TERRACE STANDARD

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

638-7283

Dahms rink brings home bronze

THE MICHAEL Dahms rink from Terrace has
had an impressive year of curling so far.

They clinched top spot in the zone juvenile
finals last month earning themselves a trip to
the provincial curling championships for the
second year in a row.

this year.

The Kamloops brigade shot down Dahms’
hopes for a second first place finish when they
ousted the Terrace team 6-4.

The Dahms rink ended up with the bronze
medal.,

This was a fine achievement considering
that three of the team members were compet-
ing in other tournaments in Vancouver while
the curling provincials were under way.

Both Dahms and Haugland were represent-
ing Terrace in the provincial bowling cham-
pionships.

And Mike Diana was competing in the
Tiger Balm Internation martial arts tournament

where he fought his way to a gold medal in
point fighting.

lead Kore Melanson were all back for the sec-
ond shot at provincials and new to the team
was 15-yeat-ald Mike Diana filling in the sec-
ond position.
The team won their first round robin game
against North Vancouver's Brian Tichaver rink
Last year Dahms went 2 and 1 in round 7-5.
robin play at the B.C. Winter Games in Ques- A big upset came during their second game

nel. when [2-year-old New Westminster curling
' .SKEENA-ANGEER. They went on to win both playoff games

sensation Stephen Kopf lead his rink to a 7-4
ousting Fruitvale’s Colin Partridge in the final win over Dahms.
ROB BROWN earning themselves the number one spot in the” Game three saw Dahms beat out Fruitvale’s
Heart of the Park 3 province. Jimmy Beetstra rink 7-3.
. This year’s competition at the Marpole Cur- When it came to the semi-finals Dahms
f here were many channels winding ling Club March 22-25 saw four of last year’s was up against Brad Pisaczyk from Kamloops.
through the swamp. They were all the top teams return and competition was fierce.

same width, and devoid of distinguishing
features, save for the fact that some of them had

dead ends. Sharon powered the boat down three

This rink won the bronze medal in last year’s

Skip Mike Dahms, third Carl Haugland and championships and had their sights set on gold
of them, found no back door at the end of each
one, idled the engine each time, studied the

surroundings for some sign of the proper
direction a few moments, then turned the
Zodiac around and continued on.

The distant landmarks remained shrouded in
low clouds, and in most cases we wouldn't have
been able to navigate by them anyway since we
wWouldn’t have been able to see them behind a
wall of dense brush. For mile after tedious mile
the slow flow of the river was the only
indication we had that we were actually making
progress,

I knew that this kind of weather could spread
‘over this country like a blanket and last for
weeks, We didn’t have weeks; we had, at best,
four days left in which to find O’Doul and get
back to Homer's lodge, The combination of an
unéase that was threatening to prow into panic,
and the discomfort bred by the cold, damp
monotony of the swamp and incessant thrum of
the engine was wearing me way down.

I turned and looked at Sharon to see how she
was holding up. She had her hood over her cap.
I couldn't tell if the tightness around her mouth
and eyes was caused by tension or by the
attention demanded by the job. She looked
down at me and smiled reassuringly, then
brought up her left arm and tore open the velcro
clasp on the sleeve of her rain coat, held her
left arm out straight, swept jit around,. and.
‘glanced at the outsized man "swatch, M ob

."Keep your eyes open for some place‘: ‘where
we can stop for lunch and get our bearings,”
she said. ,

The rain was still falling; the river was still
rising. With this giant sponge ‘of a swamp
soaking up so much water, it was difficult to tell
if the river was in flood until we entered yet
another channel and came upon. an mammoth
beaver lodge with its disgruntled . inhabitants
sitting on its top.

-“Lookit that,” Sharon said, “they’re flooded
out. Never seen that before.”

THE YOUNGER Terrace Bluebacks were getting in
some practice time at ‘the poo} over March break.
‘Adam Simons, Evan Watson, Conor Watson,
Jason Ruchatzke and lan McKinnon are Seen here
in the back row. That's Nadia Benzer, Marlee Cater,
Janina Callieou and Hally Oerow up front.

