B10 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, December 29, 1999 TERRACE STANDARD: _SPORTS_ CHRISTIANA WIENS 638-7283 " SKEENA ANGLER: ROB BROWN The joy of fishing y ou wouldn’t know there were moun- lains in this valley, what with the sky so low and gray it’s gathered the fog unto itself, filled the valleys, spread out over the flat lands, and made sharp peaks look like hills. But they’re there, behind that damp cur- tain. There’s a range of them just downstream of this spot. You can’t sec it now, but the middle one has a vee shaped avalanche chute running down its middle. In the summer it’s filled with alder so lush and green when its watered by falls that cascade down its steep slopes, it shimmers in tic sun. You’ve got to come back here in the Spring — late April, May, maybe — and see this place under a clear sky. It'll take your breath away. That platform? That’s a gun turret, I’m told, put there by the railway so they can blast the same chute and cause small slides before the snow makes a troublesome one. It’s a long shot alright. That’s the Usk Chapel: a small room with a roof and only a pew or two. I think it’s nonde- nominational, If it has a congregation it’s small or they worship in shifts; it'd be a won- derful place for a small wedding. This is Chimdemash. You can catch fish here. Trout pass by from time to time and a load of salmon in summer, but there’s washing machine water at the front of it and frog water below. It turns your line into a serpent. It’s the same at a lot of creck mouths. You can probe them with lures or soak a worm, but they don’t take kindly to flies. Besides, slug- ging to the river through all that thigh high snow makes you hot and wet, then cold at the end of the day. We'll go further inland. It?l! only take an- other half hour. | hate this slush. When those big chip trucks roar by they cover you with it. Still, I suppose it’s better than ice or blinding flakes as big as your hand. As long as it’s soft and wet like this the river won’t freeze . That's a bonus, for sure. Behind us there’s a range of mountains called the Seven Sisters. You'll have to come back for these too. They're really spectacular, white and sharp, especially from the far side of the river. This is Cedarvale. There used to be emus in this field, big meat birds with giant drumsticks. Thal’s why I call this the Ostrich Run. It’s actually a place to fish moving fish. There’s not much archilecture on the bot- tom of the river here, just a few holes where fish like to lay by for a little while. Sometimes ] catch a steelhead here, most often ] don’t. There may be a dolly varden or two, I can’t say. I’ve never fished here this late in the year. Watch your step, these rocks are slick at the best of times. A fisherman’s always stand- ing in some form of water at this time of year. No, they’re not wolves. They’re dogs. They sound like a pack of wolves, don’t they? I’m sure they how! like that in the fall and summer too. [ haven’t noticed them then, probably be- cause the land absorbs sound so much better when leaves are on the trees and there’s no snow on the ground. The river is louder then too, and there's lots of other sonic competition. That growl is the grader, the one we passed a few miles back. It’s amazing how sounds carry when the land is wet and reflective. This is a new fly. it’s simple - you just take a crosscut strip of rabbit then tie it on the back uf the hook so a tail as long as the hook sticks out the back. Then you wind the strip forward over the hook and over a brass bead tied in at the front. Next you wind some olive hackle then dub olive and brown fur over the head. The bead at the front helps you form a big head, and it makes the fly dive for the rocks like fleeing sculpins do. See, it’s the same colour as the racks here. That's the old ferry cable below us. On the far side you can see the old post office, the one with the windows: that look like black eyes. I hear the old woman that used to run it passed over a few years ago. Now it looks like somebody has ransacked the place. Too bad. | think it was one of the oldest. post offices in the province. Here’s a dolly varden. Its a big one, but too small for this rod, It’s taken the fly deeply. 