Emma Hatfield – Valley Royals Track & Field Club

Valley Royals Grand Prix is Here!

It’s time for the Valley Royals Grand Prix – one of the Fraser Valley’s most popular cross country meet series. Mark your calendars, and keep training.

Wednesday, September 25
Wednesday, October 2
Wednesday, October 9

All races are at Clearbrook Park, Abbotsford.

Download the information pack: 2024 Grand Prix School Letter & Package

Download the meet pack: Grand Prix Meet Package 2024

Cross Country Starts Soon

It’s time to get those legs moving again! Join Valley Royals 2024 Cross Country season. All practices are at Clearbrook Park, and all levels and abilities are welcome to join. Contact Christa ([email protected]) to register.

First High School Practice – August 27

Tuesdays & Thursdays 4:30pm – 6:00pm
Saturdays 10:30am to 12:00pm

First JD Practice – September 5

Tuesdays & Thursdays 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Saturdays 9:15am – 10:15am

Peak Performances at Legion Nationals

Power and Speed Group

It has been duly noted by many in our BC track circles the crazy length of this 2024 season. It’s a big ask to expect athletes to peak for the BC High School championships in June, for the Jamboree in July, and yet again for the Legion Nationals this past weekend in Calgary. Luckily, our approach of training hard but smart over this past month paid off with several personal bests and great efforts by our power and speed athletes.

Jesse Booth placed 6^th overall in a pole vault competition, which saw the bar raised in substantial 20 centimetre increments. Jesse cleared 2.90 and had 3 good attempts at 3.10 (which would have been a personal best).

Thanks to personal bests in shot put, high jump, the 200 and javelin, and with solid performances in the hurdles, long jump and 800, Gurpartap Sandhu had a huge 300-point PB in the gruelling heptathlon, placing 9^th in the country. But because the heptathlon wasn’t quite enough, and just for good measure, Gurpartap competed in the triple jump the day after her heptathlon, jumping a PB of 10.69, which placed her 12th.

Luke Wight contested the long jump, and despite falling backwards a bit with his elbow on the landing of his last jump, likely costing him 10-15 centimetres, it was still good enough for a PB of 6.32 meters, placing him 16^th in the country.

Harveer Nigah, fighting several injures still managed an 8^th place finish in the high jump.

In the 400meter hurdles, Will Van Schagen set a blistering pace in the first 200, allowing him to hang on for silver with a massive PB of 53.30, about 1.4 seconds faster than his previous best. Side note, Will’s time is 0.19 seconds faster than the current BC High School record.

Well done to all of our Legion athletes. – Coach Trevor

Distance Group

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of our Valley Royals Athletes who competed at this past weekends Canadian Legion Championships in Calgary Alberta. For many of our athletes it was their first time competing at the national level and they all without exception should be proud of their efforts against the best competition our country has to offer. With regards to our distance athletes we represented both Valley Royals and Team BC with distinction.

Adrianna Buitelaar finished off an outstanding season by claiming her first Canadian Championship in the 3000m and taking the bronze medal in the 1500m.

In the Steeplechase Sam May ran an inspiring race to finish 4^th and Miles Graham ran strongly to finish 7^th in the country. Arata Nakanishi felt the fatigue from a long season and despite not being at his best still managed a 14^th place finish. Will Van Schagen made a big breakthrough in the 400m hurdles with a silver medal performance and new PR of 53.30 which is faster than the current BC High school record and both coach Trevor and myself are very proud of his accomplishments. Riley Simmonds made a valiant effort in the 3000m but felt the effects of a long season and was far off his best but we will be looking forward to many great runs from this fine athlete in the future.

A big congratulations and thank you goes out to all the parents and board members for your support throughout what proved to be an outstanding season. Go Royals! – Coach Scott

BC Athletics Jamboree Celebrations

Our Valley Royals team had a stellar performance and this year’s BC Athletics Jamboree. What an amazing group of athletes, parents, coaches, and volunteers!

