Baker earns 6 medals

Henry Baker runs by other Team Ontario participants during the senior men’s 4x400 metre relay at NAIG 2008.
-submitted photo

This summer at the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG), hosted in Cowichan Valley, B.C., Mishkeegogamang’s Henry Baker and Lac Seul’s Rupert Bunting, earned a combined six medals at the games. Baker earned a gold, silver and two bronze, while Bunting earned two bronze in athletics events.

August 21, 2008: Volume 35 #17

These games are the first post-secondary championships that Henry Baker, an accomplished Pelican Falls First Nation High School graduate, has participated in since the 2006 cross-country season.

For Bunting, who had earned silver at the previous NAIG Games in Denver, said he was returning to not only claim his own medal but to also help out in the team relay.

While at Pelican Falls, Baker and Bunting won numerous athletic awards for excellence. Baker had earned two berths to OFSAA Cross Country Championships and Bunting one berth. As well, the two young men had the opportunity to compete at the National Canadian Cross Country Championship as junior athletes.

Membership on Team Ontario for the NAIG Games was earned differently for Baker and Bunting. Bunting placed well in a number of his events at the Ontario Aboriginal Summer Games in Thunder Bay last year. For Baker, this past spring, Team Ontario NAIG Athletics Head Coach, Scott Haines, contacted him to offer a spot on Team Ontario.

Taking the past year off as a competitive runner, Baker attended Confederation College in Thunder Bay.

Baker accepted the offer to be a part of Team Ontario and resumed his running career. With limited amount of running, Baker cross-trained in a number of different sports to get in shape.

The two athletes traveled together with their support team to B.C. Once at the track, the two athletes began their quest for medals.

Bunting earned his first medal in the juvenile men’s triple jump, placing third.
The second bronze medal came by running the second leg of the 4x100 metre juvenile men relay. Bunting had other valiant efforts in high jump and long jump where he placed fifth in both events.

Baker began his collection of medals with a bronze in the senior men’s triple jump, followed by gold on the 4x100 metre senior men’s relay and silver on the 4x400 metre senior men’s relay.

The final day of athletics, Baker earned bronze on the 10km cross-country race. In this race, the gold medalist was a NCAA All-American from Arizona.

Baker and Bunting did a fine job representing Team Ontario and their communities of Mishkeegogamang and Lac Seul. After the athletics events were over the young men wore their medals around the athlete’s village with pride and accomplishment.

See full 2008 NAIG results for Team Ontario click here.