July 25, 2010: BC SUMMER GAMES RESULTS

Our Victrack athletes did an amazing job at the BC Summer Games as did our team coach, Jonathan Henderson. Along with the results listed below, Mackenzie Carroll added a 4th place in discus, Clinton Howard placed 7th in Javelin and 11th in Shot Put, Liam Kennell placed 4th in 1200 metres and 6th in 800 metres, Jordyn Piercy placed 7th in 80 Hurdles, 3rd in 200 Hurdles and 3rd in the 4 x 400 relay, and Daphne Love won the Pole Vault exactly 27 years after her father, Stuart, won the same event at the BC Summer Games! Well done Team Victrack!

Zone 6 Team Results and the full results of the 2010 BC Summer Games in Langley are now posted on our Meet Results page.

July 23, 2010: BC SUMMER GAMES RESULTS

Way to go to our own Aimee Henderson, silver medalist in the 1500 metre racewalk at the BC Summer Games today. Also winning a medal today was Mackenzie Carroll, bronze medalist in shot put. Well done girls!

Results for Friday's events are posted on our Meet Results page. The 100m and 300m are not available at this time.

July 23 2010: THE CLUB IN ACTION!

Another success for Holly Parent who is competing in high jump at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Moncton, New Brunswick. Holly placed 18th overall in her event today.

July 7, 2010: THE CLUB IN ACTION!

Another great evening for track and field in Victoria, saw many of our club members in various roles at Centennial Stadium at UVIC for the Victoria International Track Classic. It was a wonderful night for athletes and fans of the sun. Earlier in the afternoon at a pre-Track Classic event, Gavin Vaesen, hit a new high with a pole vault score of 4.50 metres!

Our own middle distance runner, Courtney Roskelley, ran in the Women's National 1500 metre event against some of the best runners in the country.

On the volunteer side, Aimee Henderson, took a break from racewalk and was a fabulous "basket girl" for the athletes on the track.

On the officials side, we had most of our officials involved with the meet. David Hopkins was the track referee, while Lin Hopkins worked the results camera in the photo finish tent. Diana Hollefreund was the chief backup timer assisted by Tom and Florence Dingle of Peninsula Track Club and Jim Huzzey, VTFC alumni parent. In the field, Evelyn Parent worked at several field events including high jump and pole vault.

To view the full meet results, click here.

July 6, 2010: CANADIAN JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to our three club athletes who traveled to Moncton, NB last weekend for the 2010 Canadian Junior Championships. Holly Parent, won the high jump event with a jump of 1.77 metres. Her first-place finish and her achievement of standard earlier in the season earned Holly a place on the Canadian team to the World Junior Championships which will be held later this summer in Moncton, NB. Hannah Swift, on her first trip on a BC Athletics team, placed 4th in pole vault with a vault of 3.50 metres. Kira Craig, the third member of Victrack to attend the championships, did what many vaulters do in their career and achieved NH [no height]. 

Holly Parent, 2010 Canadian Junior High Jump Champion

COMOX VALLEY COUGARS ZONE 6 TRAINING CAMP

This training camp is offered every two years just before the BC Summer Games and is open to those athletes selected for the Zone 6 Team. Pleae note that registration for the camp, hotel and transportation costs are the responsibility of each individual athlete and his/her family.

Comox Valley Cougars are hosting this camp at their home track on July 10 & 11. Vanier Track is at 3001 Vanier Drive, between Headquarters Road and Highway 19A in Courtenay, BC. Parking is available at the adjacent Comox Valley Sports Centre and Vanier Secondary School.

Nearby Hotels:

• Courtenay Travelodge Website
• Holiday Inn Express & Suites Comox Valley Website
• Riverheights Motel Website
• The Westerly Hotel (Best Western) Website

The cost for the camp is $120.00 and deadline for registration is July 8. Please bring the exact cash or a cheque payable to Comox Valley Cougars with the completed registration form.

Please arrive at the track on Saturday, July 10 at 8:30 AM. Dinner will be provided on site.
For further information please contact John May at johnwilliammay@hotmail.com

Please click here to download the Zone 6 BC Summer Games Camp registration form.

July 2, 2010: PHOTOGRAPHS AND THANKS!

Two more sets of photographas have been posted to our 2010 Photo Gallery page. All were taken by our coach/photographer, Graham Howard. The first set shows our great VIAA officials, coaches, parents and volunteers at work at a VIAA Island Series meet. Without all of this volunteer help, clubs could not run their meets as a large number of people are needed for all of the various jobs. Thank you to all our parents who assisted with timing this year. Your work was very much appreciated!

