“We’re so proud of him,” said Bob Arbour. “We were there. It was great.”
Mr. Arbour is talking about his son Patrick, who placed sixth in decathlon at the recent Pan Am Games in Toronto. He also had two personal bests, one in long jump and another in high jump, which are just two of the 10 events in the decathlon.
“We’ve seen him compete many times, but not in a stage such as that cheering him on,” he said.
The ‘we’ he is referring to, is himself and wife Audrey. The couple live just west of Cobden and can be found at their ARA Creations booth at the Cobden Farmers Market.
And, while they did cheer on their son, Mr. Arbour admitted, “We were there to cheer on all the athletes.”
The decathlon is a “gruelling two-day event,” he said.
“He prevailed and finished,” the proud father said.
“It’s the most gruelling event in track and field,” Mr. Arbour said.
On Day 1, the events are 100 metre dash, long jump, shot put, high jump and finishing with a 400 m run.
On Day 2, the events are 110 metre hurdle, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m.
“The hurdles are pretty high,” Mr. Arbour said, laughing as he added. “We would not make it over them.”
Of the 12 athletes who started the event, 11 completed the decathlon, which is good, he said.
“Usually there’s a lot less at the finish,” he said, explaining, “The chance of injury is great.”
This is Patrick’s seventh year as a decathlete. Looking back at his son’s career, Mr. Arbour said up until he was 13 years old, Patrick “played a lot of competitive hockey and soccer.” At that age, he began in the track events. And seven years ago, decided to try the decathlon.
“He gave it a shot and has stayed with it,” Mr. Arbour said.
But, the parents are not just proud their son is a world-class athlete, but they are proud of how he has accomplished that feat.
Patrick trains about five to six times a week, between going to university and working two part-time jobs.
“He doesn’t have the luxury of training down south,” his father said.
He put himself through school and it was during his spare time he trained.
It was on June 20 Patrick found out he was going to be a competitor at the Pan Am Games. And it wasn’t long after that his parents knew they were going to the Pan Am Games to cheer on their son.
“We’ve been following Patrick as much as we can,” Mr. Arbour said. “We’ve been to Jamaica, Arizona, Charlottetown and Calgary. We support him as much as we can.”
While there are more competitions coming up, Patrick has to sit back and heal, his father said.
“It’s not like you can do a decathlon every month,” he said. “One month is not much time to heal.”
And it was just one-and-a-half months ago Patrick won the national championship in decathlon.
“This is the third competition so far this year,” Mr. Arbour said.
Single, but with a “very supportive girlfriend,” there was no choice who was going to get the first hug when Patrick finished the decathlon event.
“Mom is the first person he hugged,” Mr. Arbour said. “Hands down, she gets the first hug.”
And while they are very proud their son finished sixth, Mr. Arbour said, “We feel like this is the gold medal for us.”
He said, “This is the most exciting event we can experience so close to home.”
And, they also know, their son enjoyed performing in the decathlete at home.
When asked for a photo of the three of them together at the Pan Ams for whitewaternews.ca, Ms. Arbour, shockingly said, they didn’t take any. Everybody wanted their photo with him and they didn’t really think about intruding upon their time with their son.
It was amazing, because the people didn’t care if the athletes were first, second, third or last, Mr. Arbour said.
“The competitors were being appreciated for what they’ve accomplished,” he said. “We’re very proud.”
So, when next you see Mr. and Mrs. Arbour at the Cobden Farmers Market, you will now know just part of the reason these two are always smiling.
They are ARA Creations (wood crafts and home preserves) and are an outside booth.
