Running with Charlie’s Angels

By Heather Killen

The Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

Charlie’s girls are no angels if you’re running against them.

Earlier this month, Jenna Martin, 20, Rebecca Cody, 19, Marissa Walter, 17, Britaney MacArthur, 15, and Hilary Rawding, 14, were bound for Ontario to compete at the Olympic trials.

As usual, coach Charlie Scarrow of Athletics East in Bridgetown, couldn’t say enough good things about his athletes.

“Five of them made the trials, it’s fantastic,” he said. “They’re young compared to most of the athletes, but they’re way ahead of the curve.”

Scarrow admitted he was taking a risk by entering the girls into the trials, knowing their competition would be a group of more seasoned athletes, each fiercely vying for a spot on the Olympic team.

“This is for their minds and to find out how they will react,” he said. “It’s hard knowing that you’re going into a competition where you can’t win and you’ll probably be in the back of the pack. They’ll each find out whether they react positively or negatively to this.”

On average, the athletes qualifying for Canada’s Track and Field Olympic team were about 10 years older than Jenna Martin, his most experienced athlete. While she didn’t make the first cut, Martin ran in top three at the trials bringing home a bronze medal and earning the opportunity to make Olympic standards by racing in the 23 and under team trials held in Mexico.

“It’s just a mindset,” said Jenna Martin, about the Olympic trials. “It will push us to run better times.”

Martin has been turning heads and breaking records at the University of Kentucky for the past couple of years. While Scarrow is no longer her regular trainer, she still chose to come back to Nova Scotia and work with him before the trials.

“I’ve worked with Charlie since the seventh grade, I basically grew up with him,” she said. “He knows me inside out and he knows how to motivate me, that’s really important.”

Close on Martin’s heels, Rebecca Cody just finished her first year of study at Tulane University. She said that adjusting to the changes over the past year has already given her the mindset she needed to face down the fierce competition she would meet in Toronto.

“It’s been a learning curve,” she said. “I’ve already faced some pretty stiff competition this year.”

This sentiment seemed to hold for the three youngest girls, as well. While none said they expected to qualify for the team, or even finish in the top 10, they all looked excited about the prospect of entering the trials.

Instead of being intimidated by the older and more experienced athletes they were bound to face, Scarrow’s group said that running against the odds would only make them try harder.

While the four younger athletes didn’t win the war when they crossed the finish line, they each won their own battle, by beating own best times. They also continued to place well in competitions closer to home. Marissa Walter won first place in the 400, in Halifax.

“Who says girls can’t fight?” said Scarrow. “They can and they did. I’m very proud of them.”

Of the hundreds of athletes he has worked with during his career, Scarrow said this group of girls is among his favorites. While it would seem obvious that forcing a group of teenagers to spend prolonged periods of time in high stress, high performance conditions would cause problems, this group seems to thrive.

“They’re a special group this bunch, they have a lot of fun together,” he said. “They work hard, but they have a lot of fun. They have this unique chemistry.”

The younger girls said that spending so much time training and traveling to competitions has helped them to build a support system that is in place regardless of the day’s performance. They’ve all seen each other through the wins, the losses and all the hard hours preparing.

“We’re like a family,” said Britaney MacArthur. “We’re here for each other through the good times and the bad times.”

While Scarrow uses innovative and creative training methods to physically push the athletes to the edge, he puts an equal emphasis on mentally preparing them to face intimidating competitors without a home field advantage.

Jenna Martin said she remembers how she used to hate how Scarrow had made her run in blizzards, but now she’s glad she did. He also turns out the lights and encourages them to train in the dark in order to focus their awareness on their movements and control fear.

Scarrow is best known for the stories he tells to inspire his athletes with constructive visualizations. Before the group left for Toronto, they were asked what their favorite Charlie story was. Rebecca Cody remembered one about a drummer boy from the American Civil War.

“Before the battle, the general kept asking if there was one brave soldier among them who could carry the flag,” she said. “So this little boy came forward and volunteered to carry the flag into battle.”

Carrying the flag into battle meant being target for enemy fire, so the boy knew he was likely doomed to enter a losing battle. The story is aimed at showing how valor can outshine advantage, and that fearlessness comes in all sizes and ages.

While Cody was able to remember some parts of the story, the younger two filled in parts they remembered. Then, after a minute, the youngest found her place in the story.

“I’m not going to let this get the best of me,’ said Hilary Rawding. “I’ve got them (Martin and Cody) just in front of me, they’ve been through more battles. This won’t beat me.”