Power and Speed Group Performance

Despite strong gusty winds making for tough conditions in the sprints and for inconsistent boards in the jumps it was a great weekend in Nanaimo. The athlete’s performances were far better than the mechanical reliability of a BC Ferry. Here’s a quick rundown of the weekend.

Harveer Nigah – 4th in 100 hurdles, Silver in the 100, Silver in the High Jump
Neven McNeil – Great runs in the 100hurdles and 100 and 4 x100
Tristan Stieger – Strong performances in the 200, 400 and 4 x 100 relay
Sydney O’Neil – Great runs in the 100, 300 and 4 x 100.
Luke Wight – Bronze in triple jump, 4th in long jump, strong run in the 4 x 100
Sanaa Musonge – Great runs in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100
Nadege Henderson – Good high jumping, great run in the 80hurdles, 300 hurdles, and 4 x100
Derek Zhou – Gold in his first ever decathlon, great run in the 4 x 100
Jesse Booth – 4th in discus, javelin, pole vault, hammer and pole vault, good run in the 4 x 100
Evan Booth – Good performances in the long and triple jumps, good runs in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100
Logan Sutherland – Silver in pole vault, great run in the 4 x 100 relay
Will Van Schagen – Gold in 400 hurdles, great run in the flat 400
Caleb Okoti – Great runs in the 100, 200 and 4 x 100
Lindsay Foster -Bronze in the triple jump, great run in the 200 and 4 x 100 relay
Gurpartap Sandhu – 3rd in triple jump, 5th in heptathlon

We want to wish good luck to all of our athletes competing this week at the BC Summer Games in Maple Ridge. -Coach Trevor

Throws Group Performance

Jesse in Hammer Throw

After a long day of travel due to Cancelled Ferries and throwing on a brand new very slippery circle, Jesse adapted to these challenges and placed fourth with a throw of 23.77.

Jesse in Discus

It was very windy Saturday, and Jesse again rose to the challenge and threw close to his PB for another fourth place finish with a throw of 31.34

Jesse in Javelin

Sunday was hot but the wind calmed down. Jesse was on fire with great energy and technique he placed fourth again with a throw of 29.94

Alana in Javelin

Alana took the ferry over very early Sunday morning but kept great energy up as she was attempting for Team BC standard of 38.72 . Alana threw very well with a 2 meter PB of 37.25 and silver medal finish.

I’m very proud of both throwers as they have put in hours of hard work and their performances showed this. – Coach Debbie

Distance Group Performance

I would like to send out a big Congratulations to all of our Valley Royals athletes who competed at this weekends Provincial Championships Jamboree in Nanaimo. For many of you it was a great wind up to the season, and for a few of you a step towards Canadian Championships coming up early August in Calgary.

Thanks to the organizers of our club picnic on the lake a good time was had by all. As well a big congratulations to Adrianna Buitelaar, Sam May, and Will Van Schagen for being selected to Team BC and to Arata Nakanishi, Miles Graham, and Riley Simmonds who will also be representing us at Canadian Championships in early August.

The following are the results from the Valley Royals Distance group.

Sam May – Gold in the Steeplechase
Miles Grayham – Silver in the Steeplechase
Arata Nakanishi – Bronze in the Steeplechase
Adrianna Buitelaar – Gold in the 1500m and Gold int the 3000m
Arie Wassenaar – 18th in the 1500m and 14th in the 800m
Santos Svelander -10^th 400m/H
Maggie Epp – Bronze in the 800m and 4^th in the 1500m
Malcolm Reid – Silver in the 3000m Steeplechase and 8^th in the 1500m
Jonah Dyck – 8^th Steeplechase
William Steiger – 8^th 1200m and 7^th 2000m
Will Van Schagen (In conjunction with the sprint group) Gold 400m/H and 5^th 400m
Laken Olson -5^th 1200m and 4^th 2000m
Syra Dhaliwal – 6^th 3000m and 13^th 1500m
Samuel Rasquinha – 25^th 1500m and 22^nd 800m
Riley Simmonds – Bronze in the 3000m

Without fail you all represented the Valley Royals with heart, determination and class and you have done us proud. – Coach Scott

Power and Speed Success at High School Championships

Great job by our Valley Royals power/speed athletes this past weekend at the BC High School Championships in Nanaimo. There were numerous personal bests and great performances. Here they are in no particular order.