1’m going to kill it. There look af that. That’s no dolly. That’s a steelhead. Let it rum a few times, It won't jump al this time of year. There it is. A summer fish. See how red it is. It’s the most colourful thing you'll see today when everything is brown or while or pray, Man, what is that fish ‘doing here now? You'd think it'd be at the bottom of a deep pool somewhere. Fishing i is full of discoveries and surprises, eh? . Sports Year in Review WHETHER local athletes are on the soccer fields, swimming pool, balance beam or ice at the arena, one thing’s for certain — they’ve trained hard for their. medals, championship ti- tles and awards over the past year: We invite you:to take a look back aver the lust year ta check out the achicvements and celebrations of Terrace’s athletes and sports teams in the first half of the’ 1999 sports year in review, MATTHIEU LECLERC started of his ski sea- son right by winning big at the Merrill Lynch / - B.C. Alpine Northern Zone Giant Slalom at Shames Mountain Jan. 17, Leclerc finished off the season in April by winning three top- 15 finishes at the Western Canadian Juve- nila Alpine Championships in Jasper. January LOCAL CURLERS Mitch Griffith, Dan - Fisher, Andrew Simpson and skip Kevin Mc- Dougall won the zone © playdowns in Prince Rupert Jan. 10 The team went on to play in the Interior playdowns in Smithers Jan, 29, Kkhkke LEAH Leclero, Stacy Blake Shannon Ken- nedy, Aaron Gingles, Courtland: Sandover-Sly and Mathieu Leclere were medal winners ‘in the Merrill Lynch / B.C, Alpine Northern Zone Giant Slalom race at Shames Mountain Jan. 17. hake _ BLUEBACK swimmers Petra Robinson, Kaya Downs, Evan Palahicky, Thomas De- metzer and Kyle Narzt won top-three finishes ‘in the age groups at the Methanex Invitational Swim Meet in Kitimat Jan. 16 - 17, kkkkk CALEDONIA wrestlers Grace Wittkowski, Melanie Krug and Pam Haugland recorded top three finishes at the B.C. Age Class Invitation- als in Kamloops Jan. 15-16, The wrestlers won team Caledonia a silver medal at the meet. : ; February BLUEBACK SWIMMER Evan. Palahicky broke two pool records Feb. 21, for’ his 30- metre and 100-metre breaststrokes. The 1:18:81 100-metre swim also earned him a spot at provincials and put him on. the charts for national rankings in his age group. kakkk DOWNHILL skier Mathieu Leclerc placed sixth out of 150 13-to-15 year-old skiers at the Men’s Giant Slalom in Vernon Feb. 24-26, tok bok RECORD numbers of Terrace athletes swarmed Prince Rupert for the Northern B.C. Winter Games, In all 192 Terrace athletes attended the games winning medals: in everything from wrestling and swimming to women’s soccer, gymnastics and hockey. hike SHAMES Ski patrollers Carey Bogart, John James and Richard Stone took home gold in: the “Almost” Annual North First Aid and -To- boggan Handling Competition in Prince George Feb, 13-14, Kkkkk SARA RAUTER, Kim Cowbura, Theresa. Melanson, and Mary Rauter won Terrace’ s Women’s Valentine Bonspiel at the local cure ling rink Feb, 14, Rauter’s rink beat fellow Terracites, the Aina Carlson rink to win the “A” event finals. TCI . A BLAST ef big sir tured more than 40 snowboarders to Shames Mountain Feb, 21 for the fifth annual big air competition. SARA RAUTER and her her rink won.the Valentines Ladies Curling Bonspiel at the . Terrace Curling Rink Feb. 14.° > Shawn Buck won the competition, while Derrick Kormandy and Tim Dopko tied for sil- ver and Colin Davies won third. Wonk Ik THE SKEENA Junior Girls Basketball team beat Hazelton 65-36 in the final game of the cone championships Feb. 20-21 to advance to the Junior Girls provincials, kt Ik SUPER BM topped the Terrace Men’s Fut- sal Playoffs at Caledonia Feb. 21 to win back the men’s tide. Super BM beat Western Paci- fic 4-3, kkk -SKEENA GRADE 8 girls basketball team -beat Prince Rupert Senior Secondary 39-31 to win the zone title Feb. 26, March CALEDONIA Senior Secondary’ wrestlers Pam Haugland, Grace Wittkowski and Ajit ‘Jaswal returned from the high school provin- cials in Abbotsford with second and two fourth place finishes, Terrace finished eighth overall in the 70- team tournament. kkkkk THE NORTHERN Motor Inn skated off with. . the Terrace Men’s Oldtimer Hockey League title March. 17. The Northern Motor Inn Okies beat the Ter- race Timbermen 2-1 in a rock’em sock’em game that saw the refs clear the ice to give both teams a chance to cool off. Don Cherry would be proud. iotlokink PEAK GYMNAST Annie Wittkowski earned her spot. at § the Provincial ¢ Championships after an impressive third [ place finish in Delta March 13-14. thkkk CALEDONIA’S Kermode Basketball team won the zone title: against . Mount Elizabeth. The boys beat Kitimat 80-59 here and ad- vanced to the provincials in mid-march. kkk SNOWMOBILERS jammed Shames Moun- tain for the first annual B.C. Snowmobile Fe- Annie Wittkowski ‘deration sanctioned hillelimb. Snowmobilers from across, including Mike Irwin, Norm Hebert and Trevor Gibson compe- ' ted to make the event a success despite con- troversy from loca! skiers about traffic and trail damage on the slopes, toto THE TERRACE Skating Club finished sec- "ond overall at the Kla-How-Ya meeting in Prince Rupert. -Amy Mattern, Erin Arndt and Sandra Wit- ne tington won two medals each, kKkkKk TERRACE MINOR Hockey handed out lifetime memberships to Cliff Sharples, Brian Downie, Jake de Jong and Mona Nestor for their contribution to hockey in Terrace. khkkk LOCAL SKIER Matthieu Leclerc won three top-15 finishes at the Western Canadian Juve- nile Alpine Championships in Jasper, Alberta. kkk THE BACK EDDY Bullets won the ladies indoor soccer championships March. 