VANCOUVER - Wednesday, June 16, 2010 marks the long awaited official opening day of the Rashpal Dhillon UBC Track and Field Oval at the Point Grey UBC campus.
Opening ceremonies will be held at 4:45 p.m. to recognize this historic event. The ceremonies will occur during the UBC Pre-Jerome Open track and field meet.
The celebration serves to formally announce and recognize the enormous contribution of $1.1 million dollars from the Dhillon family's Richberry Farms towards this brand new facility at Thunderbird Park.
Special guests attending the opening ceremonies include UBC vice president Barbara Miles, UBC athletic director Bob Philip and Peter Dhillon, son of Rashpal Dhillon, after whom the oval is named. These three individuals will have the honour of cutting the ribbon to officially open the track and field facilities on the UBC campus.
The elder Dhillon, who passed away in 2003, was a lifelong entrepreneur after immigrating to Canada from India as a young man. As well as undertaking a series of successful business ventures, he encountered the most success with his cranberry farm. His son, Peter, is actively involved in a number of sporting projects among many other philanthropic endeavors.
In addition to the invited guests, many of the stars from the UBC Thunderbirds track and field team will be at the event. Six T-Bird medalists from the recently contested NAIA outdoor track and field championships will be honoured. Those athletes are Liz Gleadle, Curtis Moss, Reid Gustavson, Inaki Gomez, Nicola Evangelista, and Nelly Amenyogbe.
Gleadle and Moss both capped off outstanding careers as Thunderbirds by winning their respective javelin events. The win was Gleadle's fourth straight gold in the event which she notched with a championship record throw of 56.09m while Moss earned the first gold of his NAIA career.
After finishing in fourth place the last three years, Gustavson finally brought home the gold in the men's decathlon this year with a score of 7,026. The senior captured first in dramatic fashion with an outstanding performance in the final event, 1,500m run, enough to push him to the top of the podium.
Evangelista and Gomez were victorious in their 5000m race walks. Gomez earned his third national title in what was his last race in the UBC colours while Evangelista also repeated as the women's race walk champion.
Amenyogbe, a freshman, didn't compete until the final day of the championships in the women's marathon but it was well worth the wait, as she placed second in the grueling distance event.
The UBC Pre-Jerome Open is a new meet this year, preceding the Harry Jerome International Track and Field Classic held July 5th at Swangard Stadium. As well as providing excellent competition, it has partnered with the Jerome Outreach Program, and will include relay events for almost 70 elementary school teams.
The meet is scheduled to run from 4:00 p.m. until approximately 7:00 p.m., with the opening ceremonies at 4:45 p.m. lasting approximately half an hour.
UBC Track and Field, the Achilles Society, the Guardian Athletics Society, and local clubs are hosting the meet. Entrance for spectators is free.
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