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Peninsula Runners will be holding a Customer Appreciation BBQ by donation on Friday and the proceeds will go to benefit our Club.  Please be sure to drop by if you are able. 

All details are on the poster.

McLeod Park, Langley, August 17–Vikramjit Gondara tossed the hammer 59.44 metres Sunday at the Canadian Age Class Championships that took place at McLeod Park in Langley.  Gondara’s monster throw gave him the gold medal and easily surpassed the former record of 53.94 metres set in 2012 by Drew Erskine of Nova Scotia.  Fifteen year old Gondara has now established himself as a premier thrower and a talent that could dominate the hammer event in his age division.  For good measure Gondara placed fourth in the discus event with 48.94 metre performance.

Tasha Willing won a silver medal in the youth division shot put with a toss of 13.20 metres and came 6th in the hammer with a  of 50.81 metre performance.  It was an excellent conclusion to the season for the young lady from Chilliwack who makes the trek to Abbotsford three times per week to train under the watchful eye of throwing coach Harold Willers.

Michael Lambert won a bronze medal in the midget men’s high jump with a leap of 1.88 metres. It was a departure from the usual throwing events that Michael’s two older brothers are known for.

Several other notable performances were recorded by club members at the meet.  Jayden Driver was fifth in the Youth hammer (48.64m), Joshua Adhemar emerged from Sue Northey’s distance group to place sixth in the final of the 300m hurdles (40.84), and seventh places were recorded by Spencer Spenst in the Youth high jump (1.88m) and Hannah Konrad in the Youth women’s 800 metres (2:17.34).  Aidan Bingert placed 15th in the always competitive Youth 800 metres with the very creditable time of 1:58.59 while Timothy Bertness was 12th in the triple jump (12.29), 5th in Pole Vault and 9th in Javelin.

Yesterday afternoon Athletics Canada announced that Valley Royal members Jessica Smith and Michael Mason have both been named to the 50 member Canadian team that will take part in this summer’s Commonwealth Games.

At the Games, scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 3 in Glasgow, Scotland, Smith will compete in the women’s 800 meters while Mason will contest the men’s high jump event.  So far this season Smith has a best time for the 800 meter of 2:01.42 while Mason has cleared 2.28 meters in the high jump.  Both performances were achieved last month at the Mt. Sac relays pin Los Angeles.  Mason, who resides in Abbotsford, is coached by Ziggy Szelagowicz while Burnaby resident Smith is coached by Brit Townsend.

Valley Royal athlete Zach Choboter, representing Abbotsford’s St. John Brebeuf School, placed first in the BC Secondary School’s decathlon championship held this past Friday and Saturday at the Swan Track in Abbotsford.

In spite of inclement weather conditions that on Friday morning featured torrential rain showers, Choboter amassed 5,485 pts to easily win the event.  In second place was White Rock Christian’s Glen Johnston (4,529 pts) and Derek Brougham (Oak Bay) came third (4,468 pts).  Thirteen athletes from schools throughout the province took part in this year’s decathlon.

Choboter won seven of the 10 events (100m-11.49), 400m (54.62), 100m hurdles (17.14), hj (1.71.), LJ (6.22m), SP (10.73m) and discus (31.43m).  In the other three events Choboter placed second in the pole vault (3.30m) fourth in the 1500m (5:07.95) and fifth in the javelin (31.73m). 

At next week’s BC High School track and field Championships that begins Thursday at McLeod Park in Langley, Choboter will once again be busy as he expects to take part in the 100 meters, long jump and high jump events.

In the women’s heptathlon event, Nina Schulz of New Westminster Secondary scored 4,655 pts. to win in a tight battle with Walnut Grove’s Robyn Buckingham who placed second (4,506 pts.).  Winston Churchill Stephanie Cho came third (4,342 pts.).

On her way to the win, Schulz placed first in the 100m hurdles (14.92), shot put, (9.51m), 200m (26.55) and long jump (5.71m).  She was second in the high jump (1.59m), 6th in the 800m (2:31.81) and seventh in the javelin (25.76m).

Buckingham was first in the high jump (1.62m) and javelin (41.54m) while Cho won the 800m (2:15.01). Fourteen athletes completed the two day heptathlon event.

Last Thursday Helen Crofts and Jessica Smith competed in California at the USATF High Performance Distance Classic (also known as Oxy).

This meet always attracts very competitive fields in the distance events and provides an excellent opportunity to run fast times.  Smith came third and Crofts was fifth in section two of the women’s 800 meter competition producing times of 2:01.78 and 2:02.10 respectively, performances that rank them second and fourth in the Canadian rankings.

Commenting on the race Smith stated, “both Helen and I are in excellent condition and exceptionally fit, but we did not run tactically smart races, got boxed in and that no doubt caused us to run slower then we could have.  However it was a great experience and both of us look forward to our next race that takes place this coming Saturday in Austin, Texas.”