Congratulations to the Royal City Track and Field Club athletes who have qualified to compete for their respective highschools at the BC High School Track and Field Championships June 4-6. Good luck to RCTFC athletes Emily Chilton, Brianna Bates, Jenevieve Patry-Smith, Devin Strome, Grace Fetherstonhaugh, Lauren Vanee, Shea Janke, Ryan Jensen, Gavin Fan, Jeremy Belcher and Jack Foster!

RCTFC’s 11 year old relay team wins gold (l-r: Charlotte Taylor, Kate Bowles, Sydney Christiansen and Kaitlyn Biedka)

An outstanding 24 JD athletes represented Royal City Track and Field Club at the May 16-17 South Fraser Junior Olympics Trackmeet at Bear Creek Park in Surrey. Performances by all of the athletes contributed to Royal City Track and Field Club placing 5^th overall out of the 22 competing track and field clubs at the meet. Congratulations to all of the athletes who participated in the meet for accomplishing their own PBs and wins!

Special recognition to Kenan Burrows, Annika Yong, Kaitlyn Biedka, Nicole Blatherwick, Katherine Martin, Noah Duke and Levi Tuura for competing in their first trackmeet as a Royal City Track and Field Club athlete and accomplishing personal best performances in their events!

Highlights included excellent performances against competitors by the following RCTFC relay teams:

• Bronze Medal win by the 11-year old 4 x 100m relay team (Kate Bowles, Charlotte Taylor, Grace Hodges and Kaitlyn Biedka) and Gold for the 11-year old 4 x 200m relay team (Kate Bowles, Charlotte Taylor, Sydney Christiansen and Kaitlyn Biedka)
• Silver Medal win by the 13-year old 4 x 200m relay team (Elizabeth Bowles, Emma Celle, Emma Dolman and Lauryn Savela) and also Bronze for the same team in the 4 x 100m
• Bronze Medal win by the 11-year old 4 x 100m relay team (Nicole Blatherwick, Katherine Martin, Livia Russo and Annika Yong)

Other Top 8 performances for individual competition included:

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• (9 year old girls)-in an impressive array of events, Livia Russo took gold in 60m dash and 100m, as well as silver in 600m, 4^th in high jump and shot put and 6^th in long jump
• (9 year old boys)-4^th place in shot put for Marcus Savela
• (10 year old girls)-8^th in high jump for Katherine Martin and 6^th place in shot put for Nicole Blatherwick
• (10 year old boys)-6^th place for Noah Duke in 1000m, 8^th place for Levi Tuura in 1000m and a strong 4^th place for Levi in 600m
• (11 year old girls)-Monika Arcadi won well this weekend with three bronze medals for 600m, long jump and high jump as well as 4^th in 1000m and 6^th in shot put, 8^th place for Grace Hodges in the finals for 60m dash, a pair of silver medals for Emily Bowles for performances in 600m and 1000m, 4^th place for Kate Bowles in the 600m and an impressive 5^th place in long jump against of field of almost 30 competitors
• (11 year old boys)-Cameron Dewith won well with a silver medal in 1000m, 6^th place in long jump and 7^th place in shot put, while teammate Shivan Rajkumar took the 6^th place ribbon for shot put
• (12 year old girls)-Katelyn Stewart-Barnett took home a pair of silver medals for the 800m and the 1200m and also took 4^th for high jump and 7^th for long jump and teammate Shankara Rajkumar took the silver medal for her strong 300m performance
• (13 year old girls)-Emma Dolman won 6^th place in 300m and also in the 800m while teammate Emma Celle took 5^th place in high jump, 6^th in discus, 7^th in 800m run and 11^th place in long jump (against a field of 22 competitors), Elizabeth Bowles won well with 4^th place in 800m and 5^th in 1200m and Lauryn Savela took 4^th in discus throw and 10^th in high jump

Congratulations to all of the athletes for their hard work at practices paid off!

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Three athletes represented Royal City Track and Field Club very well at the Centennial Meet in Kamloops May 15-17, medaling in throws and competing to finals on the track.

