The Air Blastoff Lions indoor track and field crew were not about to let the lack of access to their traditional winter training venue slow them down a whole lot as the team kicked off a the new calendar year with a pair of meets.
Maximizing the takeaways from the small spaces that were available and focusing heavily on technical skills, the locals burst from the gates at a small handful of meets in January.
Melina Doiron hit the ground running, quite literally, posting a pair of new personal best times in the 60m dash at the Sharon Anderson Memorial Meet at the University of Toronto, clocking in at 7.88 seconds in the heats and 1/100th of a second slower in the final.
Those performances ranked Doiron sixth, overall, in a field of 61 competitors, also teaming up with fellow Lions Amanda Syncox, Annabelle Richardson and Jessy Trottier, completing the 4 X 200m relay in 1:52.86, good enough for bronze medals.
Richardson (60m - 8.21; 300m - 43.87 - grade nine student), Syncox (60m - 8.67; 300m - 45.77) and Trottier (60m - 8.93; shot put - 7.78m - first time thrower) all kept busy individually, as well, with Jacob Paille (60m - 7.77; 300m - 38.35) representing the male Air Blastoff crew.
The Lions travelled crosstown the next day to take part in the Variety Village Season Opener, with Doiron asserting herself with a first place finish in the slightly shorter 50m dash (6.86 in heats; 6.80 in finals).
Annabelle Richardson was right on her heels (7.13 in heats; 7.04 in finals), with the pair also emerging as the top two at the 200m distance (Doiron in 26.24; Richardson in 27.21).
Joining the party on Sunday was Nehemiah Esmie, entered in the same two races as his clubmates, with results as follows: 8.02 seconds / 7.92 seconds (50m dash) and 31.43 (200m).
A couple of weeks later, it was time to amp up the level of competition as three local sprinters crossed the border to compete at the University of Michigan High-School Showcase in Ann Arbor.
With acceptance to the elite field required, Air Blastoff was fortunate enough to send their talented trio to the meet, as Annabelle Richardson bolted to the top U16 ranking in Canada, very early in the year, in the 200m dash, registering a time of 26.69 (along with 8.14 seconds in the 60m).
Melina Doiron just barely missed out on qualifying in the 60m dash final, lowering her time to 7.86 seconds, with the top 16 (of 92) clocking times of 7.85 seconds or faster. Kamryn Tatum of the Michigan Mustangs captured the final in 7.40 seconds.
Doiron was arguably even more impressive in her 200m heat, placing 18th of 80 in a time of 25.62.
Meanwhile, Jacob Paille turned in a pair of season best performances, raising the bar in both the 200m (23.96 seconds) and the 400m (53.35) events.
This coming weekend, the older Air Blastoff athletes are off to the Toronto Track & Field Centre at York University, part of the group that will test themselves against the provincial elite at the 2025 Ontario Indoor U18 & Open Track and Field Championships.