at Games

In a sporting division where fractions of a second can make you a medal winner or send you home empty handed, five Pictou County residents are battling this week against the best in the nation.
Yesterday Luke Demetre, Randall Henley, Celia Peters and Brandon Rosenburg all got their first taste of competition as the remnant rains of hurricane Bill dropped onto the athletes and the cheering fans at the Canada Games in P.E.I. New Glasgow's Morgan Priske will compete later this week.
Both New Glasgow's Peters and Westville's Rosenburg qualified yesterday to go onto the finals in their events which will be held today.
Rosenburg was competing in the triple jump yesterday and with his first jump went 13.50 metres to qualify for the finals.
"That's not unexpected for Brandon," says athletics coach Steve Wolmouth. "He's a great athlete and his best was much higher than the qualifying standard of 13.40 metres, so he did it on his very first jump."
Because of it he did not have to waste time and energy trying to make another jump.
"I'm just going to take it easy tonight and try to get my mind on the right track for tomorrow and get some sleep," Rosenburg said.
Peters competed in the 800 metre yesterday evening and qualified for the finals with the fourth fastest time in the preliminary round: 2:12.40. Finals will be this evening.
Demetre had a time of 11.32 seconds in 100 metre, which wasn't enough to qualify him for the A finals. In the B finals for the event he placed sixth with a time of 11.35 seconds. His personal best is 11.14 seconds for the event. While it wasn't what he wanted, "it was a good race," he says.
Now Demetre will be preparing to compete in the 4X100 metre and 4X400 metre relays.
New Glasgow's 18-year-old Henley finished fifth for his heat in the 400 metre race yesterday with a time of 50.84 seconds. Today he will be competing in the final consolation rounds of that event.
With a spread as much as three seconds between him and the top runners in the preliminary rounds, it's certainly been a tough competition, he said.
As he prepares to compete in tomorrow's race he's going to rest and keep his legs in good condition for the run, he said.
"Hopefully I'll be able to redeem myself some," he said.
While the wind and rain have affected some athletes, Henley said he's not concerned about it.
"It doesn't faze me," he said.
Rosenburg said he is driven by the knowledge that he represents his province.
"It's honestly like I have to do my best, not just for myself, but for the rest of the team and for everyone back home; so it's kind of like an extra push to get out there and do what I can," he said.
He hopes he can bring home a medal.
"It's iffy," he said. "There's a lot of good guys out here kind of out ahead of the field so it's going to either be stand back or try to find something to push myself a little harder and try to get up there and get close."
Coach Wolmouth said the athletes are facing some weather conditions that make racing less than ideal.
Different athletes handle the weather different ways, says Rosenburg, which could make the difference between whether or not he medals.
"It just depends on how everyone deals with it," he said. "I'm just going to go out and play my game."