WEST Vancouver's Christa Bortignon set five indoor world records in the women's 75-plus age group at the Van Ryswyk Invitational Track and Field championships held last month in Kamloops.
Bortignon, competing for the first time in the 75-79 age bracket, set world records in the 60-metre race, 60-m hurdles, 200-m race, triple jump and 4x200-m relay.
Bortignon's triple jump of 7.43 m topped the old record by 36 cm. On the track Bortignon recorded a 10.05 in the 60-m race and 35.56 in the 200 m. Her final record was by the narrowest margin as she recorded 13.70 in the 60-m hurdles to top the old mark by seven hundredths of a second.
North Vancouver's Lenore Montgomery also got in on the record-breaking action, setting the world record for the 1,500-m race in the 80-plus age category while also joining Bortignon on the 4x200-m relay team. Her time of 8: 21.28 in the 1,500 eclipsed her own pending-world record time of 8: 27.79.
North Shore athletes also topped several Canadian records at the event. Bortignon set new national marks in the 400-m race and long jump, Montgomery set a new Canadian record in the 800-m race and Myrtle Acton set a new national mark in the shot put and weight throw in the 75-plus age category.
Last week Canadian Masters Athletics named Bortignon its 2011 athlete of the year in the female, field events category. Since beginning to compete in 2009 Bortignon has won more than 100 provincial, national, international and world championship medals.
