Inductees

Brian Martinson (2019)

Track & Field Builder/Administrator

For Brian Martinson, running is a way of life.

As a runner and a coach, Martinson walks the talk. He practices what he preaches.

Martinson has been running track since he was in high school and, throughout the years, he has competed at track and field meets. While continuing to compete, he took up coaching track and cross-country runners in 1984 and, since then, he has helped develop young athletes for more than 30 years. Martinson not only trains with the runners, he coaches them too.

Martinson coaches track at Prince George Secondary School and also with the Prince George Track and Field Club guiding the middle distance runners. His contribution to the sport also extends beyond the competitive field as he joined the executive with the Prince George Track and Field Club more than a decade ago and became president in 2009 after Tom Masich stepped down.

Martinson has organized the high school zone track meet for the past 15 years and was one of the key organizers of the 2012 provincial cross-country championships, viewed as one of the best provincial championships ever staged.

Aside from his involvement with the track and field club and with high school sports, Martinson was also president and race director for the Prince George Road Runners for several years.

At most track meets in Prince George, Martinson can be found organizing the meet and working the finish-line cameras and meet results.

As a runner himself, Martinson has found success competing locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.

He won the Prince George Iceman race in 1988, posting a personal-best time of 2:05:35.

At the B.C. Cross-Country Championships, he won the masters division eight-kilometre race in 2012 with a time of 33:50. He followed that up in 2013 with a third-place finish time of 32:18.

In a four-year span between 2010 and 2013, he was on the podium all four times at the Goodlife Royal Victoria 8K in the 50-plus age group. In 2010, he was third, clocking a time of 31:32; in 2011, he finished second with a time of 31:15; in 2012, he was third with a time of 31:48; and in 2013 he was second with a time of 32:18.

At the Canadian Cross-Country Championships, Martinson posted a sixth-place finish in the masters category in 2005 and earned seventh place in 2012.

At the Canadian Masters Track and Field Championships, he clocked a time of 2:29.09 in the 800-metre race to finish fifth and won the bronze medal in the 1,500m with a time of 5:11.65.

At the 2005 World Masters Games in Edmonton, Martinson finished fifth in the 8,000m cross-country race with a time of 31:46. He was fourth in the 3,000m steeplechase with a time of 11:12.01 and finished ninth in the 1,500m with a time of 4:43.94.

At the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Spokane, Wash., Martinson posted ninth-place finishes in the 1,500m and 800m races.

At the 2010 World Indoor Championships in Kamloops, Martinson was 11^th in the 1,500m with a time of 5:01.07; sixth in the 3,000m with a time of 10:41.63; and eighth in the 8,000m with a time of 29:19.80.