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Athletics Yukon held a camp Saturday to identify athletes for the 2022 Canada Summer Games.

It was a windy day with some rain in the morning, but according to Kristen Johnston, president of Athletics Yukon, the conditions didn鈥檛 really affect the athletes鈥� performances.

鈥淲e鈥檙e basically doing a mini-meet, or have a variety of events,鈥� said Johnston.

The competition took place from 10 a.m. to about 2:30 p.m.

Events included the 100, 200, 800, and 1500 metres, and shot put, long jump, high jump, discus and javelin.

Athletes taking part ranged in age from 15 to 23.

Lisa Vowk and Don White were also coaching the young athletes.

鈥淪ome of the kids were on our past Yukon teams and some of the athletes are brand new to Athletics (Yukon),鈥� related Johnston.

Emily King, 19, had a full day, competing in the 100 metres, shot put, javelin, high jump, long jump, and triple jump and said it was going 鈥減retty good. It鈥檚 a lot to compete in one day, cause usually I compete in heptathlon, which is seven events in two days, so doing six in one is a lot.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e been training the past few weeks,鈥� King related.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the beginning of the season. There鈥檚 a lot of room for improvement, for sure, but I鈥檓 happy with how it鈥檚 going so far.鈥�

鈥淚 did Western Canada Summer Games a few years ago and I really liked that, so I鈥檇 like to continue that and bring it to the next level,鈥� she added.

King said there are two competitions planned in B.C. and Alberta in the near future.

鈥淭his is just to identify people who are interested and see where we鈥檙e at,鈥� explained King.

Brahm Hyde, 22, ran in the 800 metres and 400 metres. The Star spoke with him after the 800-metre race.

鈥淚t was nice, actually. I haven鈥檛 run with some of the younger athletes for a long time and it was nice to have someone to give me an idea of pace and also definitely someone to chase at the end.鈥�

The 800 is not a regular event for Hyde.

鈥淚 usually compete in the 3-km and 5-km but I found it hard to rest and get faster in those events and it鈥檚 very exciting and fun to run in the 800 and I can improve my time much more easily ... I鈥檝e had trouble in the past with starting too fast for me to handle because I was running against athletes from other provinces who are just going to go fast, so if you try to keep with them, you鈥檙e just going to burn yourself out, but here if I try to follow someone a little slower in the first one (lap), I can push and catch people in the second one, which is really satisfying.鈥�

鈥淚 would have liked to have (caught) the first-place runner but I think I needed another 50 to 100 metres to keep closing,鈥� he said.

Hyde, however, was happy with second.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of nice because it means ... I have someone to chase and maybe catch because I haven鈥檛 done a lot of training with the 8 (hundred metres) yet, but I鈥檓 excited to get faster at it.鈥�

Alysha Gullison, 23, competed in the discus event.

鈥淒iscus isn鈥檛 my strongest event, but I think it went pretty good ... it went better than I expected it to. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a little bit since I鈥檝e come out and practised ... but it actually went all right.鈥�

Gullison competed in the past three Games in discus, but hammer throw is her main event.

She threw in the shot put earlier in the day.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 intending on doing shot put, but I just stepped into the ring for a second and it seemed to work out all right.鈥�

Gullison would be competing in her fourth Canada Games for Team Yukon.

Zeb Blower won the high-jump competition with a jump of 157 cm.

鈥淚 think it was a lot of fun. First day of the year, nice to come out and do some jumps.

Despite the high jump success, he said his main event is probably going to be the long jump.

Blower attributes that success to 鈥減robably just training for volleyball, getting my jump higher 鈥� vertical.鈥