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THEVOICE | TUESDAY,NOV. 28,2017 | EDITORDUNCAN ANDERSON
5

= By NICK VALKA

y Ronning’s last name
may sound familiar to
Vancouver hockey fans.
That’s because his fa-
ther, Cliff Ronning, played in the
NHL for 18 seasons, including a
six-year stint with the Vancouver
Canucks where he is still a fan fa-
vourite.
Hockey has been a fixture in his
life ever since he was born.
“T could rollerblade before I could
walk,” Ronning said. “I’ve always

tried to mimic him and do the little

things that he did well on the ice.”

Dean Chynoweth, associate
coach for the Giants, played against
Ronning’s father during his time in
the league and sees a lot of similari-
ties between the father and son.

“The drive, the hunger as an un-
dersized guy that has to prove peo-
ple wrong constantly,” Chynoweth
said. “He’s been very motivated and
focused and his play has shown
that.”

Currently his focus is to propel
the Vancouver Giants into the play-
off picture after his time with the
New York Rangers.

on Nov. 22, 2017. susmiTTED PHOTO

Giant Ronning the show

Growing up with Canucks dad, right winger destined for NHL

“T feel there are some big shoes to
fill, but I’m my own person and it’s
my own journey,” Ronning said. “I
just go out and play hockey, do the
thing I love.”

Ronning, a seventh-round pick
of the Rangers in the 2016 NHL
Entry Draft, was sent back to the
Giants after captaining the Rangers
rookie team at the 2017 Traverse
City Prospect Tournament.

In his fifth and final season with
the WHL franchise, Ronning is on
track for career highs in both goals
and assists.

He currently sits at 24 goals and

12 assists in just 26 total games.

Ronning spent one year training
at the Delta Hockey Academy after
the Giants selected him in the first
round of the 2012 WHL Bantam
Draft.

Ian Gallagher, Delta Hockey
Academy director, saw that Ron-
ning came with a high hockey
pedigree.

“Ty was somebody that had a vi-
sion that he was at a level and was
going to do whatever it took to get
to the next level,” Gallagher said.
“He understood the importance of
getting better every day.”

YVR marathon draws world's

International
exposure and top
athletes at this
years BMO race

= By PERRIN GRAUER

ancouver will be hosting

the B.C. Championships

Marathon in 2018, and race
organizers are hoping the move
will bring higher stakes and hotter
competition.

Vancouver is taking over from
Victoria as host city, meaning the
run will be held on the award-win-
ning BMO Vancouver Marathon
course in May of 2018.

RUNVAN race director Eric
Chéné said he hopes moving the
race to the mainland will attract
even greater international exposure,
and top athletes from around the
globe.

“One of the reasons we bring in
the international elite is to really try
to get some faster times out on the
course, and pushing our local Ca-
nadians and B.C. residents,” Chéné
said. “Having those faster runners
up front, they can run as a pack and
hopefully get some great times.”

Chéné says last year’s BMO mar-
athon broke records with athletes
from over 65 countries participat-
ing, as well as from 48 out of 50
states and all 13 provinces and ter-
ritories.

Maurice Wilson, technical man-
ager of road & cross country run-

ning with B.C. Athletics, said the

-<

A runner makes tracks along the seawall at dawn on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017. Both competetive and amateur runners

elite

ad aes a

regularly compete along this portion of the Vancouver waterfront. PERRIN GRAUER PHOTO

timing of the race is a huge asset
for B.C.’s competitive runners.
“The national championships will

SUBMITTED PHOTO

be in Toronto in October, so having
a provincial championship in the
spring allows our provincial cham-

“It's a bigger race than
Victoria marathon...as a
competitive athlete it's
nice to have people to race

NICHOLAS BROWNE - COMPETITIVE RUNNER

pion then to go on and represent us

at the national championship in the
fall,” Wilson said.

against.”

Competitive runner Nicholas
Browne, who ran the BMO course
in 2013 and placed third in this

year’s GoodLife Marathon in Vic-
toria, said the Vancouver course
offers some fresh challenges for
athletes.

But Browne was excited for the
opportunity that combining the
B.C. Championships race with the
larger BMO marathon would offer
local runners.

“It's a bigger race than Victoria
marathon, which was great, but as a
competitive athlete it's nice to have
people to race against,” Browne
said.

“And the option of having some-
one to race against is greater at a
bigger race like the BMO mara-
thon.”

Sportsnews

AAK lets
kids play
Sports

Local fundraising
campaign and tech
partner raise $75,000

= By BECCA CLARKSON

or two single mothers on
F disability leave, a local fund-

raising campaign is allowing
their kids to stay in sports while
their families stay out of debt.

Hundreds of B.C. children be-
tween the ages of five and 18 will
get to play sports next year because
of a matching fundraising cam-
paign between Athletics for Kids
and Victory Square Technologies.

A4K’s first ever Double the
Scoreboard, a six week fundraising
campaign that ended this Sunday,
hoped to support parents facing
financial barriers to register their
kids in organized sports.

Carla Rubin, a single mother
who's benefitted from A4K, said
that if it werent for the financial
aid, she would choose debt over
taking her two kids out of their
martial arts lessons.

“[My children] share a room
so they need an outlet, they need
male figures in their life, they need
a bunch of things that martial arts
can give them, and A4K supports
me to do this for my kids.”

Maori Pomeroy, a nine-year-old
from Surrey B.C., has Olympic
aspirations in diving. His moth-
er, Renata, has multiple sclerosis
which keeps her from working as a
nurse, and she struggles to support
Maori’s training which costs over
$4,000 a year.

“The charity makes the possibil-
ity of your child being able to access
sports, but also when they get to a
higher level it means that they can
stay,” Renata said.

Sandy Hancock, A4K’s executive
director, said she’s happy with the
outcome of the campaign, which,
when matched, earned between
$75,000-$76,000 for future grants.

“It's a wonderful story to be able
to tell your donors that they're ac-
tually having double the impact
when every dollar donated is be-
ing matched,” Hancock said, add-
ing that the campaign was not just
about money, but also about pro-
moting awareness of the charity.

Howard Blank of Victory Square
Technologies, the company match-
ing donations up to $50,000, said
that sports go beyond physically
benefiting the kids who play them,
it also teaches teamwork, problem
solving, sportsmanship, camarade-
rie and leadership skills.

“A4K gives children from under-
privileged families who can't afford
organized play to share in that ex-
perience, which I think is second to
none,” Blank said.

~ FALCONS’

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