The Royal City Track and Field Club’s junior development athletes finished fourth in the team standing at the 2013 South Fraser Junior Olympics meet held at Bear Creek Park in Surrey on May 18th and 19th. They finished just seven points back of the team hosting the meet, South Fraser. Finishing in the top two spots were the perennially strong and very large Langley Mustangs team and the other Surrey club, Oceans Athletics.

The girls’ team, who won the meet in 2012, couldn’t hold off the massive numbers of the Langley Mustangs and fell to second spot. Meanwhile the boys’ team finished 8th overall out of 20 teams.

Individually, Royal City athlete, Katelyn Stewart-Barnett, won the top 10 year old girl of the meet by finishing 1st in the 600m, 1,000m, high jump and 4th in the long jump.

Newcomer Annette Scott finished 6th in the 10 year old girls 60m sprint. Teammate Anaiyah Bernier, matched the performance in the 11 year old girls category. Anaiyah and Elizabeth Bowles both raced in the finals of the 100m sprint, finishing 4th and 8th, respectively. Anaiyah turned in a 7th place performance in the 200m sprint. Annette’s older sister, Amanda, finished 7th in the 12 year old girls 100m sprint. Newcomer Joelle Pinvidic joined Amanda in the 200m finals with Amanda finishing a strong 4th and Joelle in 8th. Rounding out the girls sprints, Devin Strome and Grace Fetherstonhaugh, finished 5th and 6th, respectively in the 13 year old girls 300m sprint.

In the middle distances, 9 year old rookie, Milena Kilesch, finished 7th in the 600m. In the 11 year old category of the race, Elizabeth Bowles finished 6th. At the 800m distance, which the 12 year olds run, Amanda Scott picked up a 4th place finish. The Royal City 13 year olds dominated the same distance with Grace Fetherstonhaugh finishing 1st followed by Grace Vanee at 4th and Taylor Morrison in 7th.

At the 1,000m distance Milena picked up a 4th place finish with the 9 year olds. Emma Stewart-Barnett and Joelle Pinvidic finished 4th and 8th respectively at the 1,200m distance in the 12 year old girls category. The two Graces, Grace Fetherstonhaugh and Grace Vanee dominated the 1,200m with a 1st and 2nd, respectively, with Fetherstonhaugh finishing a full 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

The girls did well in the field as well. Anaiyah jumped a personal best in high jump to finish 7th. Jeneviève Patry-Smith and Emma Stewart-Barnett tied at 7th in the 12 year old girls high jump. Devin Strome finished 3rd in the 13 year old girls category and Milena finished 6th in the long jump. The 11 year olds, Anaiyah, Emma Celle, and Michelle Dadson, all finished in the top 8 in the long jump and Emma following suite for the 12 year olds. Devin Strome finished in a strong 3rd in the 13 year old girls long jump.

Michelle Dadson threw to a second place finish in the 11 year old girls shot put. Jeneviève and Emma both finished in the top 8 amongst the 12 year olds. Michelle took the top spot in the discus with a very strong throw of over 21m. Jeneviève finished second for the 12 year olds and Emma cracked the top 8 as well.

On the boys’ team, 9 year old rookie, Cameron Dewith, finished fourth in the 60m sprint. For the 12 year olds, Max Jones and Jeremy Belcher finished 3rd and 5th, respectively, in the 100m sprint. Both boys also finished in the top 8 in the 200m, as well. Jeremy braved the 300m alone and pulled in another top 8 performance.

In the middle distances, Cameron had a strong 3rd place showing in the 600m. Shea Jenke finished 7th in the 800m in the 12 year old boys category. Shea and Jeremy shared spots in the top 8 for the 1,200m.

In the field, 10 year old, David Patry-Smith, cracked the top 8 in the high jump with a personal best. For the 12 year olds, both Max Jones and Noah Slotman joined the top 8 in the high jump. The 12 year old boys, Max, Jeremy, and Ryan Jensen took most of the top 8 spots in the long jump with Jeremy holding the top spot amongst them at 3rd. Ryan also placed in the top 8 in shot put and discus with Noah joining him in discus.

On April 2nd the club officially headed outdoors full time for training. As always, we will be running full programs for all age groups, all events, and all abilities. So if your passion is sprinting, hurdles, middle distance, long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, javelin, discus, shot put, hammer throw, or race walk, we have a place for you.

The 2013 track and field season has kicked off at the Royal City Track & Field Club with the start of our pre-season indoor training. This year the training will include extra outdoor sessions as well for those really wanting to get a jump on the season. Check the schedule and get your registration in to take part!

With the club boasting over a hundred medals, hundreds of ribbons, the girls’ team taking 1st place overall at the Junior Olympics meet, 30 JD Crest awards, three athletes receiving BC Athletics JD Achievement Awards, two athletes recording BC top ten of all time performances, and 3 athletes as provincial champions in the 2012 season, we are extremely excited about our 2013 season!

Three Royal City Track and Field Club athletes were recognized at Junior Development Awards Banquet. Athletes are selected for recognition by meeting the JD Awards Standards set by BC Athletics.

