CHRISTIANA WIENS

TERRACE STANDARD:

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 21, 1998 - 85

~SPORTS

638-7283

ROB BROWN.

Finlay’s Demise

t Shames, with the summer sun

lighting up the -riffle, sitting on a

log, sipping coke from a can, wear-

ing a green jacket, a scuffed pair of
Red Ball Waders, and a rumpled hat —_ that’s
how he was when I first met him. [t was yester-
day; it was fifteen years ago. Finlay Ferguson: [’d
heard of him, a man that had been fishing the fly
along the bars of the Skeena since a time when
most people thought it was all but impossible to
catch a salmon that way,

We talked about flies, and where steelhead like
to be, and how to catch them. Finlay flicked open
the lid of a peppermint box and plucked a thin, na
nonsense fly from inside. A Skinny Skunk, he
said, his favourite at the time, a no frills fly that
sunk quickly and attracted steelhead and trout
much better than the gaudy flics he’d used when
he started out. The silver wire rib winked in the
sunlight. There was more hook than fly. I was
skeptical.

Floating lines were all Finlay fished. He’d read
and reread the vade mecum of floating Hine fish-
ing for salmon Jock Scott’s treatise on the
Greased Line; his catches ably demonstrated he
understood it, and he shared it with me because
he was generous by nature. ,

Soon we were fishing together. It was a good
partnership. I was in my thirties, Finlay in his
seventies, | forced him to speed up, He taught me
to slow down, io look around. We fished often.
We fished in all kinds of weather. One time we
‘Set out tao Jate in the day, too late i in the year with
too little gas in a craft too small — motor and all
— for ihe Skeena, and found ourselves catching
slroig, fat. sea trout in mist filled channels
separating the islands there. It was fine,
dangerous fishing on a day ending in a long float
down the Skeena skirting darkening log jams,
crouching, ready to pounce and swallow us.
.Many times we slid along the iced banks of the
Copper in the dead of winter, pitching big sparse
flies into water so clear you could read the bottom
as if it were scripture. We found beautifully
spotted char and hard steelhead, gray and white,
niccly filted to the leaden skies and snow filled
valley,

We fished the Kitimat, Fin loved the fish there.
I'd paddle my raft across the river at the power-
line run then walk up to the mouth of the Little
Wideene. While I raced up the tributary flicking
flies under logs and swimming them through
tempting spots, Fin would slowly fish the con-
fluence and the short run below if, in the end
catching as many, or more, fish than],

We fished together on the Lakelse. Chasing cut-
throat and steelhead on foot and from my raft On
one of those floats, I fixed the painter to a snag
slicking out of a pool a mile or so below the rail
bridge. From our platform in the middle of the
stream we cast soft hackled flies toward the bank
and Jet them sweep under the Jog jam there,
Trout, large silver ones, surged out of green
prisms and nailed our wets.

Finlay was always leaning forward, always com-
ing up with a new idea, always making an obser-
vation on the latest event in the news. His past
was hard, bul 1 got him talk about it: about how
his dad was killed in the Great War, how his
mother was killed by stomach cancer a short time
later; about how he and his sister were sent to
Canada from Scotland where they were minded
by a bible-thumping uncle who treated them like
inconvenicnees,

Finlay couldn't leave bis surrogate home soon
enough. He wound up mining the hard rock of ihe
Canadian Shield, He was a kid. The safety stan-
dards were minimal, After the war, be mined in
Britannia Beach. The sears of mining were al-
ways wilh him, We'd walk into Herman’s Pool
when the air was cold and wet. Fin would stop.
“Your lung?’ I'd ask. He’d nod unable to speak
for the pain. We'd wait, five minutes, sometimes
fen, then we'd make another leg. ‘‘You go
ahead,’” he’d urge. ‘']’m in no hurry,” I'd say,
because by then [ knew his company was pre-
cious and fleeting.

In the last few years he wanted to fish badly,
but his wife Pat was ailing. Finlay stood tall on
his word. He took his vows seriously: ‘‘until
death do us part’? meant just that. Fishing was no
longer a possibilily. In the end bis lung, the one
that had stalked him like a predatory black bear,
overlook him. Lung cancer: in a couple of months
it wrestled him to the ground.

Finlay was always showing up with something
someone had given him: raincoats, fishing rods, a
new scl of waders. He was the kind of person you
just wanted to give things to. In all the hours we
spent togelher not one harsh word passed between

us . Some people should not be allowed to die.

Finlay Ferguson + was one of them,

Get off your butt
and work out —

WHEN it’s cold, wet and
miserable outside, the TV’s
lure can be like chocolate.
The immediate gratification
is great but the sensation
won’t feel quite as comfort-
ing once the double chin
sets in.

Every year Canadians
settle into long dark winters
by doing one of two things:
sweating or snoozing.

And Terrace is no dif-
ferent. So before your butt
settles into that dent in the
couch check out what local
fitness meccas have to offer.

Terrace has three privately
owned gyms and aerobics
classes at the arena. They all
say their customers come
for the atmosphere and their
prices are competitive —
the owners know what the
other gyms offer and try to
meet their prices.

‘The difference is what
they offer and when.

