T
he Okanagan Valley’s Taryn O’Neill is one
of Canada’s top junior middle-distance and
cross-country runners. She enjoys a diverse recre-
ational lifestyle, but also has her eyes on a career
in medicine.
O’Neill hails from one of those recreational
hubs where year round there is a high level
of physical activity, as the Okanagan offers a
diverse culture of recreation with its long, warm
summers, mild winters and an environment that
is conducive to play.
When asked about her activity outside of
running she said, “In the winter I cross-country
ski for a bit of cross-training and I downhill ski.”
O’Neill also regularly ventures out into the wilder-
ness on backcountry ski trips. “I’ve always loved
mountaineering and climbing, as I grew up in the
mountains, but I haven’t had much of a chance to
get into that yet,” she said. “I play basketball and soccer as well, but
just for fun at a very low level. I love lots of other sports but running
remains number one.”
O’Neill, a Grade 11 student enrolled in George Elliot Secondary,
lives in the town of Winfield (population 12,000), which is located
on Okanagan Lake, 19 kilometres north of Kelowna in an incorpo-
rated area known as Lake Country.
“It’s pretty diverse when it comes to trail running, for most people
there’s trail right out the back door. The coaching community isTaryn Up
the Track
B.C.’s Taryn O’Neill is a
dominant junior track
runner, but her favourite
place to race is on a
rainy, muddy cross-
country courseobviously great too,” O’Neill pointed out.
O’Neill is coached by former Canadian middle-
distance runner Malindi Elmore. Elmore twice
competed in the iaaf World C ros s- C ou nt r y
Championships, as well as the 2004 Athens
Olympics in the 1,500m.
O’Neill won the junior B.C. High School
Championships in the 1,500m, while placing third
in the 800m. Additionally, she has performed well
in the steeplechase finishing fourth at the national
Legion track meet.
Next year, she is hopes to attain a scholarship to
compete for a university, but hasn’t looked into the
specifics just yet. She is an “A” student who enjoys
the sciences.
“My favourite is biology,” said the 16-year-old. “I
want to be a surgeon when I finish school. But I’m
also in art class just for fun. And I play alto sax in
the school band.”
Asked about her favourite discipline in running, she said,
“cross-country is my favourite, by far. I like the variation and how
unpredictable it is. Also, the cold and rain is my favourite weather
to run in.”
True to her word, after finishing third in the 2015 B.C. High School
Championships she said, “I love running in the rain. We don’t get a
lot of it in the Okanagan. It was muddy and slippery, which was a lot
of fun.”–CKAGE 16
SCHOOL
George Elliot
Secondary
COACH
Malindi Elmore
GRADE 11
PERSONAL BESTS
800m 2:17.60
1,500m 4:42.61
2,000m 6:29.04
3,000m 10:13.8268 Canadian Running November & December 2016, Volume 9, Issue 7Candid Apple Photographyhonour roll