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Poutine was not on Geoff Martinson’s breakfast menu at the CIS indoor track and field championships in Montreal. He waited until after his record-breaking performances in the 1,500 metre and 4 X 800m relay events to taste the French-Canadian delicacy. As it turned out, French fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy are definitely not for him. “I don’t think I’ll ever eat poutine again, it’s not very good and it doesn’t fit in with a runner’s diet,” laughed Martinson, a double-gold medalist over the weekend on the indoor track at McGill University, where the CIS indoor season wrapped up. While he can’t attribute his weekend results to a breakfast of champions, the 21-year-old Prince George secondary school graduate said the podium finishes were simply a product of hard work after a winter season of hard training with the University of Victoria Vikings track team. He was coming off a 1,500m win at the Canada West conference finals a few weeks ago in Saskatoon. “Everything went well, I came in with a couple goals and hoped to win the races and ended up doing that, so I was very happy with how it went,” said Martinson. The Prince George Track and Field Club member was just four seconds off his best outdoor time in the 1,500, stopping the clock in 3:48:82. His Viking teammate Dan Mallie of Delta led for half of the 7 1/2-lap race until Martinson took over. “I kind of picked up the pace every lap after that and ended up wining the race for first,” said Martinson, a fourth-year biochemistry student. “I did feel pretty good warming up and I was pretty confident. My training has been going well this year. But I was definitely nervous going into it.” The Vikings claimed their fourth consecutive men’s 4 X 800m CIS relay title in 7:30. Martinson had a 10m lead when he took the baton for the third leg of the relay. Mallie, Rich Lehman of Dartmouth, N.S., and Darren Mazzei of Regina shared in the relay win. Both of Martinson’s results broke the McGill facility’s records. Martinson trains with Gary Reid of Kamloops, Canada’s top 800m runner and second-ranked Ashraf Padili, both likely candidates for Canada’s 2008 Olympic team. Martinson plans on following them to Europe this summer to race. At 21, he feels he’s moving himself closer to realizing his own ultimate dream. “When you get to train with guys who have the same goals to get to the Olympics, it starts to become more realistic and more plausible,” said Martinson.
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