July 1, 2010: GRADUATING ATHLETES

Congratulations to our own Allisyn Howard who has just graduated from Esquimalt Secondary School. Allisyn will be heading east to Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia to study kinesiology and physiotherapy. She will also be a member of their throws progam and will continue to train and throw with their team. Allisyn volunteers as a coach in our JD throws program and was also the coach for the Esquimalt Secondary School team during the recent school track and field season. Her accomplishments are particularly noteworthy as this was the first time in 50 years in BC that a school athlete was given permission to serve as a school coach. Well done, Allisyn!

Allisyn Howard with two of her Victrack athletes.

June 28, 2010: ALUMNI NEWS

TheCheck out our Alumni News page for an update about Keith Newell, ex-club member and current BC Athletics Official.

June 24, 2010: PHOTOS

Photographs from the Garriock Meet in Duncan are now posted on our 2010 Photo Gallery page on the site. You can also check out the great pictures of our VIAA Officials and our many volunteers helping out at the meet! Thanks, Graham!

June 22, 2010: BC JUNIOR TEAM

Congratulations and good luck to our great Victrack vertical jumps team members who have been selected to the BC Junior Team heading to the Canada Junior Championships in Moncton, NB from July 2nd to July 4th. Kira Craig and Hannah Swift were selected for Pole Vault and Holly Parent will be competing in High Jump.

June 17, 2010: GRADUATING ATHLETES

Congratulations to Nick Campbell who is graduating from Claremont Secondary School this year. At the school's Annual Sports Awards Night, Nick was recognized as MVP for Track and Field and won a second award for Athletic Achievement. 

Nick Campbell at the 2010 Dogwood Meet

June 14, 2010: VIKES INVITATIONAL MEET

Please note that this meet has been cancelled as of Monday, June 14. A few field events and some hand-timed track events will still take place.

June 7, 2010: BC HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to all of our athletes who recorded amazing results at the BC High School Championships this past weekend. We had some very impressive results for our club athletes. The full meet results are posted on our Meet Results page on this site.

June 3, 2010: VIAA PENTATHLON AND WEIGHT PENTATHLON MEET

If you are looking for something to do this Sunday, head out to Parkland School and try out the VIAA Pentathlon [9 to 15 years] or the Weight Pentathlon [throw 5 different weight implements]. The double meet in a day is hosted by Peninsula Track and Field Club and is a good opportunity to try out Combined Events in a relaxed and possibly sunny setting. More information about the events and the schedule is posted on our Meet Packages page.

June 3, 2010: BC HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations and good competition to all our club athletes who are attending the BC High School Championships in Burnaby over the next two days. This is a wonderful meet so make the most of the competition and get personal bests in all your events!

The coaches and executive of the Club wish everyone a great meet.

May 29, 2010: ELWOOD WYLIE & ZONE 6 TRIALS PHOTOS

Check out the great photographs from the Elwood Wylie Meet in Nanaimo which are now posted on our 2010 Photo Gallery page. Congratulations to all of our club athletes who made the Zone 6 BC Summer Games Team in the first round. Fingers crossed for more of our athletes to be named to the team.

May19, 2010: VANCOUVER ISLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Good competition to all of our club athletes who are competing in the Island Championships on Thursday and Friday at Centennial Stadium, University of Victoria.

May14, 2010: DOGWOOD MEET PHOTOS

Photographs from the Dogwood Meet last weekend are now posted on the 2010 Photo Gallery page on the website.

May12, 2010:  MEET INFORMATION PACKAGES

The meet information packages for the 2010 Garriock Track Meet on June 12th and 13th and the meet package for the Cougars Track Meet on June 26th and 27th are now posted on the Meet Packages page on the website.

Links for the 2010 VIAA Pentathlon Meet information package and schedule are also located on the Meet Packages page.

May15, 2010:  SUMMER GAMES ENTRY DEADLINE

All athletes born in 1995 and 1996 must pre-register for the BC Summer Games Trials to be held in Nanaimo along with the Elwood Wylie Track and Field Meet on May 22nd and 23rd. Please let your coach know immediately if you are attending and which events you wish to enter. Also make sure you provide your personal best times for ALL track events as this helps with the seeding of the track events. Athletes who don't submit times get placed in the outside lanes! Late entry deadline for your coach to complete your registration is 6:00pm on Saturday, May 15th.

All athletes attending must complete a BC Summer Games Team Registration form. This provides the Zone 6 Representative, Tom Dingle, with the information needed to register the athletes who are chosen for the team. All forms must be handed in at the Registration Office [upstairs in the Nanaimo clubhouse] on Saturday, May 22nd. It is the athlete's responsibility to complete these forms and to submit them. Do not expect your coaches to fill them out!

