About Us
And our long and colorful history
About
BC High School Track & Field Commission
The colourful early history of the B.C. High School Track & Field Championships
The history of high school track and field in British Columbia goes back a lot further than probably most of those who are longest-serving coaches and officials today even realize.
Percy Williams competed before there was a B.C. high school championship but his brilliant performances in 1927 and 1928 at the well-established Vancouver & District Inter-High School meet and his two gold medals in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics were instrumental is creating a provincial championship.
Although the Vancouver or V&D winners in sports like basketball, field hockey and soccer would sometimes play a game against the Victoria or Vancouver Island champions during the 1915-25 time period, it was never an official B.C. championship.
Len Corben has researched and written the stories contained in the special edition of the 2017 Meet Program (Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Championships), highlighting the early days of high school track and field in the province and revealing that track and field became the very first sport to have an official B.C. high school championship, though numerous interruptions prevented it from being a continuous event until it had a fresh start in 1967.
Corben, who is now one of British Columbia’s premier sports historians, was hired as the first co-coordinator of athletics for a regional area in the provincial school system in 1969 and held the position with the North Shore Secondary Schools’ Athletic Association for 31 years until retiring in 1999. He was given Honorary Life Membership in the B.C. High School Track and Field Association as a builder in 1988 and the Honor Award with BC School Sports in 2000.
A very special thanks to John Denniston for allowing us to use these fantastic photos he took many years ago at past BC High School Championship meets. John spent 35 years photographing for newspapers beginning with the Edmonton Journal in 1968. It was an interesting time to be a photographer as newspapers had started to abandon the practice of setting up pictures in favour of photographing events as they happened. There was a growing feeling of importance about the craft, that pictures were an essential part of recording history. A photographic catch phrase of the time was “the decisive moment”, the fraction of a second that encapsulated the emotion, the significance, and explanation of an event in one frame. For more information and photos from John, please visit his website
BC School Sports
BC School Sports (“BCSS”) believes inter-scholastic athletics is an extension of the classroom. The lessons learned through sport, provide the foundation for good leaders of the future. School sport fosters sportsmanship, builds character and establishes healthy active living habits that will last long into adulthood.
BCSS is made up of over 440 member schools which provide an opportunity for 90,000 student-athletes to participate in extra-curricular school sports. These programs would not be possible without the dedication of teachers, coaches, coordinators, sport commissions, athletic associations and volunteers. BC School Sports has over 6000 coaches around the province that give up thousands of hours to make school sport a reality. BCSS is very thankful to all of those people involved in developing such a strong sport delivery association within our province.
Mission Statement
Sport can be a powerful vehicle for the development of human well-being.
Our goal is to make the sport of track & field attainable and affordable for all high school athletes in British Columbia and provide a positive environment for self growth, physical development and increased self esteem through fair competition and competitive excellence.
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Executive Council
The following are the Executive Council members of the BC High School Track & Field Association. For more information, please contact the Commissioner listed below.
Postion | Name | School | Email |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commissioner | Andrew Lenton | Maple Ridge Secondary | alenton68@gmail.com |
| Director | Gary Lutes | Walnut Grove Secondary | gclutes@yahoo.com |
| Director | Angela McLeish | St. Andrews | angelamcleish@gmail.com |
| Director | Gillian Wright | West Point Grey Academy | gillwright88@gmail.com |
| Director | Michael Sheffer | Oak Bay Secondary | mwsheffer@hotmail.com |
| Director | Tom Turnbull | Lambrick Park Secondary | tommyt@shaw.ca |
Zone Representatives
The following are the Zone Representatives for the BC High School Track & Field Association.
Zone | Representative | Email |
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Valley | Graham Neufeld | Graham.Neufeld@abbyschools.ca |
| Fraser South | Frederique Muirhead | muirhead_f@surreyschools.ca |
| Kootenay | Penny Lowe | penny.lowe@sd5.bc.ca |
| North Central | Janet Barker | janetbarker@sd28.bc.ca |
| North Central | Becky Whitehouse | beckywhitehouse@sd28.bc.ca |
| North West | Dighton Haynes | dhaynes@citywest.ca |
| Okanagan | TBD | |
| Fraser North | David Blatherwick | dblather@sd40.bc.ca |
| Vancouver Sea to Sky | Paul Skarsgard | pskarsgard@vsb.bc.ca |
| Vancouver Island | Angela McLeish | angelamcleish@gmail.com |
Sponsors & Volunteers
Sponsorship Opportunity
Advertise with BC High School Track & Field to show your support for the community and for student athletes involved in the sport of track and field throughout BC. Through our marketing and advertising opportunities, our corporate sponsors truly see the impact on their companies, as well as the overall support they provide directly to student athletes participating in the BC High School Track & Field Championships.
The Provincial Championship Meet is geared towards alumni, parents of current student athletes, and the lower mainland community at large. Although this event is the cornerstone of our sponsorship opportunity, recognition of our sponsors is incorporated into our marketing efforts all year round. Sponsorship programs can be customized to fit the specific marketing, promotional and sales goals of companies, large and small. You pick the package, that best suites your needs. Sponsorship opportunities include: Venue Signage, Print Advertising, Digital Media Advertising, Days of Meet Promotions, and Direct to Consumer Marketing.
Our Current Sponsors
Thank you to our current sponsors. Your support is greatly appreciated!
We Depend on our Volunteers
VOLUNTEERS are needed to run the meet each year. Volunteers must be at least 15 years of age and are needed for setting up for the day, greeting people, measuring throws/jumps, helping with races, helping to serve the FREE Lunch to BC Atheltic Officials and other volunteers, and for taking down/tidying up after the meet.
Volunteers get a FREE BC HIGH SCHOOL TRACK & FIELD MEET VOLUNTEER T-SHIRT.
Register online and include your First & Last Name, Cell Phone #, email address, T-Shirt Size, and what hours you are available during the meet, and what you’d like to do to help out. If you have special skills such as first aid or experience volunteering at track meets before please let us know.
Request to be a Volunteer
About Us
