Published: March 09, 2010

Tim Kroeker of Merritt is a world champion.

The 38-year-old local massage therapist and former Olympian placed first in his age group in the men’s 60 m. hurdles at the World Masters Indoor Track & Field Championships, held this past week in Kamloops.

Against a truly international field, Kroeker won his hurdles event in a time of 8.11 seconds, two tenths of a second ahead of second place Frederic Demanche of France. Jeferson Souza of Brazil captured the bronze medal, while Wolfgang Fuhrman of Germany and Denys Kuvaiev of the Ukraine finished fourth and fifth respectively in the final run on Friday.

“My time exceeded my expectations,” stated Kroeker on Monday of this week. “I was hoping for around 8.3, so the final result was quite a surprise.”

Kroeker, who competed for Canada in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, had nothing but good to say about the World Masters competition.

“It was great. A really well-run event. In fact, I just sent an email to them with my congratulations.”

The Kamloops event was just the fourth world masters indoor track and field championships, and the first WMA competition ever to be held on North American soil.

The six-day contest, which attracted over 1400 athletes, 35 years of age and older, from 63 different countries around the globe, was held primarily at the Tournament Capital Centre on the grounds of Thompson Rivers University. There were participants from as far away as Japan, Russia, Morocco, Argentina and Australia.

The World Masters outdoor track and field championships are an even bigger spectacle, frequently attracting over 5000 participants, ranging in age from 35 to 90-plus.

The next outdoor championships are in the summer of 2011 in Sacramento, California. Kroeker is definitely giving the event some serious consideration.

“Yes, (competing in Sacramento) was always part of my three-year plan once I began training again. In fact, I’m even looking beyond 2011 now.”