Lucia Stafford, one of Canada’s top 1500-metre runners, is confirmed for this year’s annual Victoria Track Classic in June at the University of Victoria’s Centennial Stadium.
“Lucia recently made Olympic standard in a strong 1500-metre field in Los Angeles with a time of 4:02. That makes her the fastest in Canada at this time as she builds towards Paris,” said Rowan Debues-Stafford this year’s Track Classic Meet Director and brother-in-law to Lucia. “Lucia will compete in the women’s 800 metres, which will be one of the highlights for the Track Classic. We will be announcing further additions to this race and others in the lead-up to June 12th.”
Stafford is the North American 1000m indoor record holder and the 2022 and 2023 Canadian 1500m champion. She was also a semi-finalist in the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
“It’s awesome to be competing in Victoria,” said Stafford. “This is the home track for both my siblings so it’s like a home meet in some ways. The west coast has been kind to me so far this season so I’m excited to get back out here, surrounded by the Canadian track community, as I fine-tune ahead of nationals and Paris.”
Additional athletes confirmed include discus throwers Rachel Andres and Agnes Esser currently ranked number 2 and 3, respectively in Canada. Andres is a three-time competitor of the Track Classic and Esser as the three-time national champion in the event.
The Track Classic is scheduled for Wednesday, June 12th beginning at 5:00 p.m. with youth and preliminary races followed by the featured or professional events at 7:00 p.m. As a world Athletics-sanctioned event, athletes earn points towards their rankings which leads to selection onto national teams such as the Olympics.
This year’s Victoria Track Classic features events such as men’s 100m, women’s 100m hurdles and men’s and women’s 400, 800 and 1500m distances and women’s discus.
For ticket information please visit Ticket Information. Kids 12 and under are free.
