Two DHC employees recently represented Canada on the world stage, bringing home gold medals after competing against thousands of athletes from around the globe.
@Luke Grinder, Supplier Manager, competed at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea, an event that brings together approximately 11,000 athletes from 106 countries.
Competing in the M50 category, Luke captured gold in the 400-metre race with a personal-best time of 52.36 seconds, coming from behind in the final stretch to take the win. Just two days later, he added another gold as part of Team Canada’s 4×400-metre relay team.
Luke began competing in masters track and field in 2022 after initially taking up running during the pandemic as a way to get back into shape and spend time training with his son. His progression was quick: bronze at the 2023 Canadian Championships, silver in 2024 and gold in 2025.
With the World Championships in his sights, Luke spent the past year training six days a week, combining three sprint sessions with three weight-training sessions.
“I would like to thank everyone at De Havilland for their support and for allowing me to achieve a successful work-life balance,” Luke said. “With 100 metres to go, I was seven metres behind my American competitor and a couple of metres behind my Swedish competitor. Fortunately, I was able to put together a strong finish and prevail in the last few metres for a come-from-behind win for Canada.”
@Nina Shtargot also represented Canada internationally this summer, competing with her team, the Gorging Dragons, at the Dragon Boat World Championships in Hualien, Taiwan. Held at Liyu Lake, the championships brought together more than 6,000 athletes representing 36 countries.
Nina has been involved in dragon boat racing for eight years and was part of an incredible showing by the Gorging Dragons. Across five crews and 15 events, the club earned medals in every event it entered, bringing home 15 medals and finishing with the sixth-highest medal count at the championships.
“I was very proud to represent Canada, Vancouver Island and my team, Gorging Dragons, on the international stage,” Nina said. “It was an unforgettable experience, and I learned so much from competing alongside athletes from around the world.”
The Gorging Dragons began as a recreational mixed team in 1995 and have since competed at eight Club Crew World Championships, earning 65 medals along the way.
Congratulations to Luke and Nina on these incredible achievements and for representing Canada, and the DHC team, on the world stage!
(Best of luck to the teams who were able to snag these two mega-athletes for the DHC Step Challenge that kicked off yesterday!)
Team: News