Tristan Steiger – PB in the 400 with a time of 52.11

Katie Brandsma – 5th in 300 hurdles with a PB in heats of 47.77. 6th in 4 x 400 Relay, 17th in the 400

Marcus Brandsma – Bronze in 200 hurdles with a PB of 28.02, Silver in Triple Jump PB of 11.25

Luke Wight – Fourth in Triple Jump with a PB of 12.65, Long Jump – PB of 5.81

Will van Schagen – 8th in the 400 with a PB of 50.73, Silver in the 400 Hurdles, PB of 54.75, 9th in 110 hurdles

Gurpartap Sandhu – 7th in Triple Jump PB of 10.66, 4th in 4 x 400 Relay

Sydney O’Neil – 4th in the 400, PB of 58.64, 10th in the 200m with 26.58, 14th in the 100m

Jesse Booth – 6th in Pole vault with a PB of 2.90

Kendra Janzen – 12th in 100 hurdles, 21st in 400 hurdles

Harvir Nigah – PB of 16.04 in 100 hurdles, 11th place in High Jump

Neven McNeil – PB of 17.45 in 100 hurdles

Great job! – Coach Trevor

Distance Athletes Shine at BC High School Track and Field Championships

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I am sitting here the morning after myself and my family got back from this year’s BC High School Track and Field Championships, in Nanaimo. I must say I am feeling a little in awe of the wonderful athletes, families, and club members who gave so much of themselves to make this event such a resounding success for all of us.

From Christa, Nancy Steiger, our board members, and the wonderful Booth family, who stepped up for my family and myself and made it possible for me to be there for our athletes. To Coach Trevor, whom I love to have enthusiastic discussions and debates with over optimal coaching practice and who has actively supported athletes in my group with both hurdles and speed development, and of course our ferociously competent and big hearted parents who support both their athletes and myself and are really the people who run things for our group when we are on our trips, I would like to say a resounding thank you.

When I step back and look at it all I realize that we have become truly and completely a team, and what a team we have become. I cannot emphasize enough that great results in track and field are the result of not only our hard working and talented athletes, who give so much of themselves every day, but of a great team, and I think that this has been made clear yet again this past weekend in Nanaimo.

Results: Valley Royals Distance Group – BC High School Track and Field Championships

Riley Simmonds – BC High School Champion 1500m and 3000m

Adrianna Buitelaar – BC High School Champion 1500m and 3000m

Laken Olson – BC High School Champion 3000m and silver medalist 1500m

Sam May – BC High School Champion 2000ms/c and bronze medalist 3000m

Maggie Epp – BC High School Champion 800m, 5^th 400m

Zoe Unger – BC High School Silver Medalist 2000ms/c, 8^th 3000m

Will Van Schagen(with sprint group) – BC High School Silver Medalist 400m Hurdles, 8^th 400m

Miles Graham – BC High School Silver Medalist 2000ms/c, 12^th 3000m

Arata Nakanishi – BC High School Bronze Medalist 2000ms/c, 15^th 3000m

Malcolm Reid – 4^th 2000ms/c, 9^th 3000m, 20^th 1500m

Jonah Dyck – 6^th – 1500ms/c

Santos Svelander(with sprint group)- 12^th 300m Hurdles

Syra Dhaliwal – 24^th 1500m, 31^st 3000m

A big congratulations to all of our Valley Royals Athletes who competed this past weekend, your hard work and dedication to our sport is inspirational. – Coach Scott