30 in the I 1th round of the shoot out. ~ The game, against Braid Insurance, ended 1-0 after a goal by Lori Kasperski, | April LOCAL CURLER Mitch Griffith took home top awards during the Logger’s Bonspiel April 1-4. Griffith ‘and his team beat the Dan Doehler . tink of Smithers and Kitimat's Peter Daiuba rink to win the “A*-event final, KkkKK PAM HAUGLAND came back from the- Na- - tonal High School Wrestling tournament with a second-place finish, The silver medal was her third medal al the national level in as many years and was the final medal of her high school career. Khkkk LOCAL DANCERS won four gold medals at the Pacific Northwest Music.:Festival ‘in Terrace, Among the medal winners were Angela Beaupre, Orie and Hikari Shiga, and Cydney Rusch. All ‘dancers train at’ the CI’s Dance - Studio in Terrace, - $ctokok CYCLISTS. BRANDON Smoley and John Lambert won gold and silver medals at one of the season's first races, the [2th annual Schnai Daze competition in Smithers, April 12. ob kk ; LOCAL GYMNAST Annie. Wittkowski went to Calgary to compete in the Western - Canadian Gymnastics Championships as a part of the gold-medat winning B.C, team, -Wlitkowski placed 11th on the beam and finished 17th overall, i Bee ee uae ee ERNIE MILHOMMENS, Tyler Franson, and Jill Harvey became Canadian Powerlifting Champions in Calgary, May 8. May NORMA LeFRANCOIS, Marlene Thornton, Marion Clift, Fern Gagnon, Cy Renney and _Ellie Chambers won the zone five- -pin bowling roll offs in Prince Rupert and guaranteed their spat on the Northen B.C. Winter games team. KkkKk CALEDONIA Golfers Kevin Eyjolfson and Brett Downie put in one-two finishes among “seven northwest teams al the first high school play. day at the Skeena Valley Golf and Coun- try Club, ot ee 2 FOUR Caledonia basketball stars were in- vited to the Western Canadian Best. of the West Basketball Camp in Coquitlam. Kevin Braam, Robert Haugland, Christian Desierto and Braden Meashaw were invited as four of Western Canada’s Top 72 High School Basketball players. Kakkkk FORMER TERRACE resident and soccer star Roxanne Chow gets named to the national Under 20 womens Pam American Games team. keke | POWERLIFTERS Ernie Milhommens, Tyler Franson and Jill Harvey became Cana- dian Powerlifting Champions in Calgary May g. . . Ink CALEDONIA’S DRAG racing team, lead by teacher Doug Brewer and students Tom Fox, Keith Allard and Jacob Dickson, won gold at a high school drag racing meet in Prince George May 22. THAT'S JEANINE GARNEAU on ihe mound * for the girls fastball team at Riverside Fields during the girls zone playdowns last June, The girls played the Kitwanga Steelers to earn a spot al the provinciais. This year. the bantam © championships will be held here. June FASTBALL FEVER took over the River Side Ball fields during the girls’ zone play- downs June 17 in Terrace. Terrace played the Kitwanga Steelers here to earn their spot in the provincial champion- ships laler that summmer. wk k VOLLEYBALL fans got their thrill watch- ing hometown hero Jason Haldane get com- mended for strong :blocks in an international tournament in June Haldane, who makes his living by playing professional. volleyball in France in. the winter, returned to Terrace to spent time here in the summer, toto TERRACE! S Super BM Men’s soccer team won a bronze medal in Prince George’s B.C. Recrention Cup June 11-13. The team earned their right to enter the tourney by winning Terrace'’s men’s league title in (998. They improved their 1997 B.C, Recreation Cup performance in 1997, wake CENTENNIAL Christian School Student Nathan Voogd won the B.C. Junior Christian School Athlete of the Year award June 23, _ Voogd earned the award for his good grades, extra-curricular activities and strong performance on Centennial Christian's volley- ball, basketball, soccer and badminton teams. tek tok LOCAL BODYBUILDER Mark Dhami won ‘gold in the light heavyweight division at the Prolab Classic Bodybuilding Championships i in , Prince George June 5, kilctkk ALL. SEASONS Source for Sports topped the Terrace’ Minor Baseball ‘league June 24- beating Kinsnien and Pizzo Hut. to win first place in their: age group.