WebPosted Mar 2 2004
CBC Sports Online

Mother, daughter compete at Games

Fort McMurray - At few sporting events are you able to see mother and daughter competing in the same event, but Meika and Veronica McDonald are both taking part in the Arctic Winter Games.

Meika McDonald, of Fort Smith, is a veteran competitor at the Games, taking part in Arctic sports – including the kneel jump, the two-foot high kick, the triple jump and the Alaskan high kick.

Monday, she took silver in the triple jump and bronze in the two-foot high kick.

This year, her nine-year-old daughter Veronica is also taking part, the youngest athlete in the event. And both are coached by Meika's father Tim, putting three generations of McDonalds at the 2004 Games.

"Veronica's been kicking about a year now, a year and a half. She's really quite dedicated, out maybe two or three times a week with my father," Meika McDonald said. "We decided to give it a try, have some fun. We went to the territorials and she did rather well there.

"She plays all the events. She's good at them all. She's going to be my little star, I think."

Veronica McDonald placed 10th in the junior girls' kneel jump, out of 29 athletes.

Meika McDonald says the important thing at this stage is that her daughter is having fun.

"At nine, sports got to be fun," she said. "And you got to really experience the wonderful part of it.

"Just really trying and loving sport and that's what I love the most about it."

Meika McDonald says she's been impressed by the level of competition at the Games.

"It's really good to see women really excelling in the sport. I'm pretty impressed," she said.

with permission