Valley Royals Track & Field Club

Proud Performances at the Canadian Cross Country Championships

Riley Simmonds, Arata Nakanishi, Adrianna Buitelaar, Miles Graham, and Sam May represented the Valley Royals this past weekend in London, Ontario, at the Canadian Cross Country Championships. Our athletes represented us proudly at the national level.

Riley Simmonds and Arata Nakanishi had outstanding performances finishing 14^th and 41st in a field of 265 of the top runners in Canada. Sam May and Miles Graham ran aggressively but were not up to their usual form in this late season race, running into trouble over the later stages finishing 64th and 104^th respectively.

On the girls side Adrianna Buitelaar was inspiring, managing a 4^th place finish in the nation despite suffering from the early stages of a flu.

I would like to extend my most sincere congratulations to these athletes as it is just impossible to comprehend the sheer level of competition unless you have participated in these type of events.

I know I speak for all of the coaches, board members, athletes, and parents of the Valley Royals, when I say we are so very, very, proud of you all. – Coach Scott

Grand Prix Final Top Ten Standings

Here are the top ten individual runners from the Valley Royals Cross Country Grand Prix, in September and October. Download the results to see the ten fastest runners by age and gender: 2024 Grand Prix Individual Results (Final)

Outstanding BC High School Cross Country Championships

Congratulations to all of our Valley Royals Cross Country runners who represented us proudly this past weekend at the BC High School Cross Country Championships. Close to 1500 of the top high school runners in the province descended on Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver to battle for the top spots in the province and our crew was right in the game.

Congratulations to Adrianna Buitelaar, who was our Double AA senior girls Champion, and Miles Graham, who was our Single A Senior Boys Champion.

Riley Simmonds stepped up his game to grab 4^th place in the extremely competitive senior boys triple AAA race, finishing 1/100 of a second out of the medals. Sam May ran a very strong race to finish 6^th, and both Sam and Riley are looking great for final selections to team BC for Nationals, which are happening over the next few days. Arata Nakanishi finished very well in the 14^th position, and Sam Rasquinha ran the race of his life to grab the 46^th position out of 198 competitors. Jonah Dyck, Will Van Schagen, and Arie Wassenaar ran strongly to finish at 49^th 70^th and 78^th respectively. In the Junior Boys race Laken Olson and Parks Siemens placed an amazing 5^th and 6^th out of the close to 300 athletes in the field, and Will Steiger and Nicholas Chester finished strongly in the 34^th and 81st positions.

On the girls side, Maggie Epp turned in a fantastic performance to finish 10th out of 188 athletes in the extremely competitive senior girls triple AAA race, and Syra Dhaliwal finished well in the 62nd position. In the Junior Girls race, Kamora Piper seriously elevated her performance to finish 42 out of 266 competitors, and Jayda Teilman opened well in her first major competition at 97th.

In all, our Valley Royals had a great BCs, and we are eagerly looking forward to Canadian Championships to round out the season for our senior athletes.

A big congratulations and a sincere very well done to each and every one of you. – Coach Scott

Photo Credit: Philip Ngo (@streetlightz)

BC Athletics Provincial Cross Country Championships – Outstanding!

A big congratulations goes out to all of our Valley Royals athletes who competed in the BC Athletics Provincial Cross Country Championships this past weekend in Vernon. Our athletes represented us in an outstanding manner.

Adrianna Buitelaar was the U18 girls provincial champion winning the race by a large margin over Lexi Dow who was last seasons 2^nd place finisher at Nationals so we are looking very good going into this years event. The Ontario girls are also on fire so this years nationals promises to be crazy.

Riley Simmonds and Sam May ran strongly to secure spots on Team BC with a 5^th and 6^th place finish in what was one of the toughest U18 guys races ever. With Miles Graham, Arata Nakanishi, Jonah Dyck, and Sam Rasquinha following up close behind we are definitely in contention for the top team spot and will find out when official results are released shortly.

In the U16 boys race Parks Siemens, Laken Olsen, Will Steiger, and Nick Chester ran very strongly and will also be in contention for the team title. Maggie Epp keeps getting stronger every race out and was in contention for a spot on Team BC until the later stages of the race and Arie Wassenaar ran very well over 8k in the U20 category.

Well done Royals. – Coach Scott

JD Cross Country Meet Schedule

There are three meets that the JD group will be attending in October and November:

Valley Royals Grand Prix Race #3 – Oct 9

2. Frank Reynolds Memorial Meet – Oct 19

3. Cross Country Championships, Vernon BC – Oct 26

4. Fraser Valley Cross Country Ramble – Nov 16

http://raceroster.com/events/2024/94749/fraser-valley-cross-country-ramble-2024

All of these races are optional. However, if there is a practice on a meet day, the practice will be cancelled.

Valley Royals Grand Prix was a Great Success!

The 2024 Valley Royals Grand Prix – one of the Fraser Valley’s most popular cross country meet series – welcomed a range of runners and abilities. We may be done for this year, but keep up training for more seasons and fun.