“We receive nothing but
compliments for our Ham-
mer Strike equipment,”
says Jill Harvey at Effective
Fitness.

The underground gym in
the 4500 block of Lazelle
boasts new weight lifting
machinery that you really
don’t need a spotter on -
which is great if you like to

pump iron alone or with a

friend.

Donna Wilson and her
friend Mary Kelly decided
to enlist: because it came
recommended by Kelly's
physiotherapist,

They had the foresight to
join in August, before the
traditional membership rush
hits local gyms.

The gym features
aerobics, weight lifting and
cardio training (for those

PUMPING IRON: That's Stacey Martin and Angela
Maroney who joined the Fitness Zone within days of

each other. They come , because ts a great way to
stay in shape, says Martin.

2]

that just like to use the
treadmills and bikes).

And il’s not shy of long
term members.

Don Hill and Kris Puge
have visited the gym for
three or four years and
switched from the pool be-
cause of bigger weights, un-
cluttered space and immedi-
ate access to equipment.

Effective Fitness, which
Harvey’s parents Barb and
Lyle Harvey took over in
August, 1997, says it’s the
biggest private facility in
town.

But that’s not whal Kim
Croot of Northcoast Fitness
says.

‘It may be big, but I’m

The winners are:

WINNERS OF the Skeena Valley Runners Club 18th an-
nual half mazathon at Northwest Community College Oct.

4 were:

Ray Leonard Prince Rupert 1:24:00

Dave Cater Terrace 1:24:52

Chris Steenhof Smithers 1:26:53

Bill Lee Terrace 1:27:17

F. Barbosa New Hazelton 1:30:44

Dave Stewart Terrace 1:30:48

Garth Latoski Prince Rupert 1:32:05

Alan Neufeld Terrace 1:32:16
Gord Buxton Terrace 1:32:11
Dan. Thompson Terrace 1:33:07
Patrick Eagan = Terrace 1:3748

NHL hero |
coming here

STRAP ON your skates, hockey fans, Sheldon Kennedy
will skate the Terrace Arena Friday.

The NHL star who was sexually abused by his junior
team coach and just finished a nationwide rollerblading
tour will skate at the arena to raise money for the Anaphe
Ranch, a centre for victims of sexual abuse near In-
vermere. To skate wilh Kennedy grab $2 and head to the

Arena at 10:15 a.m. on Friday.

At noon, Kennedy will talk to the Terrace and District

Chamber of Commerce.

His appearance here is both a fundraising effort and a
personal favour to Mary Pat Boucane, a Prince Rupert

Current.

’ friend of Kennedy whose brother skated with him in Swift

Kennedy’s four-and-a-half month rollerblading trek
across Canada raised $1.5 million —~ just a sliver of the
$30 million he wanted to raise for the summer camp for
kids. But, he said, the journey raised sexual abuse aware-

ness from coast to coast.

The 29-year-old was a fourth round draft pick of the De-
toit Red Wings in 1988. He played hockey more than 300
NHL games with Detroit, Calgary and Boston and was a
member of the 1990 gold-medal-winning team at the

World Junior Championships.

Then, in January, 1997, he rocked the hockey world by
publicly announcing he had been sexually abused at the
hands of his junior hockey coach, Graham James, in Swift

Current.

Kennedy is on a leave of absence to raise money for the
ranch and spend time with his wife Jana and. their

daughter.

not sure they’ve used their
space adequately,’’ she said.
Croot set np Northcoast
Health and Fitness on Greig
five years ago and divided
the space up.
“The ladies like the fact

that they have their own.
space. to” Lift: ‘welghts. in’? ”

she said.

Everything’s still co- ed —
but different people have
found their own niche
among the gym’s bounty of
exercise equipmeut.

Croot says the gyn offers
newer, cleaner cquipment
and say her busiest hours
are the noon hour, morning
and after dinner fram Sep-
tember lo April.

The gym is so heavily
used you need to sign up for
the bikes and treadmills.

And that’s something the
Terrace Fitness Zone has
tried to avoid by extending
their hours.

They offer nine more
hours. a week of workout

“time than the other gyms, a

supervised daycare Monday
through Thursday, and a
free personalized trainer,
Plus, says staff member
Cindy Peck, the windows
and mirrors help.
- “4 lot of people like the
brightness and view,” she
said of the gym in the 4400
block of Lakelse,

Member Sonia Sheppard
agrees. ‘It’s brighter and
ihe air circulates a lot bet-
ter,”’ she said adding there’s
always a machine available.

Neither Northcoast or the
Fitness Zone offer aerobics
classes.

But if that’s. what you’re
after, check out the - arena.
They offer everything from
cardio break ont, step, step .
sprint (more challenging
than step), cardio mix (ad-
ding muscular training) and
circuit step (maximum train-
ing) five days a week.

Their classes run until
Dec. 18 and some classes
provide childminding,

a Catch him if you can!

YOU LOOKING AT ME?: That's Marco Qualizza getting used to the water at the
newly opened swimming pool Tuesday. Marco is an Octopus (four and five year

the water. His teacher is Sandra Shantry.

- olds) and made sure the camera was pointed in his direction before he headed for