Something big is happening in BC this Saturday... the 2023 BC Athletics Provincial XC Championships! Hosted by the Ocean Athletics Track and Field Club, the championships will be held at Crescent Park, in South Surrey. Athletes as young as nine years old will be racing, with age divisions going up to 70+!
Here are the race distances:
1km - Track Rascals
1.5km - 9 Year Old
2km - 10 & 11 Year Old
3km - U14 & U16
5km - U18
6km - U20W , 70+ M&W
8km - U20M, Senior & Masters M&W
Here is the schedule:
10:40am - Track Rascals All-Comers Event
11:00am - 2014 Boys and Girls (age 9)
11:15am - 2013 Boys & Girls (age10)
11:30am - 2012 Boys & Girls (age 11)
11:45am - 2011 Boys and Girls (age 12)
12:05pm - 2010 Boys & Girls (age 13)
12:30pm - U20, Senior * Masters Men, 70+ Men
1:20pm - Senior & Masters Women, U20 Women, 70+ Women
2:10pm - U16 Boys (age 14 & 15) 2008 & 2009
2:30pm - U16 Girls (age 14 & 15) 2008 & 2009
2:50pm - U18 Boys (2006 & 2005)
3:15pm - U18 Girls (2006 & 2005)
There are currently over 580 athletes registered, so let's dive into just some of the athletes to watch and be sure to stay tuned for the results, to see which number of runners are crowned champion of their course!
Last year, at the 2022 BCXC Championships, Alexa Dow took the win in the Women's U16 category. She secured her victory with a 21.9 second gap over second place finisher Delphine Gosselin, running a time of 10:26.9 over 3km. This year both Dow and Gosselin will be running in the U18 race. They will be joined by Maella Hodgson who so far this season has won the Festival of Cross Country and Vancouver Spirit Run in her respective age division, in addition to various South Fraser League meets. Hodgson placed third at last year's BC Championships in the U18 division where she ran a time of 17:28.1 over 5km.
Dow's teammate from the Prairie Inn Harriers, Charlie Mlotshwa won the Men's U16 last year by a gap of 11.1 seconds. His winning time over 3km was 9:24.5. Bernardo Sada of Oceans Athletics was second with a time of 9:35.6 and rounding out the podium was Peter Kunka of Penticton Track who crossed the line with a time of 9:39.3. This year Mlotshwa, Sada and Kunka will also be racing in the U18 division. They will be joined by Tyler Browne who took second to Yemane Mulugeta in the same division last year. Connor Nicol will also be returning, having taken the bronze in 2022. Other returning athletes include Miles Hayden who was fourth in the U16 division last year. He will be racing in the same category again, while Samuel May, who was fifth in the U16 division in 2022, will be moving up to the U18 group.
As for some of the younger athletes, last year Lucas Yu of NorWesters Track will be back for another title. He won the U13 3km race with a time of 11:15.70, with Jack Houser and Simon McCutcheon following closely behind, running 11:18.70 and 11:18.80, respectively. Yu and McCutcheon will go head to head again, in the 2010 age group. Dawson Abraham, the 2022 U14 Champion will be moving up to the U16 division. As for the girls, Charlotte Lang of the Vancouver Thunderbirds, the 2022 U13 Champion, will be racing in the 2010 age group, while Sasha Dehal, the 2022 U14 Champion, who won her 3km race in a time of 11:21.10, will be moving up to the U16 division this year.
Good luck to everyone who will be hitting the trails!