A50
A 50 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2012
THE
NEWSPAPER.COM
SPORTS Soccer
Cross-country
Bruchet makes the grade for Team Canada ICST Pegasus Luc Bruchet found himself in fast company Saturday, but the UBC student rose to the challenge and ran away with a spot on the Canadian national team. The Elgin Park grad and UBC kinesiology student continued his recent run of success by finishing fifth overall in the senior men’s race at the Canadian Cross-Country Championships at Jericho Park in Vancouver. Buoyed by a third-place showing and a personal best clocking over eight-kilometres at the NAIA championships in Washington State earlier this month, Bruchet surprised himself by hanging with the lead pack in the 10-km Canadian championship for most of the race. While he initially expected the leaders to shake him off, as the race progressed he realized he was where he belonged. When the group shrank to five runners for the final two-kilometre loop of the course, Bruchet sensed he had a chance of a top-five finish and with it, automatic selection to the Canadian national team. With equal parts adrenalin and fear driving him forward, Bruchet ran hard for the final lap and finished with a time of 30 minutes, 6.07 seconds — beating out the sixth-place
finisher by more than seven seconds. “I was in a pack with a group of six guys but then we dropped one guy just before the last lap,” Bruchet said. “Going into the last lap I wasn’t thinking, ‘OK, I’ve got that in the bag.’ Instead, all I could think was that I had two kilometres to go and no matter how painful it was, I had to do everything I could not to get caught by someone behind me. It wasn’t until the final stretch that I started to think I was alright, but I was still a little antsy because everybody was cheering and I couldn’t hear if somebody was right behind me.” Bruchet is the youngest member of the Canadian team, a month behind Olympian and frequent training partner Mohammed Ahmed. The Canadian team will be competing in the World Championships in Poland next March. Bruchet will also travel to Jamaica in January for the North American, Central American and Caribbean championship meet. “This definitely motivating,” Bruchet said. “I’m going to be competing on a team with two Olympians and four or five of the best runners in Canada. At the start of the year, that wasn’t anything that remotely crossed my mind. It’s incredible and it’s hard to believe. To be honest, it’s still sinking in for me. I had troubles with injuries the last couple of years and I’m still sorting those things out.
I don’t run nearly as many miles as the top guys do, but it’s kind of reassuring that if I mature more and put in more miles, I have the capability to be one of the best guys in Canada.” Saturday’s Canadian meet was a good day for Surrey runners. In addition to Bruchet’s showing in the senior men’s race, local athletes distinguished themselves in other events. In the High School Challenge, the provincial champion Semiahmoo Totems turned in a dominating performance to run away with the national team title. In all, Semiahmoo placed five runners in the top 10 including, Chelsea Ribeiro (third), Kara Lauer (fourth), Dominica Paige (fifth), Allison Williams (seventh) and Emily Liang (10th). It was a truly remarkable finish to an incredible season. In the high school boys’ race, Semiahmoo’s Brandon Figueroa finished fourth. In junior men’s competition, B.C. high school champion Tim Delcourt finished 18th while competing against a field dominated by runners who were a year older than him. Delcourt and his South Surrey-based Coastal Track Club teammates (Bilal Shamsi, Jesse Hooton, Michael Abraha, Stuart Mcdonald and Nathan Goodwin) combined to finish fifth overall in the junior men’s team standings.
taking flight
ICST Pegasus continued to pull themselves out of an early season funk by knocking off Rovers CCBTU 3-1 in the battle of Newton Saturday. The defending Vancouver Metro Soccer League premier champs earned their second win in three weeks - both against Surrey rivals - by scoring twice in the opening half and adding an insurance marker in the 78th minute to dispatch their roommates from Newton Athletic Park. Omari Aldridge, Jag Gill and Sahil Sandhu scored for the Horsemen, while Dever Orgill replied for the Rovers. Elsewhere, the Delta United Hurricanes had to settle for a 1-1 draw with the Richmond Hibernians at John Oliver Park Sunday. Delta fell behind on an early Richmond goal but managed to salvage a point from the encounter when Harp Khakh headed home a pass from Gagan Josan midway through the second half. In Cloverdale Saturday, Surrey United Firefighters were fired blanks in a 2-0 loss to West Van.
The Surrey Delta Chapter of the Valley Women’s Network cordially invites you to join our luncheon meeting on Wednesday, December 12, 2012.
Registration and networking starts at 11:15am Venue: Eaglequest Golf and Country Club, 7778 - 152nd Street, Surrey, BC Program and Lunch: 12:00pm - 1:30pm Cost: Pre-registered guests $28 Or $30 at the door (Cash or cheque - no credit cards please) Email Reservations: sdvwnreservations@gmail.com More information: www.valleywomensnetwork.com
112712
Now staff Twitter @boothnow
Featuring Elvis Stojko, Kurt Browning, Joannie Rochette,
Jeffrey Buttle, Shawn Sawyer Sinead & John Kerr, and More!
#HFOI 112012
Michael Booth
Saturday, December 1, 7:00PM Tickets At
LangleyEvents
Or Call 1-855-985-5000
langleyeventscentre.com