Student Blog

After six week of practice and races in the Cross Country Running Team, we had the Zone Championship Race in Quesnel. But unfortunately the Senior Girls Team didn’t get qualified for the Provincial Championship, even though it was very close.

Two days after we were back at home, a teammate stopped me in the hallway and said that I made it to provincials. That can be possible if qualified people won’t go. So I was very surprised and couldn’t believe it. I kind of thought that he mistaken me with someone else in the team. I also didn’t know where he had that information from and so before I even left school on that day, I called my coach to ask him if I really made it to Provincials. And he said that the whole senior girls team made it! That was the best news I’ve got! I was really excited about it and couldn’t believe it.

After a few more practices, we left a week later on Thursday, November 4th.  The Provinicals Championship 2021 was in Vancouver, which is about 10 to 12 hours away from Vanderhoof. So we left on that Thursday at 7 am from the school and rode down to the lower mainland with a yellow school bus. We were nine students, two coaches and our bus driver. First I was a little afraid of such a long ride, especially in a school bus, because in Europe I was never riding a bus or a car that long. But in the end it was a very nice trip. I could see a lot different parts of BC. We went through very green scenery, the desert, and the mountains. I really enjoyed looking out of the window. It was also a great time with the team.

After a whole day of riding the bus, we finally arrived in Abbotsford around 6 pm. There we had dinner at Boston Pizza and went to Surrey afterwards, where our first hotel was. We had the pool booked, so we went to the pool, even though we were very exhausted. But in the end it was very enjoyable and the perfect end of the day after sitting in a bus for 11 hours. After sliding the waterslide and sitting in the hot tub, we went straight to bed.

In the next morning we left the hotel around 10:30 am and rode to the racecourse. On our way there we saw the high buildings of Vancouver Downtown for the first time. That was very exciting for me. As soon as we were at Jericho Beach, where the race would take place, we ran out of the bus to the beach. It was amazing there. We were directly by the ocean with a great view over Vancouver Downtown. We took some pictures and then we walked the course with our coach. I really liked the course. It was pretty nice and not a lot of hills. In the end of the course, we had an awesome view at Vancouver skyline.

It was very rainy the days before, so everywhere were puddles and our shoes were wet easily. Fortunately, I already wore my race shoes, so my other shoes stayed dry. After walking the course with our coaches once, we had to jog it to see how it feels like and to be prepared for the race day. That was very funny, because we were already wet, so we jumped in every puddle which was a lot fun.

After jogging the course, we were told to go back to the bus, but because we were already wet, we asked to go into the ocean before. That was my first time going into the Pacific Ocean and a nice memory. It was only about 6 degrees by the way. I think I wouldn’t have gone into an ocean without my Canadian friends when it’s that cold.

After going into the ocean, we went back in the bus and rode into Vancouver Downtown. That was very exciting to see all the high buildings. I’ve never been to a city like Vancouver before. In Vancouver Downtown was our next hotel.  We had our room on the 10^th floor with an amazing view.

A little later, we met the team to go shopping. We went to Pacific West Mall and went shopping for a couple hours. It was fun to browse through all the stores.

Afterwards we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory in Gas Town. It was a lovely evening with very good food.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel when it was already dark outside which was a real vibe.

The next day was the race, which I’m writing about in Part 2.

Photo and blog submitted by Lilly M, a grade 11 student at Nechako Valley Secondary School.