By Gareth Madoc-Jones
Tara Self is building on a legacy at the stadium named after her dad. One hundred twenty up and coming athletes train under her guidance at the state-of-the-art facility now called Percy Perry Stadium.
Year after year the Coquitlam Cheetahs program has been developing some of the top track and field athletes in British Columbia.
Self’s father Perry was the Cheetahs original head coach when the stadium formerly known as Town Centre first opened in 1991.
Self, 41, remembers when she first trained at the new stadium as a teenager. “After running on gravel and cinder for years it was really quite amazing to have a real track,” says Self.
She was a member of the Cheetahs that until this time had trained at a local high school’s cinder track.
Town Centre was built on the northeastern edge of the city in a former industrial area. “There was nothing else out there, you didn’t go beyond the track, beyond the track was the gun club way up on the hills,” recalls Self.
Coquitlam’s mayor back then, Lou Sekora, pushed for the project because the city was bidding for the 1991 B.C. Summer Games. “We needed to have a stadium,” says Sekora, adding it was eventually built on a 108-acre parcel of land purchased from the Lafarge cement company for a dollar.
It was originally meant to serve amateur athletes, but it didn’t take long to attract world-class talent. In 1993, ten-time Olympic medalist Carl Lewis raced in a track meet at the stadium.
During this time Self had been evolving into one of the country’s top sprinters. Just five years after she began training at the new facility, Self ran for the Canadian national 4×100-metres sprint team at the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta and again at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.
Along with Tara, Peter Ogilvie, a 100-metres and 200-metres sprinter, as well as Tim Kroeker, a 110-metres hurdler, are Cheetahs who’ve competed at the Olympics.
While this elite group faced the best, at the heart of the Cheetahs are hundreds of kids. Thomas Overs began training with the Cheetahs in 1998 at the age of ten under coach Percy. “I thought I was a long distance runner and he told me, ‘You know what you’re fast, you can sprint and you just need to work on these things,’” says Overs, who was later recruited by Simon Fraser University’s track team where he competed for four years.
Percy died in 2005 and two years later the city renamed Town Centre Stadium after him.
Prior to passing away Percy made a request. “My dad asked me when he was sick if I would take over coaching because he couldn’t do it anymore and I couldn’t say no at that point and I kind of just figured you know I’ll just fill the hole until someone else comes along. And what happened was I fell in love with it and I’m still there,” admits Self.
In 2007, the stadium received $10 million in upgrades that included a new roof and seats. The track has also been recently resurfaced. “It’s one of the top two or three probably in Canada both because the surface itself is a top of the line surface. It’s called a Mondo surface, so it’s fast,” says Paul Self, Tara’s husband who also coaches for the Cheetahs.
Together, Tara and Paul are committed to the Cheetah’s. And by the looks of it the Self’s could be involved for many more years. Their twin nine-year old daughters will begin training with the team later this year.
DOCUMENTATION
(1.) The first document is an information bulletin for a public hearing I found on the internet after a Google search for the phone number for former mayor of Coquitlam mayor Lou Sekora. I typed ‘Lou Sekora 604’ into the search field and on the second page of results I found a posting with his cell number from 2008. I immediately called the number and Sekora picked up. Now in his 80s, he helped explain how the city was able to build the stadium. This was an important detail in the narrative.
Document located at: http://www.dave.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/ywca-528-comolake-public-hearing.pdf
(2.) The second document is a detailed history of the Harry Jerome International Track Classic. Paul Self couldn’t remember exactly what year Carl Lewis raced at Town Centre Stadium when he mentioned it. He thought it was 1992 or 1993. I did a Google search of the track meet and at the meet’s official history page it explains how “Carl Lewis ran the anchor leg for his Santa Monica Track Club team in the men’s 4×100-metre relay.” This was important in confirming the year when Lewis raced at the stadium.
Document located at: http://www.harryjerome.com/history/history/
