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-SKEENA ANGLER -
ROB BROWN

T’S THE FIRST day of June.

Webb and I are off chasing wild

Kwinageese. I’ve been drooling

overa map of that valley for years,
No hint of canyons in the contour lines. The
vallcy is broad and flat it shares that feature,
and latitude, with ‘the Kispiox (and, I suspect,
the similarities between the two watersheds
don’t end there.)

The Kiteen and the Cranberry have summer
run stecIhead, so does the Damdochax. Every
river feeding the canyon-filled reaches of the
upper Nass River do. So, why wouldn’t the
Kwinageese?

Of course it’s the wrong time to be hunting
summer steelhead, but now the ice ceiling has
melicd, it’s breakfast for the lake dwelling rain-
bow trout that prowl the marl, filling their guts
on the multiplying multitudes of bugs and scuds
and leeches. We will reconnoitre and lay the
groundwoik for a later drip,

The village of the Git Wan Gax is quict. No-
body’s on the streets. The soccer field is empty.
We bump across the tracks and climb the hill,
Aspens tremble. The sky is clear. Everything is
lush and green.

Whoever named the roads at Kitwanga had a
job to do and had to get it done in a hurry.
Moncy had to be made, sawmills needed build-

“ing, trailers had to plopped down, trees had to
fall. There was no time for imagination. On Mill
Road there's a mill. The school buses climb the

* hill to the school on School Road. The machin-

~ ery to maintain the town is on Yard Road, The
main strip through town, formerly part of the
grease trail, is Kitwanga Road, as you'd expect.

These boom towns, are. al] the same. It’s as if,

after the explosion, busted bits — machines, ,

shacks, hoses — have been strewn over the
landscape where they lie, defying all attempts at
municipal planning. The campground for
tourists finds itself across the road from the
mill, The neally appointed, diminutive Anglican
Church faces the gas station. A sign advertises a
restaurant (home cooking, of course) that looks
like the illegitimate chiid of service station and
trailer, All this squalor sits in the midst of one
of the most beautiful natural settings you can
ask for,

It’s a good idea to Gill the gas tanks before
Striking out into a logging labyrinth, Webb pulls
into the gassiation and checks everything is still
secured as the pump jockey pumps. I can’t resist
a candy bar, nuts and pop. The young attendant
asks for $2.24, I give him a fiver. He rummages
in the till then gives me back two brown bills

‘and change.

**You’ve given me too much,”’ I tell him. At
first truculent, he softens and begins to explain
patiently, “‘Now, you gave me a five.” *'True,’””
I say, cocking my head slightly and raising a
brow. I can almost hear gears gumming up.
‘*Uh...,”” he says, looks at the bis co-worker, a
young girl, perhaps 15 or 16, wearing a white T-
shirt with the words Ban Animal Testing em-
blazoned in bold red letters across its front. She
offers him mo support. He retums to the cash
drawer, rectifies his error and hands me the cor-
tect change, looking away the whole time.

‘‘Didn’t want your bass to get angry at you
when you didn’t balance at the end of the day?””
I ask, trying to make him fee] better. To change
the subject, I ask the girl if she’s an anti-

vivisectionist, She looks confused. I point at her —

T-shirt. ‘“You’re an animal rights activist?’

“Huh, ob,’’ she replics looking at ber chest.
“It's just a T-shirt someone gave me,’

Webb and I discuss the school system as we
roll down the highway toward Cranberry Junc-
tion, until we see the bears.

‘*What’s lhis?’* Webb says, Three bears, two
light brown, one dark brown, all the size of a

‘small adult, all with pronounced humps, arc
about to cross the road, The lead bear has one
paw on the pavement. They see us and scramble
back into the shoulder-high brush alongside the
road where they remain unconcemmed with the
sound of an occasional vehicle and us. I’m
amazed at how easily they disappear and reap-
pear. I think about how easy it would be to
stumble on this trio during a walk down a
similarly vegetated path to the river.

As we walch fram the tailgate, one bear chews
on the ear of another. They cavort. They cat
grass. Al one point the darker bear digs, throw-
ing large clumps of dark brown earth through
his legs, Am unexpected dividend, but after
twenly minutes, the pull of trout is strong. We
drive north to Ellaworth Camp where we stop a
man who is walking down the main street. He
has laceless shoes that look as if they've been
chewed by 8 dog. A long scar, still stitched, ex-
tends from his upper lip io the lange back bruise
under his eye. ‘‘Kwinageese,"’ he tells us, “It’s

"that road back there, Thirty-two clicks, But ya .

might get confused?
' (To be continued)

TERRACE STANDARD.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 14, 1995 - C1

| | ‘SECTION Cc
MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283

Bluebacks storm rankings ~

THE INTERIM Long Course
Tag standings are out and the
Bluebacks are all smiles,
Based on results to May 5,
the Swen Canada rankings
show members of the local
club cracked the top-25 seven
times in individual per-
formances and six in relays.
Garth Coxford eamed his
highest ever placing, clocking
the fourth fastest time in Cana-
da in the 200m Fly at the
Keyano meet in Edmonton.
Noting that’s three spots bet-
ter than Coxford’s previous
highest ranking — achieved
two years ago and the opening
shot in what proved to be a
strong long course season —

coach Mike Carlyle said the
result this time was “‘very ex-
citing’.

Although not all clubs had
started their long course sea-
son when the standings were
put together, Carlyle
anticipated Coxford would
still be in the top dozen 13-14
year olds by season’s end.

Coxford also made the List-
ings in the 100m Free (24th).

