New JD Athletes Run Well at South Fraser Meet

On a day that finally looked like Cross Country Season had arrived, a pair of Rookie Royals acquitted themselves well on the course at Bear Creek Park. Amy Brandt, and Katia Heppell both made their Royal debuts, and performed wonderfully well against the tougher competition of a B.C. Athletics meet. Amy secured a Bronze medal in her 1000m race, while Katia placed fifth in her 3000m race.  Amy ran all alone in her round, and was a bit surprised by the pace of the more experienced racers, while Katia benefited in her outing from some wisdom and advice from the more seasoned Gabe MacGregor who also ran the same contest. Illness kept Gabe from her best outcome, but she still ran as strong as circumstances would allow. All in all, it was a good showing for the first event of our Cross Country endeavors.

CROSS COUNTRY SEASON IS UNDERWAY

Cross country season for Valley Royal athletes has begun in earnest and most club runners have either taken part in a meet or are about to do so. The Grand Prix Cross Country series staged its first of the four meets last Wednesday and in excess of nine hundred runners took part in the event. By Monday results of Wednesday’s meet will be available and posted to this web page and we will be able to see how our young Royals
 faired.

This Saturday Sarya Ross, Alex Siemens and Callum Pilgrim will form the nucleus of
the W.J. Mouat team that will run 4km legs of a team distance at the Whistler Spirit Run, in an event that will be a nice warm-up for the trip to Yakima the following weekend for
the Sunfair meet.

Last Saturday at the University of Washington Sundodger meet held in Seattle,
Travis Vugteveen placed 44th (26:08) to lead Simon Fraser University to a fifth place
team finish in the Varsity Division.

VALLEY ROYAL DIRECTOR JEREMIAH JOHNSTON ANNOUNCES HIS BETROTHAL TO MARIAH GUPPEY

Former Valley Royal athlete and now club director Jeremiah Johnston will be wed to Mariah Guppey on the May holiday weekend of 2013. It’s wise that Jeremiah and Mariah have planned the celebration well in advance as the groom’s occupation as a shoe representative for a major firm means that he is on the road for many days of the year. But we are pleased and happy for both Mariah and Jeremiah and wish them the very best with the wedding plans and their life together thereafter.

PAST PRESIDENT MIKE INMAN RECOVERING NICELY FROM HEART SURGERY

Valley Royal past president Mike Inman is recovering nicely at his Abbotsford home after undergoing triple bypass surgery a month ago. Wife Charlotte, a former Valley Royal board member herself, reports that she knows that Mike is recovering because he is once again occasionally cranky. And what’s the hardest thing for Mike to endure during his recovery period?: having to sit in the backseat when out for a drive. “Yes,” stated Charlotte, “there is nothing like having a real back seat driver boss me around.” We are pleased you are recovering Mike and it won’t be long before you are once again able to take the driver’s seat.

NEW WEB PAGE

Under the direction of club director Cindy Miller and summer student employee Aisha Klippenstein, a new web site has been designed for the Valley Royals. It’s a very attractive site we hope it will be easier to find information on. Although this is the first release made directly to the new web page, we hope to have a lot more updates in the future.