For more information on the meet and the latest schedule, go to the Elwood Wylie Meet section on our Meet Packages page on this site.

Please click here to download the 2010 BC Summer Games Registration Form.

Please Note: Victoria Track and Field Club will pay all fees for any of our club ahtletes selected to the Zone 6 team.

May 9, 2010:  THANK YOU!

Thank you to everyone in the club who helped out at the Dogwood Meet this past weekend. Everyone agreed that it was one of the best-run meets we have EVER had and everyone's job - no matter how large or small - helped us to achieve success. Every position was important and every volunteer was valuable - from making sandwiches, to reading wind gauges, running results and raking pits! THANK YOU FROM THE EXECUTIVE AND COACHES OF VICTORIA TRACK AND FIELD CLUB. 

May 4, 2010:  Check for Updates to Meet Packages

It is very important to check for updates to schedules and information packages for meets. 

Please note that the Dogwood Meet Schedule has change the start times for some field events. The revised schedule is posted on the Dogwood Track Meet page on this website. Check out the new start times to make sure that you do not miss the start of your field events.

The Elwood Wyle Meet and Zone 6 Trials has a slightly revised track events schedule with more time permitted for the relays and the Fun Run moved to Sunday. This revision is posted on the Meet Packages page on the site. 

April 30, 2010:  Dogwood Meet Volunteer Schedules

The volunteer schedules for the Dogwood Meet are now posted on the Dogwood Track Meet page on the website. Please go to the Dogwood Track Meet page and check out the jobs still available, then email Eileen Carroll to volunteer. All spaces need to be filled and all jobs are critical to the smooth running of a large track and field meet. 

Everyone in the club is required to work two 4 hour shifts at the meet but our coaches and executive members will be working for the entire weekend. 

April 23, 2010:  2010 Photo Gallery

A new photo gallery for 2010 has been started on our site just for photographs taken this year. Check out the great shots taken by Graham Howard at the George Dean Meet in Sidney last weekend.

If other photographers wish to have their photos posted, please send them to the website editor at  trackvictoria@shaw.ca.

April 22, 2010:  Practice Cancelled

Athletes are reminded that the practice scheduled for Saturday, April 24th has been cancelled.

April 18, 2010:  Thank You

Thank you to all our of parents, coaches and executive members who came out to the George Dean Meet in Sidney this past weekend and did such a great job timing! Your enthusiasm and efficiency impressed everyone!

April 16, 2010:  Another Great Jump!

Once again our club member, Holly Parent, had an amazing high jump result for her Washington State University tream. Competing today at the 52nd Annual Mt. Sac Relays in Walnut, California, Holly place 1st with a jump of 1.80 metres. This result means that Holly has now made standard for the 2010 World Junior Championships and has potentially earned a spot on the Canadian team to this event to be held in Moncton, New Brunswick.

April 16, 2010:  Our Condolences

The executive and coaches of Victoria Track and Field Club extend our condolences to the family of our alumni member, Al Sheridan, who died this past week of Lou Gehrig's disease. A remembrance of Al provided by friend and coach, Gerard Dumas, is posted on our Alumni page.

April 15, 2010:  Pole Vaulters in California

A small group of our pole vaulters headed south to California to train and compete in the sun! Accompanied by coach, Gerard Dumas, and chaperone/manager, Nancy Craig, the team members were Kara Schaefer, Hannah Swift and Kira Craig. The vaulters had two training sessions, one in Pomona and one in Walnut, California. The group also watched a meet at UCLA and cooled off their shins in an icy creek!

Results for the Pomona Pitzer Meet for VTFC vaulters: Kara Schaefer 3rd place at 3.25m, Hannah Swift 12th place at 3.05m, and Kira Craig 14th place at 2.90m. If you consider that there were 39 competitors in the event, the warm-up began at 7:45am, and the event finished at 5:45pm our results were OUTSTANDING!

Full results for this meet can be found on our Meet Results page.

March 26, 2010:  New Information Posted Weekly

This time of year it is important to keep checking for updates on the website. The Calendar of Events page is constantly updated with corrections, additions and revisions. The Meet Packages page now has the first few meet packages of the VIAA Track and Field Series posted with the Dogwood Meet Information Packages also posted on the Dogwood Meet page. The Meet Results page shows the latest results for our club athletes. Keep checking this page, Club News, for changes or cancellations to practice sessions.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010: Track and Field Practices

Tuesday, March 23rd marks the official start to our outdoor Track and Field season. All Tuesday and Thursday sessions will be at the Oak Bay track starting at 6:00pm and finishing at 7:30pm. All athletes must hold a 2010 club registration in order to take part. Forms can be downloaded from the Membership page on this site. Complete the form and bring it in an envelope with payment to your practice!