The athletes were:

• Jeneviève Patry-Smith (Javelin – 24.03m)
• Maxwell Jones (60m – 8.61s and 60m Hurdles – 10.47s)
• Megan Lauener (60m Hurdles – 10.99s)

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• 11yr boys – Shea Janke 2nd, Jeremy Belcher 3rd, Noah Slotman 7th
• 12yr boys – Ian Hunter 6th place
• 12yr Girls – Grace Fetherstonhaugh 1st place
• 13yr Girls – Emily Chilton 4th place

Meluka Yusuf competed in her very first JD XC race and faired well for her first outting. Lauren Vanee had a bit of hard luck when she took a tumble and did not finish. But congrats to all our competitors!

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The RCTF squad was at The Pinetree Classic Race this past Saturday September 15th at Mundy Park in Coquitlam. A beautifully warm and sunny day greeted Royal City’s XC squad to kick off an eventful running day. In their 2.5km race, freshmen runners Shea Janke and Grace Fetherstonehaugh had a great first time out with Shea taking 2nd place in the 11 year old boys group and Grace coming in 4th place for her girls age group.

Veteran club runner, Jeremy Belcher, came in 3rd place right behind Shea in the same group. Other veteran runner, 13 year old Emily Chilton, came in a very strong 4th place in her 3.5km race.

Ian Hunter, Emmanuel Dadson and Michelle Dadson gave good strong efforts with Ian finishing 8th, Emmanuel 9th and Michelle 12th place for their age groups.

The Royal City XC Teams’ next event is 22nd September at Bear Creek Park in Surrey.

For those athletes interested in participating in our cross country season – it starts the week of September 10th!

Training will be Mondays and Wednesdays at Cariboo Park which is on the corner of 10th Avenue and Cariboo Road from 5:30 – 6:45.  Meet in the playground area.

This training is included for all our competitive athletes.  Those that participated in Intro to Track are welcome to join X-Country but will need to pay the difference between the Intro rate and the competitive rate ($50) plus the BC athletics upgrade to competitive if they plan on competing.

For new athletes joining Cross Country, the cost is $100 for the season. Please download the 2012 Registration and Waiver Form XC.

It was an injury filled weekend at the 2012 BC JD Championships in Richmond with top athletes Megan Lauener, Lauren Vanee, and Anaiyah Bernier all suffering injuries that eventually made them pull out of competition.

But there were some break through performances as well, particularly with the Royal City javelin throwers. Most all of the athletes threw the javelin and broke personal bests by great margins. Leading the pack was 11 year old Jeneviève Patry-Smith with a throw of 24.03m which places her in the top ten of all time and meeting the BC award standard.

Also of note in javelin were 10 year old Michael Baxter throwing to second place, Maxwell Jones finishes 5th in the 11 year old boys, followed by a 7th place for Ryan Jensen. Ian Hunter picked up 5th in the 12 year old category joined by Brianna Bates equalling the performance on the girl’s side.

In the other throwing events, Jeneviève Patry-Smith was consistent in picking up silver medals in both the shot put and discus, throwing personal bests in both events with a 22.38m in discus, a centimetre shy of the BC award standard.

Michael Baxter also placed 2nd in the shot put for the 10 year old boys. And Michelle Dadson proved her discus throw at the Trevor Craven was no accident by winning the silver medal for the 10 year old girls. Finally, Ryan Jensen picked up a pair of sixth place ribbons in both the shot put and discus.

The Royal City runners also did well with 10 year old Anaiyah Bernier finishing 8th in the 100m and 5th in the 60m. Of the same age, Michelle Dadson finished 5th in the 100m and 8th in the 60m hurdles. And despite injury, Megan Lauener was still able to pick up a 3rd place finish in the 60m hurdles in the same age group. Katie Stewart-Barnes won silver in the 9 year old girl’s 600m. At the 11 year old boys’ category, Maxwell Jones had a pair of 5th place ribbons in the 60m and 60m hurdles. He also placed sixth in the 100m. Ryan Jensen came 8th in the 60m hurdles.

Dominating the sprint track was 12 year old Emmanuel Dadson with a 7th in the 80m hurdles and a bronze medal in the intensely competitive 100m. But Emmanuel would settle for none other than a gold medal in the 200m with a blistering personal best run of under 28 seconds.

Joining Emmanuel in the 100m finals was rookie 100m finalist, Ian Hunter, who finished in a respectable 7th place. Ian also finished 5th in the 300m. 11 year old Ryan Jensen joined older team mates Ian and Emmanuel to form a 4×100 team and won gold.

In the longer distances, Royal City also showed dominance. Emily Chilton lead the charge with a gold medal performance in the 13 year old girls’ 2,000m. She continues to dominate in the event with her smartly orchestrated racing. She was joined by Taylor Morrison, Brianna Bates, and Amanda Scott to place 3rd in the 13 year old medley relay.

Other distance finalists were 11 year old Ryan Jensen with a 6th in the 1,000m and a bronze medal in the 800m race walk. 12 year old Ian Hunter came 5th in the 1,200m.

Rounding out the weekend on the jump aprons were Katie Stewart-Barnett with a gold medal in the 9 year old girls’ high jump. Ian Hunter captured a bronze medal and a personal best jump of 1.35m in the 12 year old boys’ high jump. For the 11 year old boys, Max Jones and Ryan Jensen traded places in the long jump and high jump with 7th and 8th place finishes, respectively.

In summary, Royal City continued to prove itself as one of the best all-around junior developement track and field clubs in the lower mainland.