Perianne

Jones

(Almonte) – Students at Almonte and District High School (ADHS) are showing their Olympic spirit by “adopting” a member of Canada’s national cross-country ski team.

Students at the high school have been matched with Olympian and ADHS alumnus Perianne Jones under the Canadian Olympic Association’s Adopt-an-Athlete Program. Under the initiative, ADHS students are raising thousands of dollars to help Jones cover her training costs for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.

As part of the program, dozens of students volunteered September 27 to help stage Peri’s Olympic FUNdraiser Run.  The run attracted 300 participants and featured 1 kilometer, 5 kilometer and 10 kilometer events. It raised more than $9,000 for Jones.  The money will help offset a shortfall of about $17,000 that the former Almonte-area woman is facing in training costs to prepare for the games.

ADHS teacher Lynn Carss said students at her school have thrown their hearts and souls into raising funds for Jones, who was a star athlete while at ADHS from 1999-2003, and was a founding member of the school’s cross-country ski team.

“We had kids from the football team come down to set up tables for the race at 7 a.m. on a Sunday in the pouring rain,” said Carss, an organizer of the event. “We had dozens of kids volunteering on the course (as marshals). It was a real, warm fuzzy feeling seeing it all.

“And I thought the run would raise maybe $3,000 but to get more than $9,000 well…it absolutely blew me away.”

During the event, which kicked off at Gemmill Park, organizers set up a skype link with Jones in Canmore, Alberta, where she is living and training. They set up a big screen TV to allow Jones to address the athletes who had come to assist her cause.

Jones had a stellar athletic career at ADHS in cross-country running, track and cross-country skiing. She helped found the cross-country ski team during her grade 9 year and medaled at OFSAA that year in both cross-country running and skiing. She later took up hurdling.

But it was in cross-country skiing that she truly shined. She made the national junior team in both grades 9 and 10, said Carss.

However, as her star was rising, she didn’t forget her teammates at ADHS. During her grade 12 year, she was entered in the Eastern Canadian Junior Cross-Country Skiing Championships in New Brunswick but wasn’t too busy for her teammates back home, who were competing at EOSSA at the time.

“She gave me cookie medals for each of the skiers – complete with a ribbon through them – and I put them over the girls’ and boys’ heads as they crossed the finish line,” Carss said.

Jones is continuing to mentor students at her alma mater under the Adopt-a-School program. The program is designed to engage kids with the Olympic movement by matching schools with a member of Canada’s Olympic team.

Teachers at ADHS help students make that connection by incorporating details about the Olympics and Perianne into their lessons. For instance, an English teacher might challenge her students to write an essay on the Olympic movement. The Olympic skier has also visited an exercise science class at the school to talk about the expectations and lifestyle of an elite athlete – including training schedules and diet.

Jones will email the school at least twice a month to keep students abreast of her progress. A display about Jones and her athletic success at ADHS has also been set up outside the gym at the school.

Staff and students at ADHS are planning another fundraiser this spring – a raffle on a dinner with Jones at a local restaurant after the Olympic Games have finished.

ADHS Vice-Principal Laurie McCabe says the school hopes to raise a total in excess of $10,000 for Jones.

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For more information on the run and Jones, please visit www.runalmonte.ca, http://www.ctvolympics.ca/team-canada/athletes/athlete=3370/index.html  or call:

Lyn Carss

Phys. Ed. Teacher

Almonte & District High School

613-256-1470