Meet Athletics athlete, Jamie Trowsdale

Jamie Trowsdale has been a Special Olympics athlete for 35 years, and has been running track almost just as long. While he is a long-time athlete in the sport, and a very seasoned runner, Jamie took a bit of time away from the track last year, something you wouldn’t have known by watching his 400 meter race on Friday.

Jamie had an incredible 400-meter race on Friday: “I think I ran the fastest I ever have in the last 200 meters!” he said following the race. Jamie’s time was so fast that he essentially ran (time wise) into the next division, which resulted in him being disqualified from this heat. Called the Maximum Performance Rule, or the Honest Effort Rule, if an athlete runs more then 25% faster then their pre-submitted seed time, they are disqualified. Going hand in hand with the practice of divisioning, the rule ensures that athletes of similar abilities competed against each other. While it wasn’t the outcome Jamie wanted, and it kept him off the podium for that race, Jamie’s laid-back attitude ensured that he saw the results as a positive.

Team PEI Athletics Coach, Donna Campbell wasn’t surprised by Jamie’s reaction to the results.