JD 9 to 13 athletes will take part in our Run, Jump and Throw program which provides training in discus, javelin, shot put, high jump, long jump, hurdles, racewalk, sprints and middle distance running. Schedules for the various training groups will be posted on the Training Groups page on this site as soon as they are available.

Midget athletes [ages 14 and 15 years] will work with event specific coaches during the Tuesday and Thursday practices. This group will also be training with the Advanced Running Group on Mondays and weekends so Summer Games athletes should check out the Advanced Training Group schedule for times and locations of the training sessions.

If you have any questions about  training contact the coaches who are listed on our Home Page. Their email addresses are listed there.

For up-to-date changes and notices, keep checking the Club News page on the site as notices will be posted here as required.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010: Dogwood Meet Planning Meeting

All parents are invited to attend a Dogwood Planning Meeting in the Oak Bay Rec Centre meeting lounge [beside the cafe on the upper level] on Tuesday, March 30th. The meeting will be from 6:30 to 7:30 pm while your children are at practice. This meeting is critical in order to start the planning for the Dogwood Meet. Evelyn Parent, club director and meet manager of the Dogwood, has already send out a club email to all parents and athletes asking for help. With a number of our club directors heading for retirement, it is very important to start training other club volunteers to help with the various jobs involved in running a meet of this size. Please come out to the meeting and offer your help! You will not be put in charge of anything but will assist with club volunteers in key areas.

Also needed... the Thursday and Friday before the Dogwood Meet is the time when the meet manager needs to photocopy the start lists for the meet. As our photocopying service from the past is no longer available we need someone to volunteer a high-speed copier which will copy the many sets of start lists for the meet. If you have a small business or work with a company that would be able to help out, please contact Evelyn [evparent@shaw.ca] to volunteer your services. Evelyn needs to be able to come into an office to do the copying and it takes about 90 minutes [on a high-speed copier]. The club provides the paper and will credit your company as a club sponsor.

Saturday, March 6, 2010: Paralympic Torch Relay

Well done Boyd Farrell! Boyd, who is one of our Special Olympics athletes, was chosen to run a section of the 2010 Paralympic Torch Relay on Saturday while the torch was in Esquimalt and Victoria. If anyone has a photo of Boyd in his Olympic gear, please send it to the website director for posting.

March 1 to 8th, 2010: World Masters Indoor Championships

A number of our club athletes and officials will be traveling to Kamloops, BC next week for the 2010 World Masters Indoor Championships. Club officials participating in the Games include David Hopkins [umpire and track referee] and Lin Hopkins [camera]. Club athletes going for gold include Che Davison [throws] and our masters' vaulters - Sean Steele, Gerard Dumas,Wayne Psotka, Nancy Craig, Ken Underdahl and Stuart Love all participating in pole vault.

Congratulations and a good competition to all of them!

February 18, 2010: ProMOTION Plus Awards

Please check out the grant and awards information and forms from ProMOTION Plus on our Clinics and Courses Page. These awards/grants are for the promotion of girls in sports. Grants are for girls ages 10 and older and cover Leadershipo, Fair Play, In-Training and Play It Forward.

February 17, 2010: Child Tax Credits 

The Child Fitness Tax Credit receipts for the 2009 tax year have now been mailed out directly to the home addresses of any eligible members. The Tax Credits are for all fees paid to Victoria Track and Field Club during the 2009 calendar year for any athlete under 16 years of age in 2009. If you have any questions about the receipts, please contact the club treasurer, Dorothy Fielding, by email.

February 16, 2010: GO CANADA GO

Today Maelle Ricker won a gold medal for Canada in Snowboard Cross. Before Maelle took up winter sports she was a sprint star with NorWesters Track and Field Club in North Vancouver. She also competed in many of the early Dogwood Meets here in Victoria and in the BC Summer Games!  Well done to a graduate of our sport!

February 12/13, 2010: Husky Indoor Meet

Congratulations to a number of our club athletes who competed in the Washington Husky Indoor Classic over the past weekend. Pole vaulters included Hannah Swift, Kara Schaefer, Gavin Vaesen, and Adam Steele. NAC training program athletes from the club included Courtney Roskelley, Kyle Zosiak and Cody Therrien. Holly Parent competing for Washington State University soared to a new PB in High Jump - 1.82 metres! Well done to all our athletes. For full meet results, go to the Meet Results page on this site.

