Our Cross Country (XC) season is about to begin, with practices starting on Thursday, September 2 and running until Thursday, October 21. Practices this year will be held at Swanguard Stadium in Burnaby (Central Park) on Tuesday and and Thursday evenings, as follows:

JD athletes (ages 9-12): Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 7:15pm

Senior athletes (U16, U18, U20): Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm

Entrance to Swanguard is through the NE gate, accessed from the Kingway parking lot. PLEASE dress for the weather! Any athlete turning up to practice not wearing full warmup clothing will not be allowed to participate in that practice. Also, please remember to bring water.

As we rely on volunteer coaching, we want to be respectful of our coaches time and to ensure that we have sufficient coaches available to adhere to Provincial Health Orders. As such, we are asking that all athletes participating in XC commit to showing up for the majority of practices over the 8 week season. We also expect athletes to participate in the seasons XC running events, where possible, culminating in the BC XC Championships on October 23 in Victoria.

The schedule of events is as follows:

– Aug 28th, Rotary Run for Rwanda, Bowen Island (senior athletes ONLY)

– Sept 18th  Pinetree Classic, Mundy Park, Coquitlam 

– Sept 26th Vancouver Spirit Run

– Oct 2nd, Bear Mountain Trail Race, Mission (senior athletes ONLY)

– Oct 2nd  Festival of Cross Country, South Surrey

– Oct 16th  Frank Reynolds Memorial XC race, North Vancouver

– Oct 23rd  BC ATHLETICS Provincial XC Championships, Victoria.

– Nov 6th, BC High School XC Championships, Vancouver (senior athletes ONLY)

Note: The XC season is included with your athletes 2021 registration. If your child participated in this past season with RCTFC, they are registered and their COVID waiver (through BC Athletics) is still valid. If not, they will need to ensure registration and payment (for XC only) and completion of a BC Athletics waiver prior to XC attendance. We will continue to maintain COVID safety protocols throughout this season as dictated by local health authorities.

JD Athletes only: Please confirm whether your child will be participating in XC this year by emailing info@royalcitytrack.ca on or before August 30, 2021.

Should you have any questions, please email to info@royalcitytrack.ca.

Thank you,

Trish Robinson, RCTFC Vice President

Royal City Track and Field’s field event official extraordinaire, track mom, and master’s thrower, Celina Wong, recently cleaned up at the 2021 BC Masters Outdoor Track and Field Championships held in Bear Creek Park in Surrey, Aug 21-22. Celina threw personal bests in all five of her throwing events! Competing in the 55-59 category, she took home a bronze medal in the shot put with a throw of 7.38m, a silver medal in javelin with a throw of 19.41m, another bronze in discus with a toss of 19.43m, a gold medal in the weight throw with a heave of 9.48m, and in her specialty of hammer throw, another gold medal, crushing the entire field of women across all age categories with a huge toss of 32.02m.

The World Athletics U20 Championships, were held in Nairobi, Kenya from August 18th to the 22nd, 2021. Eniko Sara, representing Team Canada competed in the women’s javelin throw and finished 13th overall with a throw of 45.58m.