8/19/2019 Langley Advance Welcome to the Neighbourhood Page 37

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ey Advance Welcome to the Neighbourhood, 2016 A37SPORTS AND RECREATION

Township is home2 per cent of thees in B.C.

EW CLAXTONROY LANDREVILLE@langleyadvance.com

orses are big businessin Langley Township,which has long beenknown as the Horse

of B.C.one of the highest ratesownership per cap-

e province, and partsley, particularly South

y, are laced with horserough parks and alongoads.ocal equine industryes more than $60 milliony, and there are an esti-29 farms with more thanorses, or 7.2 per cent oforses in the province.ey Township is alsothe only neonatal horsein the province, alongost of other veterinar-tices, trainers, tack andent shops, bedding sup-nd boarding stables.

strian centres – of whichrbird Show Park is the– have grown up to hostlass equine events.were 900 horses at

t August’s Summer Fortat Thunderbird, andith them came riders,ers, and family members.t, according to the Horseof British Columbia, at a

orse show there will be

ple for every horse.means roughly 4,500arrived in Langley for thet Thunderbird.roximately 60 per centpetitors are from out ofe,” said Kelly Coughlin,rogram director for the

Horse Council, in the leadupto this past summer’s FortClassic. “When you factor in theexpenses for each person – food,housing, transportation, andentertainment – it is a significantboon to the Langley Townshipeconomy.”

‘Sporty’ Langley

For “non-horsey” folksseeking recreational oppor-tunities, there are fields,

baseball diamonds, rinks, andsports boxes throughout LangleyTownship and City.

A short drive east of Langleytakes you to Aldergrove AthleticPark, located at 29th Avenueand 267B Street

The park hosts boys and girlssoccer, softball, and baseball andis home to sports fields, base-ball diamonds, tennis courts, askateboard park, picnic shelter,playground areas, the AldergroveKinsmen Community Centre,the Rotary Field House, and aMountain Bike Park that openedin October 2010.

The park also includes twoall-weather, lit sports fields adja-cent to Betty Gilbert ElementarySchool as well as a sports fieldand track beside AldergroveCommunity Secondary School.

Each summer, the park hoststhe Aldergrove Fair Days cele-bration, and it was a key site forthe 2010 BC Summer Games, puton by the Township.

Also in the communityknown as “The Place Between”,Aldergrove Minor Hockey andthe Aldergrove Junior B Kodiaksplay at Aldergrove Arena at 2882272nd St.

Nestled in the centre of

Langley is McLeod Athletic Park(MAP), a hub for sports activ-ities.

Located at 216th Street and56th Avenue MAP houses grand-stands that can hold as many as2,200 spectators, an eight-lanerubberized track, and facilities

for javelin, high jump, longjump, discus, shot put, and polevault.

MAP’s four-diamond softballcomplex has hosted nationalsoftball tournaments at vari-ous levels. There are also threenon-regulation size fields forlarger recreational tournamentsas well as a lit baseball diamondwith announcer’s booth.

There are also six natural-turfsoccer fields and one lit artificialturf field for soccer or football,four tennis courts and a sportsbox.

In addition, there are publicwashrooms, a children’s playarea and picnic areas.

Combined, the grandstand andRotary House have six changerooms (four with showers), twoofficials rooms, two meetingrooms for up to 75 people each,

two concessions (one being afull concession), medical room,and a media room with announ-cer’s booth and office space.

Just some of the sports groupsthat call MAP home are LangleyBlaze baseball, the LangleyMustangs track and field team,Langley Minor Football, and the

Langley Rams junior footballteam.

For ice sports such as figureskating, speed skating, ringette,and boys and girls ice hock-ey, there are several rinks tochoose from: the aforementionedAldergrove Arena, LangleySportsplex in Walnut Grove,the George Preston Recreation

Centre (home to the LangleyKnights Junior B hockey team)Canlan Ice Sports LangleyTwin Rinks, the Langley EventsCentre, and National TrainingRink (NTR).

The Langley BMX track can befound next to the George PrestonRecreation Centre, which alsohouses the Langley Curling Club.

angley ‘Horse Capital of B.C.’ and so much more

Thunderbird Show Parkis home to world-classequestrian competitions.Troy Landreville/Langley Advance

Langley Advance files

mpian Dustin Walsh (left) and running guide Dylan Williamson trainedat McLeod Athletic Park in June.

Langley Advance files

The Langley Rams junior football team play their home games at McLeodStadium which is a popular community sports venue.