Registration for the Zone 1 BC Games qualifying track and field meet, being held in Trail, has been extended to May 22nd.
The meet is set to take place on May 25th at Haley Park in Warfield. Athletes of all skill levels, born in 2015 and earlier, are welcome to participate, but only athletes born in 2009 and 2010 will be considered for the BC Games Zone 1 team.
Zone 1 encompasses athletes from the Regional Districts of Central Kootenay, East Kootenay, Kootenay Boundary, and Electoral Area A of Columbia-Shuswap Regional District. This includes prominent centres such as Castlegar, Cranbrook, Creston, Fernie, Golden, Grand Forks, Kimberley, Nelson, Rossland, and Trail.
Zone 1 will need to fill a roster with 12 females and 12 males from the U16 age group for the BC Games. Right now, the club has about 37 athletes total, but only a handful of those athletes fall into the qualifying age category.
Trail Track and Field Club head coach Kylie Lakevold said that in the past, the club has had about 80-90 athletes competing in the meet, but for this year’s meet, they only have about 30 people registered.
That’s why the club has decided to extend the registration deadline, which was originally scheduled to close on May 17th.
Lakevold said they extended the deadline to try and encourage more people to register.
“Often with these track meets, we see a huge influx of late registrations. We want to fill our roster, obviously, with athletes to join us at the BC Summer Games with 12 females and 12 males. It’s really important that we show up to the BC Games with a full team, and we’re hoping to fill all of those spots.”
U16 athletes who make the Zone 1 team may be selected for three individual events and one relay, or they may opt for the pentathlon and one relay.
Although only U16 athletes can try out for the Zone 1 team, Lakevold encourages all track and field athletes to participate, adding that the club is desperately seeking volunteers to help during the event.
“We’re inviting everyone from the Kootenays to join us at this track meet. We love the influx of tourism when people travel to these meets. Another thing we probably should add is that we are desperately seeking volunteers for a variety of positions at our track meet.”
More information on registration, volunteering, and the event schedule can be found here.
The 2024 BC Summer Games are scheduled to be hosted in Maple Ridge from July 18th to 21st.
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