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The Lafarge Grand Prix Cross Country Series is a series of 4 meets for children in grades 4 to 8. The series takes place over 4 weeks with meets on September 21st, September 28th, October 5th and October 12th, 2011.

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FINAL RESULTS and results for the FOURTH week of races are now available. Please see the links below for each of the races.

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RESULTS for the THIRD week of races are now available. Please see the links below for each of the races.

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RESULTS for the SECOND week of races are now available. Please see the links below for each of the races.

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RESULTS for the first week of races are now available. Please see the links below for each of the races. Jane Swan Fitness Award standings will be compiled and displayed with the results after the 2nd week of races this Wednesday.

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Registration and Information Package: DOWNLOAD HERE. Please be send any questions to Jason Swan

PLEASE do not park at the church next to Clearbrook Elementary or at Clearbrook Elementary. The church has daycare and afterschool programs and people parking at the church create significant problems for them and the safety of their kids. We realize parking is an issue at Clearbrook Park but ask that you respect the needs of our neighbours. Please remember that you can park at Exhibition Park and walk across to Clearbrook Park using the underpass tunnel near the northwest corner of Exhibition Park.

NEW! Top 10 List for the last 5 years. See it here!

LaFarge Grand Prix History
The elementary school’s Grand Prix Cross Country series of races came into being after Gerry Swan returned from the Canadian Track and Field Team tour of Europe. He noticed that a very popular series of meets in Europe were called the Grand Prix, where the winners were awarded points in each of the five Grand Prix meets they competed in. The winners were awarded prizes in ounces of gold or even a Mercedes Benz car.

When Gerry arrived home from that series of meets, he suggested to his wife Jane, that perhaps they could initiate a series of cross-country meets for elementary school aged athletes that would follow the format of the European Grand Prix. Jane thought this was a great idea and set forth in putting the wheels in motion to begin what is now known as the Lafarge Grand Prix.

The first meets began in 1984 and took place in Centennial Park. These early meets had races for grade 4, 5, 6 and 7, and in the beginning years attracted less than 100 competitors. There were some memorable races in Centennial Park. On one particularly noticeable race day, a giant thunder and lightning storm took place during the grade 5 boys’ competition. The loud claps of thunder and bolts of lightning so frightened one youngster, who at the time was leading the race, that he ran off the course and jumped into his mother’s arms. After that the competitions were delayed for half an hour until the skies cleared.

With the advent of middle schools, the series was enlarged to include grade 8s. In addition to declaring winners in each grade division, it was decided to have an overall/ aggregate winner declared with the Jane Swan trophy awarded as the grand prize. Originally, the Jane Swan award was dominated by Abbotsford Christian Elementary School, but during the past 3 years, the award has been won by MEI Elementary School.

So now, we are midway through our second decade of races, the series is as popular as ever. The schools use it as their kick-off point for the other athletic teams that will have their competitions following the cross-country season. In addition, it’s hoped that the series will promote general fitness and that is the purpose behind the awarding of the Jane Swan Fitness Award. So good luck to all the schools and competitors, and we will hope that this series of meets is as popular in the coming decades as it was in the past.