February 11, 2010: BC Athletics Blog

The BC Athletics Bulletin has been retired due to problems with the host website. If you have not already done so, go to the BC athletics website and sign up for the new BC Athletics  Blog. The blog site sends out notices whenever new items are posted. As this is a year when huge changes are happening in our sport, the blog is very valuable. So sign up now and keep up to date with events in our sport.

Click here to go to the BC Athletics website.

February 9, 2010: New Events for Midget and Older Athletes

The event changes for Midgets [14 and 15 years] and Youth [16 and 17 years] are in place for April 2010. At this time the Junior Development [9 to 13 years] events will not change until April 2011. Please note that the JD event distances, etc. are still only proposals.

BC Summer Games, the BC Athletics Jamboree and the Canadian Legion Championships will follow the new distances as shown on the attached document. Check out the events and make sure that you are aware of the changes. School meets are NOT making these changes at this time. 

Please note that Midgets will be permitted to compete together at the Summer Games Trials without any risk to records and results. This age group will also compete together as one age group at the BC Athletics Jamboree in Abbotsford.

Please click here to download the new Event Specifications.

Please note that the events in green are listed for information only and will not be in place until 2011.

2010: General Motors Making Dreams Possible

Victoria Track and Field Club executive members and coaches appreciate the donation we received in 2008/09 from the General Motors Making Dreams Possible program. Eileen Carroll did the background work for the club which enabled us to receive the grant. Making Dreams Possible grants are used for coaching education and everyone in the club ends up better off with this donation from General Motors.

February 7, 2010

Congratulations to Linda Keatley-Campbell, former Victrack racewalk coach who now coaches for Nanaimo Track and Field Club, on her award as the PacificSport Nanaimo Masters Athlete of the Year. The awards were made at a banquet last night at the Coast Bastion Inn in Nanaimo. Linda won her award for her achievements in racewalk over the past year! Also nominated for an award at this event was discus chucker Jade Richardson from the Nanaimo Track and Field Club in the Junior Athlete category.

January 30, 2010: High Jump News

Washington State University and Victrack's own Holly Parent won her high jump event with a NCAA qualifying mark Saturday at the Texas A&M Challenge Meet at the Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium at the McFerrin Athletic Center in College Station, Texas. Holly, in her second indoor track and field meet of the 2010 season, jumped 1.78m [5'10" in American heights]. Earlier in the week at the Cougar Indoor Team Invitational Meet on January 26, Holly opened her indoor season with a jump of 1.75m. These are two very impressive jumps for this early in the season!

Holly Parent in the crimson and white of Washington State University.

January 23, 2010: Victrack Awards Night and Annual General Meeting

Thanks go to all of the directors of Victrack who worked on this double event. All club directors returned for 2010 and we have Chris Norman joining as a new director.

The Club Awards page has been updated with the 2009 Victoria Track and Field Club Awards winners' names. Complete files are now available so you can see who has won the award over the long history of the club. If you are an award winner, please take a minute and check your trophy to see if you can supply any of the missing names. Several trophies did not have complete lists. Forward any changes or corrections to trackvictoria@shaw.ca with our sincere thanks.

Congratulations to all our award winners for 2009! You join a proud history of athletes and volunteers with Victoria Track and Club so take a minute to view the previous winners of your award and recognize all of their accomplishments.

The famous Victrack cupcakes!

December 4-6, 2009: BC Athletics Annual General Meeting

Two of our club members attended the Annual General Meeting of our parent organization, BC Athletics. Lin Hopkins, Officials, attended the meetings as the new Vancouver Island representative to the Officials Committee of BC Athletics. Diana Hollefeund attended as the Director of Administration and Planning for BC Athletics. While there was a lot of work and material covered over the two days of meetings, the highlight of the wekend was meeting with officals, coaches and club volunteers from around the province.

A number of changes to the JD event program will be initiated this year under the direction of Athletics Canada which is moving to have all provincial Junior Develoment programs come into line with the Long Term Athlete Development Plan. You can check out the LTAD program on the Athletics Canada website. Details of the track event changes [April 2010] and field event changes [April 2011] will be released here as soon as possible.

December 5, 2009: BC Athletics Annual Awards Banquet

Congratulations are in order for two of our club athletes for their nominations to the annual awards list. Holly Parent, High Jump, was one of three athletes recognized in the Junior Female Track and Field category. David McKay, Pole Vault, was one of three nominees in the Youth Male Track and Field group.

In the Excellence Awards category, Diana Hollefreund was the winner of the 2009 Executive of the Year Award for her work on the Membership Review, Human Resources and Risk Management Projects for the BC Athletics Board of Directors.