VANCOUVER - The UBC Thunderbirds track and field squad will be well represented at next month's Commonwealth Games in Dehli, India, with three students from the Point Grey campus taking part in the track and field competitions.
Current Thunderbird Evan Dunfee is contesting the 20-kilometre racewalk. He will be joined by former T-Birds Inaki Gomez (20-kilometre racewalk) and Mike Mason (high jump), both of whom are still students at UBC after illustrious T-Bird careers.
For Dunfee and Gomez, this marks their first major international meet at the senior level. Mason is the more experienced, having represented Canada at the Beijing Olympics and the World Indoor Athletics Championships in 2008. This is the first Commonwealth Games for all three athletes.
The Commonwealth Games athletics competitions are scheduled to take place from October 6-12, and the walks on October 9th.
Mike Mason
2004 was a breakthrough year for Mason when he won gold at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Italy, with a jump of 2.21-meteres. While competing for UBC, Mason was a three-time NAIA champion in the high-jump from 2006-08, and still holds the NAIA Outdoor Track and Field National Championship record of 2.22-meters, set in 2006. Last year at the Summer Universiade (FISU) in Belgrade he earned a silver medal with an effort of 2.23-metres. He was second at the Canadian Track and Field Championships this summer (2.16-meters), and bettered the 2.25-meters qualifying standard for the team on two occasions this year. Mason, a native of Nanoose Bay, B.C. is a student in the Human Kinetics program at UBC.
Inaki Gomez
Gomez, of Vancoucver, B.C., has set the faster time over the 20-kilometers distance in relation to his training partner, Dunfee, with a 1:24:48 clocking at an All Comers meet this past June. A consistent performer during his UBC career, he never finished worse than second at the NAIA championships, winning the 5000-meter racewalk three times in succession and placing second once as a freshman. In 2008 he was selected to the Summer Universiade (FISU) team and placed 20th in the 20-kilometer race. His international experience also includes a fourth-place finish at the NACAC U-23 Championships in Mexico, in 2008. He is currently pursuing a UBC degree in international relations and Spanish literature.
Evan Dunfee
Racing at such a high level, it is hard to believe Dunfee will just have turned 20-years old when the Games get underway. The Richmond, B.C., student is currently starting his third year at UBC. As a Thunderbird, Dunfee placed second behind Gomez at the 2009 NAIA national championships outdoor meet in the 5000-meters racewalk. This year at the same meet he was disqualified while almost certainly en route to a podium position. His international achievements include finishing 10th in the 10-kilometre racewalk at the IAAF World Junior Championships in Poland (2008) in then a personal best time of 42:56.82. In 2009 Dunfee's accomplishments were recognized as he was awarded the Fred Begley Memorial Trophy, as the top off-track Canadian Athlete of the Year. Like Mason, Dunfee is a student in UBC's Human Kinetics program.
-30-
