Update on Rick Balls Gold

To see older posts on Rick's running just scroll down and at after you have read keep going back as some are now in older posts. Though it would make more sense in many cases to read these posts in the order posted. I didn't write this it is from his local newspaper.



Even though he found himself in unfamiliar territory, Orillia marathon runner Rick Ball didn’t let up on the gas pedal last weekend in Toronto.
Competing at the Canadian Track and Field Championships, the Bass Lake resident and double world record holder navigated his way onto the medal podium.
“I did my 10,000-metre race on Sunday and finished in a time of 38:20, which wasn’t a personal best for me,” said Ball, speaking with Orillia Today.
“But I am happy with my time, considering it was my first track event and it was a bit hot that day.”
Ball, a single leg amputee, captured a gold medal in the T44 category.
“There was great crowd support, especially the last couple of laps when I was the only one left running on the track. My goal was to run my own race and not get caught up with the other guys,” said Ball. Working closely with his running coach Roger DePlancke, Ball mapped out a training program geared specifically toward the national track finals.
“I wanted to stick to Roger’s plan which was to run hard, but not take any chances of blowing up and not finishing the race. He had me back off on my pace a bit due to the hot sunny weather,” he said.
As someone accustomed to running trails and roads during the past two years, Ball found the track environment a bit intimidating.
“I was a bit nervous due to the big event and the fact that the track was new to me.
“Varsity Stadium is a wonderful brand new facility for track and field. It was nice running on the rubber track,” he said.
Ball attended the Canadian Track and Field Championships at the invitation of Dave Greig, the para-athletics national talent development coach with Athletics Canada.
“It was a great experience for me. For a para-athlete like myself to be running in the able bodied race is practically unheard of. This is the new direction that Athletics Canada is going in to try and integrate us together as much as possible and I was lucky enough to benefit from that.
“It was a true honour for me to be running with some of the top elite Canadian runners like Reid Coolsaet, Andrew Smith and Dylan Wykes,” added Ball.