Interested in Junior Cross Country Training?

Our Junior Development (JD) Cross Country group will begin on Thursday, September 2, 2021. Join Coaches Harneet and Parmvir on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays to train for distance running on grass and forest trails.

Schedule: Sept. 2 to Oct. 30

Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:15pm t0 5:15pm

Saturdays 10:30am to 11:30am

All practices are at Clearbrook Park unless otherwise posted.

Fees & Registration

JD cross-country fees are $180, or a one-week trial can be arranged for $20. All participants must be registered before attending the first practice. Email the club administrator, Christa McAuley ([email protected]) to sign up.

Distance Group Excels at BC Endurance Challenge, in Victoria

Our Royals athletes represented us with distinction this past weekend at the BC Endurance Challenge in Victoria. Our 12 athletes, with the support of their families ,recorded many personal best performances and showed themselves to be a team to watch in the future. Riley Simmonds won both his U14 exhibition races at 800m and 1200m with personal bests. Andrew Thomson finished 3rd in the open 1500m and 8th in the 800m. Zoe Unger recorded huge personal bests to finish 4th in the U16 1200m and 7th in the 800m. Sam May showed himself to be one to watch in the future. He ran a personal best of 2:08.22 minutes in a nail biting race to finish 9th overall in the U16 800m, only 3.3 seconds behind the winner. This placed him as the third 14 year old in the province. His 1200m personal best of 3.29.56 minutes placed him 8th overall and second 14 year old in the province. Great running for this young man. Arata Nakanishi and Will Van Schagen both ran big PBs of 2:12.68 minutes and 2.16.41 minutes in the 800m to place as the fifth and sixth 14 year olds in BC. Arata also ran a PB of 3:33.88 minutes in the 1200m to rank as the fourth 14 year old. Halle May, Ally Hutchison, Arie Wassenaar, Tristian Steiger, and Sam Rasquinha, also ran strongly to record personal best or near personal best performances. Our trip proved to be very worthwhile, and a great time was had by all. A big congratulations goes out to all our U16 to Open athletes and their families for a great season. 
 
I would also like to take this moment to wish Andrew Thomson and Reid Johnston the very best on next season. Andrew has made huge gains as a Valley Royal over the past years, working with Trevor as a high school athlete and with myself in the Valley Royals Distance Group. In a relatively short amount of time, Andrew has progressed from virtually a non runner to one to watch in the provincial open category. In September it looks like he will be joining the SFU Clan and begin competing in the NCAA. He will train with SFU head coach and former Royals Athlete Brit Townsend, who is presently coaching our Olympic team in Japan. This looks like a great situation for Andrew to continue to advance in the sport, and we all wish him the very best. Reid will begin training with and competing for UBC in the BC Interior, and this will likewise be an excellent situation for him.

Congratulations to both of these young men. Well wishes on the journeys ahead of you both.

Coach Scott

Throws Group Shines at BC Athletics Challenge in Kamloops

Our Valley Royals throwers headed up to Kamloops for provincials on Saturday, July 24. In the U18 men’s hammer throw, Jackson Trustham and Gurtaj Aulakh faced off against an extremely strong field of throwers. While no personal bests were set, both athletes showed great improvement since the beginning of the season. Aidan Ansell also put forth a great effort in the U16 men’s hammer throw. 
 
In discus, Gurtaj fell short of a medal but was happy to set a personal best of more than 37m. Aidan was able to also set a personal best and snag first place. Building on that success, Aidan went on to win the shot put with another personal best. 
 

Proud of all those personal bests and great throws!

Coach Sean

Power Speed Group Shows Great Performance at BC Athletics Group Challenge

Well done to the Valley Royals power speed group for a great weekend, on July 24-25, at the BC Athletics Group Challenge in Langley for sprints, jumps, and hurdles. After a season with limited competition, the group took full advantage of the opportunity, achieving many personal best performances. 

Josh Carsience continued to improve his hurdling running the U20 110m (39”) hurdles in a best time of 15.96 seconds, which got him silver. Josh followed his silver up with a gold in the pole vault with a clearance of 4.10 meters. David Murray ran well in both the 400m and 200m, running 55.63 seconds and 25.42 seconds respectively. Emmanuel Akapoviroro and Thane Timmerman both performed well in the 100m, each coming off limited training due to injuries.    

On the women’s side, Mayci Falk ran a personal best time of 17.04 seconds in the open women’s 100m (33”) hurdles, which won her silver. Vanessa Pirani snagged two PBs over the weekend; one was in the 100m (30”) hurdles, with a time of 15.33 seconds, for which she claimed the bronze, and the other was in the 200m, with a time of 27.54 seconds. Sanaa Musonge, Aya Belway, and Parvina Malhi all performed well in the U16 girls 100m and 200m.   All claimed PBs in the 200m running 28.69 seconds, 29.88 seconds and 32.07 seconds respectively. This same trio was joined by Pirani to perform exceptionally well in the U18 girls 4 x 200m relay, running an excellent time of 1:56.61 seconds.

Well done to all who participated.

Coach Trevor
Vaness Pirani, Sanaa Musonge, Aya Belway, and Parvina Malhi - the U18 girls 4x200m relay team.
Joshua Carsience

Great Performances at Recent Meets

BC Regional Challenge (July 14 & 17)

The Valley Royals represented themselves in a fine manner this past weekend in the BC Regional Challenge at Jane and Gerry Swan Track. Our young athletes were outstanding, with many showing themselves to be some of the best in the Fraser Valley. Lexi Smith and Adrianna Buitelaar finished one and two in the U14 girls 800m with virtually identical times. Evan Booth jumped a huge personal best of 1.50m in the U14 boys high jump to tie the winning competitor in height, and Damian Brown won the U12 boys discus. Many of our athletes turned in top 3 performances and virtually every one of our young athletes turned in performances to be proud of.

Our club did a first-class job in hosting the meet, and a big thank you goes out to all our volunteers and officials who donated their time to run a great event for all our young participants. Make sure to check out the results to see how your young competitors did, and a big congratulations to all of our club members who participated. Well done.

Coach Scott Svelander

BC Athletics Multi-Events Challenge (July 17-18)

Joshua Carsience had eight personals bests in Kelowna last weekend. He brings home silver in Men’s U20 Decathlon with a points total of 5705! Decathalon includes the following events (with personal best results noted with “PB”).

  • 100m       
  • Long jump (PB for Joshua 6.31 m.)
  • Shot put (PB for Joshua with 10.35 m.)
  • High jump (PB for Joshua with 1.69 m.)
  • 400m (PB for Joshua with 56.86 sec.)
  • 110m Hurdles (PB for Joshua with 16.34 sec.)
  • Discus            
  • Pole vault (PB for Joshua with 4.2 m.)
  • Javelin (PB for Joshua with 43.73 m.)
  • 1500m (PB for Joshua with 5.15.20 min.)
Fantastic work and results, Joshua.