Victoria hosted the Provincial Championships for cross country running at the Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, Nov. 1.
Quesnel sent 10 talented young athletes from Correlieu Secondary school to participate in this event.
Racing for the boys were runners Cole Dinsdale, Kondrad Teetzen, Dylan Cathcart, Dane Jacobsen, Ryan Elder and Jared Fisher.
Dinsdale took the led for the Correlieu boys.
It had previously been his goal to be placed somewhere in the top 25 at this event but Dinsdale was still recovering from an injury suffered at the beginning of the season making it more of a challenge.
This determined athlete was not going to allow an injury to hold him back despite his late start and though he did not get the placing he had previously set his eye on, Dinsdale brought in a 54th place out of 235.
There was another injury for the Quesnel boys team, runner Konrad Teetzen also was late to the cross country running season having suffered an eye injury.
It wasn’t until one week before zones in October that Teezten had received the doctors permission to even begin training and in a flash this runner was up and preparing himself for the competition.
With injured runners and a young team, having three Grade 10’s on their six-person team being pitted against boys one or two years their senior, the Correlieu team had their work cut out for them.
The scores for team races are calculated by taking the scores of the top five runners on each team.
There were 24 team competing in the boys division and the Correlieu boys team raced in for a 12th place win.
For a team to compete the rules dictate that there must be at least five runners from the same school and unfortunately for the girls they were unable to make this requirement.
Although they could not race as a team the Quesnel girls were still able to compete individually.
It was a triumphant race for Grade 11 runner Olivia Baptiste.
Baptiste placed 14th out of 225 senior girls and, not only that, she raced by the competition to place first for the North Central zone.
Also racing in with high ranking results was Kyra Teetzen.
Teetzen, running in for the 55th spot overall, followed only a minute behind fellow Correlieu runner Baptiste.
Teetzen was the third runner across the line for the North Central zone.
Taking spot 107 overall and running in for 11th place for Quesnel’s zone is competitor Mia Kozak.
Grade 9 runner Avery Drew was the lone competitor coming for Quesnel Junior School. She raced alongside her older counterparts with great success coming in only a few seconds behind Teezten in 65th place overall.
Drew also raced in for ninth place for her age.
Despite not having a team to compete it was a successful event for the girls, with all racers finishing in the top half of the field.
Next year coach Pat Marsh is hopeful they will have a team in place for the girls, with the goal of competing for the top 10 team awards as well as having stellar individual results.
But with the snow on the ground the racers unlace their runners and pack them away until next years events.