WOLFVILLE - There was a time Jane Warren thought her track career ended with high school graduation.
Little did she know, the best was yet to come decades later.
Warren was bitten by the track and field bug in her school years.
“I fell in love with javelin throwing,” she said.
Warren found a new love when she picked up track again as a masters-level athlete in 2012. She seized the opportunity to try the hammer throw, an event girls weren’t permitted to partake in when she was in school.
And now she’s going places.
Warren recently travelled to Toronto to compete in the Canadian Indoor Master Track and Field Championships at York University from March 10-11. She participated in the age 60 to 64 category for women, and walked away with a silver medal for weight throw (indoor hammer throw) and bronze medal in shot put.
The Wolfville resident is ranked fifth in Canada for her division in shot put, and third nationally in the weight throw for indoor. She cracked the top three nationally in a throw pentathlon involving five events in 2017. For provincial indoor results in her competition class this season, Warren is ranked first in Nova Scotia in shot put and second in weight throw.
“I work at it quite a bit,” she said.
She’s been to nationals on multiple occasions, and enjoys striving to increase her rankings while taking in the social aspect of the large-scale sporting events at the same time.
“The people are friendly,” she said.
“You meet people all across the country.”
She recalls competing in the same events as former Olympic athletes, including one in her competition class, and feeling inspired by their lifelong dedication to sport.
“They were doing it,” she said.
“It makes you more level headed and cheered up that you’re doing something, you’ve got something to work towards.”
Warren is responsible for her own training and travel expenses, but she has successfully secured sponsorships to assist with the costs of attending some out-of-province competitions in the past. She predominantly competes in Nova Scotia.
She plans out her own workout and weight training routines, and regularly watches online videos for helpful hints.
“It probably is more about technique than strength,” she said, noting that the footwork is a huge part of a successful throw.
Warren has no plans of slowing down any time soon. For the long term, she has her sights set on the 2020 world championships in Toronto.
“I just want to keep going,” she said.
“I’ve met a lot of people this way.”
