When things got tough for Annie Beveridge-Warick in a recent 3,000-metre indoor race it was her grandmother’s mantra — light, strong, relaxed — that helped power her over the finish line.
“Visualizing those words gave me a mental boost,” Annie tells her grandma. “I was dying, I wanted to stop, and I just remember thinking: Relax, stay light on your toes. And that actually really helped.”
Judy Warick, 73, has decades worth of experience in track and field and loves passing down her knowledge to her granddaughter — “But I try not to give too many tips because I know she has ideas of her own,” she says.
Judy isn’t just one of Annie’s biggest mentors and cheerleaders — she’s also an occasional competitor. Earlier this year the pair were both on the start line of the women’s open 1,000-metre race at a Twilight Series meet at the Saskatoon Field House. Judy, the oldest racer, set a Saskatchewan age group record with a 5:10 result. Annie, the youngest competitor at age 15, stormed to a 3:14 finish.
“I had to catch my breath first, but then we talked about the race,” Judy said. And the excitement for the day wasn’t over; Jason Warick — Judy’s son and Annie’s father — went on to win the men’s open mile, setting a Saskatchewan M45 age group record in a blazing 5:04.
“It was so cool,” Annie says.
Running is a passion that runs through three generations of Waricks.
Judy, the second-youngest of seven siblings, says she was always chasing after her older siblings who were involved in sport in rural Saskatchewan. She and her older sister gravitated to track and field because it was one of the few sports girls could participate in — though at the time they couldn’t race distances longer than 400 metres.
Judy competed in throwing and jumping events as a youth and later ran longer distances when rules changed in her Grade 12 year. She’s still running today and holds a number of Canadian masters record in the steeplechase as well as being a former World Masters champion in that event. She also has a lengthy resume in growing the sport that includes founding the Saskatchewan Athletics master’s program in the 1980s and coaching the Top Notch Masters track team (formerly Century Track Club).
Judy’s two adult children have always been active and, like his mother, Jason took to running. He’s a former Canadian national team member in the marathon and still holds the Saskatchewan record in the distance. Jason suffered a serious injury in 2012, but has since returned to running and racing and now coaches running, cross-country skiing and speed skating (the sport of choice for his 12-year-old son).
Annie’s first memories of running are of her dad pushing her in the chariot while getting a training run in. “Seeing him run made me want to run so I’d always want to get out and run beside him. That’s probably when I first wanted to start running,” she says. “And I’ve heard all the cool things that the sport has brought them and all the cool places they’ve travelled and experiences they’ve had because of running and it definitely has improved every aspect of running for me.”
Now, being able to have some of those experiences together has been “very gratifying” for the whole family, Judy says. Even if they aren’t lining up for the same race, they’re always checking in on each others’ running and cheering each other on.
“When you say what your time was then gramps and I are immediately figuring out ‘Oh, what did she run per lap,’ and breaking it down. That’s the fun part of it,” Judy tells her granddaughter.
“I love talking to you about running and stuff,” Annie replies.
“You know what good times are, you know the hard workouts I did. I feel like grandma understands — and that’s cool.”