In the 12-year old boys’ category, David Patry-Smith took the gold medal for his shot put throw, while 14-year old sister and teammate Jenevieve Patry-Smith won gold in the midget category for her discus throw of 29.78 (a PB for Patry-Smith) and also won gold in shot put and silver in hammer when she threw to 36.17 (also a PB). Jenevieve also won the javelin event beating both the field of midget girls and the midget boys with a PB throw of 39.70.

Also in the midget category, teammate Brianna Bates took silver for her javelin throw, just shy of 30 while she also competed well on the track, making it to the midget finals in the 100m with a PB of 13.62.

Congratulations to the accomplished trio!

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RCTFC athletes Emma Dolman, Maxwell Jones and Ryan Jensen started the track season off with strong performances in the field and on the track.

Competing in an impressive array of events, Dolman took bronze in the 1200m for 2002 girls, 4th in high jump, 4th in the 300m, 7th in 80m hurdles and 7th in the 800m. Her performances included 4 personal bests.

Teammate Maxwell Jones’ highlights were a gold medal in pole vault for 2001 boys and bronze in long jump (both pbs). All in all, Jones had 6 top 8 finishes for 6 events which included his gold in pole vault and 3 bronze medals total.

Ryan Jensen’s peak performances included winning bronze in triple jump for 2001 boys, 4th in 200m hurdles and 6th in 100m hurdles.

Congratulations on a strong represent for Royal City Track and Field Club!

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As an Athletics Club, our first thought was that we should be nominating Track Rascal Assistant Coach Colin Donahoe for an Athletics and Sportsmanship Award.  However, in reviewing his commitments, it became apparent that Community Service was the appropriate category.

Colin Donahoe approached the Royal City Track and Field Club coaches in 2011 with an interest in giving back to the club that had invested in him over the previous 5 years. He had observed RCTF Track Rascals – an introductory, fun-based movement skills program for 6 – 8 year olds – while he was training and wondered if he could offer any assistance given his considerable technical skills in all track and field events. On the coaches’ suggestion, Colin investigated the Athletics Canada/BC Athletics Run, Jump, Throw National Coaching Certification courses.  He then arranged to take a course at his expense and on his own time so that he could become a sanctioned coach with the Track Rascals program.

Colin has now been a Rascals coach for four of the last five years and has become a fixture with the program. His ability to use his track and field skills to help children learn basic movement and athletic skills in a safe and fun environment is well recognized by other club coaches as well as our young athletes and their parents. He has a unique ability to help shy or uncertain participants “fit in”. Numerous parents have commented on how well he adapts “on the fly” to ensure the activities fit the needs of the children. During the year he was away from the program while on Rotary Youth Exchange in Brazil, our repeat participants commented that they missed him!

Colin has also volunteered for other activities within the club, from assisting on technical days to helping out during the club run SD40 Elementary Cross Country Run.  It was only through research that I was able to confirm the dates he has been active within the club, it just seems he is always there helping, and always has been.

In addition to his commitment to the club, Colin still finds time to pursue downhill skiing and running as a recreational activity (he ran a 1/2 marathon last year and is planning on running 2 more this year) and is very involved in many other activities, all while balancing school, and maintaining marks we would all be proud of.  Some of those activities include:

• Leader at Rotary Youth Awards Camp, 2015, participant in 2014
• Interact Club (the high school version of Rotary) – currently he’s on the executive as treasurer
• Mentors Canadian Rotary exchange students during their year abroad
• New West Youth Advisory Committee 2014/15 (co-chair)
• Model United Nations club at NWSS

Through this time he somehow also found time to maintain a part-time job, working at Queen’s Park Meat Market August 2012 – March 2015 until he felt he needed time off to focus on his marks in his final year at NWSS to ensure he is prepared for his post-secondary studies and goals.

We are very proud of Colin’s commitment and achievements, and know the community benefits greatly from his efforts, and will likely continue to do so for many years to come.