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Mid-distance runner Arronge finds her stride

Stephanie Arronge beat the heat in Kelowna and despite a painful muscle cramp in her calf her legs did not fail her. They carried her to a podium result at the B.C. Junior Development track and field championships.
Stephanie Arronge medal.jpg
Prince George Track and Field Club mid-distance runner Stephanie Arronge proudly displays the bronze medal she won last weekend in the 13-year-old girls 1,200-metre run at the BC Junior Development chammpionships in Kelowna.
Stephanie Arronge beat the heat in Kelowna and despite a painful muscle cramp in her calf her legs did not fail her.
They carried her to a podium result at the B.C. Junior Development track and field championships.
Arronge won bronze in the in the 13-year-old girls 2,000-metre final and she posted two top-10 results in her other running events.
"It was really fun to just have the experience and know that these other girls are the same skill level as I am and it was fun to challenge myself to try to do as well as I could," said Arronge, who ran her first-ever 2,000m event in 7:41.64 to lock up her medal last weekend. "It felt really good to get a medal, I was very proud of myself.
"It was very hot (37 C) and I wasn't used to it but my whole family was there and they were very supportive and brought icepacks to help us. I had a big calf cramp in my 2,000 and I had it the whole weekend and it was because I wore the wrong shoes. I wore my racing spikes and (her legs were) in an awkward position for so long and I wasn't used to it. It's a very long race."
Arronge placed sixth in the 1,200m event (4:29:39) and was seventh in the 800m (a personal best time of 2:40.53). She's been training with the Prince George Track and Field Club for three seasons and is showing the results of working with coach Brian Martinson.
"He's a phenomenal coach, he's amazing," said Arronge. "He has a very talented son (mid-distance runner Geoff, who represented Canada at the IAAF world half-marathon championships in Spain in March), so he knows how to coach you very well."
The junior development event was the final meet of the season for Arronge and her PGTFC mates. 
Liam Martin, 12, captured bronze in the 80m hurdles, clocking 13.79 seconds, and was fourth in 200m hurdles in 36:31. Mitchell Baxter, 12, placed in the top-10 in all his throwing events - discus (10th, 15.36m), javelin (eight, 14.01m) and shotput (ninth, 6.01m), while Isabel Sommerville reached personal bests in 200m (17th, 35.06s) and javelin (seventh, 15.45m).
Like the rest of the PGTFC, Arronge can't wait to stretch out her legs on the new rubber running track at the revamped Masich Place Stadium, which had undergone a $4.8 million refurbishing project and is expected to open next week. The lack of a suitable facility for the past year meant the club was unable to host its annual zone and club meets this summer and most of the club athletes were limited to just one out-of-town meet, in Kamloops.
Arronge trains three times per week at the PGTFC during the season and she also coaches her five-year-old brother, Tristan, and 10-year-old sister Hailey. Stephanie plays ringette in the fall and winter months, coached by her stepdad, Rob Millar, a former pro hockey forward from Smithers who suggested Arronge join the track club. She also hopes to play high school hockey now that she's moved on to Prince George secondary school for Grade 8 classes that start in September.
"I joined ringette a couple years ago and I didn't know how to skate, so it was hard to learn it, but because I have such a phenomenal coach (Millar) he made it a lot easier," said Arronge. "He knows a lot about stuff on the ice and he gives my team a lot of tips."
Stephanie's dad is Chris Arronge, a longtime stock car racer in the Prince George Auto Racing Association, whose brother Dan and father Steve (Stephanie's grandfather) also raced cars. She says she has no burning desire to follow in their tracks.
"I think I'd rather be an athlete, I'm not quite there yet," said. Stephanie, who turns 13 on Monday. 
n PGTFC member Bazil Spencer of Quesnel will represent the club at the Legion National Championships in Brandon, Man., Aug. 10-12. Spencer qualified in the high jump at the BC Athletics Jamboree two weeks ago in Coquitlam, where he the event with a  jump of 2.0 metres.
Jordan Bax of Prince George set a personal best at that meet with a 1,500m time of 4:22.68.