Chris Kerman narrowly
missed hitting the list in the
backstroke but Carlyle
predicted ‘‘he’ll be there’’.

As it was, Kerman made the
board when he and Coxford
helped the Points North 4 x
50m Free relay team to 17th

Spot,

Top Blueback in terms of
multiple rankings was Tristan
Brown who freestyled his way
to four individual placings:
11th in the 100m for 11-12
years and 15th in each of the
50m, 200m and 1500m.

And right ahead of Brown in
the 1500m was teammate
Dylan Evans.

And that duo plus Kyle
Nartz formed three quarters of
the fourth fastest 4 x 50m
relay team. ‘‘We’re expecting
good things of him this sum-
mer,”” Carlyle said of Nariz.

The Points North 4 x 50m
Mediey team also made the
rankings at 14th,

Other relay successes came
on the girls side of the 11-12
years division with a 14th in
the 4 x 50m and 17th in the 4
x 50m Medley. And Points
North’s 13-14 years girls
squeezed in with a 24th in the
4x 350m Free.

Interim results or not, Car-
lyle was well pleased with the
Bluebacks’ showing. He also
expects others like Marina
Checkley to join her team-
mates in the rankings before
the season closes out.

Next up for the club is this
weekend’s regional meet in
Prince Rupert, followed the
next weekend by the Junior
‘AA’ provincials.

CCS take lion’s share at meet

WITH SIX age-group titles,
victories in five of eight relays
and a hast of individual
medals, Centennial Christian
(CCS) emerged the dominant
force at this year’s elementary
school irack and field meet.

But it was a Cassie Hall stu-
dent who came away with two
mect records to his credit.
Matt Webster propelled the
shot 13.6m and flung the dis-
cus 31.1m to rewrite the 12
year old boys book in those
events.

The other individual record
was set in the same division
when Aaron Gelder of Centen-
nial cleared the bar at 1.5m to
raise the high jump mark. .

The final record-breaking
performance came in the boys
9 years relay where the CCS
squad sped to a 1:08.53 in the
4x 100m.

That division also provided
Centennial with one of its out-
standing athlete awards, Jared
Brown taking the overall title
on the strength of victories in
the 50m and high jump plus a
second at 200m.

The girl’s title in that age
group went to Ashley Taylor,
the Veritas student scoring
victories in the 800m and
1500m and notching thirds in
the 50m and long jump.

Wins in the 50m and 200m
powered CCS’s  Deserai
Vandervelde to top spot
among 10 year old girls while
there was a tie on the boys
side between Kolten Taekema
and Daniel Matthews

Taekema (CCS) crossed first
in the 400m and 800 then

added a second in the 1500m.

Uplands’ Matthews matched
that performance with 200m
and ball throw triumphs and a
runner up spot in the 50m.

Uplands picked up another.

SPRINTERS | AT this year's elementary track and field meet provided n numerous |
exciting finishes, several races being decided by mere hundredths of a second.

title in 11 years girls where

Pam Gavronsky took both the
long and high j jumps, adding a
third in the 100m.

The boys crown in that age
group went to Andrew Nutma
of Centennial who ran out vic-
tor in the 400m and 800m with
a second in thu 1500m,

Among the 12 year olds, it
was all CCS, Kevin Braam
completing a 400m, 800m and
1500m hattrick for his title.

But the most dominant per-

1 oF , wy AT
formance of the day came
from Allison Mantel who

stretched out for a long jump
victory to add to three ftack

triumphs in the 400m, 800m

and 1500m.

Other strong performances
included Thomhill’s Hila
Dianne, 11, breaking the tape
in both the 100m and 200m,
Brian Rigler of Cassie Hall
duplicating those results on
‘the boys side and Chris
Deseirto scoring victories for

Veritas in the 12 years boys
100m and long jump. |

The farthest travelled school,
New Hazelton, had reason lo
cheer in the girls nine years .
track events when Leah Pare’
took the 50m and 200m while’
teammate Meghan Toews, 10,
gave the school ‘another
double-winner by outleaping
her opponents in the long and
high jumps, _

For full results of event win-
ners, see the Score Board on
Page C4.

- Overton takes aim at Nat’ S

eo

,tinue _ his

PEAKS GYMNASTS will
have a special interest in the
National Tumbling
championships taking place in
Winnipeg this week.

That’s because one of their
own will be on the floor.

Brett Overton got his iniro-
duction to gymnastics with the
club at the age of seven and
soon showed he had a natural
talent.

Displaying a strong work
ethic, he developed his skills
quickly, floor being his
favourite event. Later he
moved up to pass on his
knowledge as a coach -with
Peaks,

For the past eighi months
Overton had been training in
Kelowna as part of his goal,
_ how achieved, to make the na-

i’ tional team.
' Having now graduated from

Kelowna,. he intends: to: con-

‘ athletic. interests ~

through college. “

But this summer he will
return to Terrace to be one af
the coaches at the Peaks Sum-
mer Camp. _

Registration for that camp
takes place this Saturday at the
Skeena Mall, 10 a.m.- 4p.m.

Tt runs July 4-28 but is
broken down into one week
sessions. It also offers. maxi-
mum flexibility. Anticipating
some potential participants
may want more than one week
of tuition but are going io be
away on holiday somewhere |
in that period, Peaks is offer-
ing mix ‘n’. match bookings,
as in match it to your own
schedule,

The cost per week ranges
from $25 to $50 depending on
the level. And the club empha.
sizes this camp is open to ab.
solute beginners, For more in-
formation, - phone Peaks al
638-0447,

ee er er rs