Logan Doll knew the record like the back of his hand.
On his forearm, he had written all of the splits for Ruari Carthew’s 1997 Track and Field record time of 17:15.45 in the U17 boys’ 5,000 metres.
On Wednesday, Doll finished in 17:22.52 – seven seconds outside Carthew’s time, a close margin after 17 minutes’ racing in sweltering conditions.
“I’ve got the lap times written out on my arm right here that I was going for,” he said after the race, showing Cabin Radio the arm in question.
“Unfortunately, the clock wasn’t running for this race and I didn’t bring a watch.”
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Knowing the pace he should set but having no idea if he was setting it left Doll frustrated. Recently named the NWT’s junior male athlete of the year by Sport North, he had been within one second of Carthew’s time in training.
“It’s also hot as heck out here, so I could be feeling better,” he said. “But I’m happy with how the race went overall, I think.”
Provisional results from Wednesday’s opening day of the 2026 NWT Track and Field Championships in Hay River suggest a few records did fall.
Yellowknife schools won the majority of Wednesday’s events, with St Pat’s athlete Nevaeh Dusome’s 9.72m in U15 girls’ shot put a highlight. Dusome’s throw is a record for a first-year participant (a U14 athlete in a U15 category), beating 9.47m by Kayleigh Hunter in 2015.
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Similarly, the Track and Field scoring system reports that Cian Segboer’s 29.27m in boys’ U13 discus was a first-year record by about four metres, beating a mark set by Colton Yee in 2004.
Nate Graham’s 1.44m in boys’ U13 high jump was a first-year record, too.
No overall (aka second-year) records were reported to have fallen on the opening day. Two days of competition remain and results from some Wednesday track events have still to be collated.
École Boréale’s Jaxin Coombs put in a commanding performance to win the boys’ U15 3,000m, while the opening track events of the day – the 1,500m U13 races – were won by École Allain St-Cyr’s Ãleonore Macpherson and William McDonald School’s Finn Marshall.
“My legs just started moving for me in the last 150 metres,” said Marshall, describing the sprint finish in which he caught Range Lake North’s Ethan Unrau.
“This is the event that I was most focused on, so now I just go and have fun.”
More than 1,000 athletes are taking part in this year’s event. The overall number involved – including coaches – is 1,156 people, close to a record for participation.