Young Evan Watson
makes a AAA splash.

EVAN WATSON is only ten years old and once he hits
the water this kid can swim.

Watson recently swam at the Smithers Swim and Ski
Classic meet with several other younger Bluebacks and
managed to shave a full two sec-
onds off his personal best time in
the 200m freestyle event.

Not only did he manage to
place first in his event at the meet,
but his time of 3:00.96 meant he
qualifies for the first time at the

The sight buoyed my spirits. The colossal pile
of sticks made this conduit different from the
others, and its occupants were the first wildlife
we'd seen in a long time. The channel was
wider. Expansive ponds fenced with dams
appeared before us, The brush was thinner.
Alders poked through and stood over it. In the
bony arms of one of them a disgruntled eagle
perched with its wings drooping in the way that
eagles hang their wings out to dry.

“There’s a creek over there,” I called back
before I noticed that the prow of the boat was
already pointed straight to it.

What's your interest in O’Doul?”asked
Sharon as she fired up the camping stove and
opened a package of soup.

“Met him in college,” I answered. “Got to
know his wife Gayla. We were in the same
History class. She introduced us. We were all
idealistic and getting teady to straighten out the

world back then, in the late sixties. O’Doul was ~

a force to reckon with, a fierce environmentalist
long before environmentalism became
fashionable. 1 can’t remember for sure, but J
think he was the founding member of a couple
of big time environmental organizations.”

_ “Was his wife into the movement too?”
Sharon asked as she handed me a cup of
chicken noodle soup,

“[ suppose so,” I answered, “She was a
sweet, gentle woman, one of those earth mother
types, soft and beautiful.” Sharon smiled in an
understanding way .as I finished answering her
question. “O'Doul was always around when she
was,” I said, “He was larger than life, loud and
forceful. He commanded an audience, became
the centre of attention; he dominated any room
he was in. Gayla was always overshadowed--
everyone was when O’Doul was around--sa, |
just assumed she shared her old man’s
convictions.”

“You think he’s in here somewhere?”

“I don't know. I followed his career for a
while, mostly in magazine articles and
newspapers. It was strange. He went from being
a environmentalist to an apologist for
multinational forest corporations. He got more
and more strident, then he disappeared. I heard
rumours he’d completely dropped out and
vanished into the wilderness--this wilderness. I
found an interested editor at Outdoers North
America, and sold him the idea of an article.”

Sharon sat rapt as I went on about O'Doul.
After lunch we moved on deeper into the Park. |
- The river had some definition now. ~

“Smoke,” Sharon said ag she pointed into
the distance.
luda be continued

It’s a hybrid

TYLER WILSON shows off a prototype of a new skiboard made by the
Burton snowboard company. The skiboard has a skateboard deck com-
plete with grip tape with a smali ski attached to the bottom that allows a
rider to carve turns in the snow. Other companies have attempted skl-
board prototypes before but those models didn't have a ski underneath
or the metal edges essential for carving turns. Local skaters and snow-
boarders have tested out the skiboard and the reviews so far are good.

of 1:30.60.

AAA level. That means he could §
compete at the provincial level. :

Other highlights included 14-
year-old Megan Pederson placing
second in thé 100m fly with a time

In the Boys 10-under 100m
backstroke relay the Bluebacks
place first. They also managed to clinch second place in
the mixed 10-under 200m medley relay.

Evan
Watson

Fighters rule martial arts tourney

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
THE INTERNATIONAL martial
arts community now knows a
thing or two about the ability of
fighters from the northwest.

Athletes who train at the Sho-
gun Dojo went to the Tiger Balm
international martial atts competi-
tion March 17-18 and to put it
simply, they cleaned up.

“Everyone was looking at us
like ‘how did they do that?’” said
the club’s Renchi Marwan Abu
Khadra.

The club brought 32 fighters
from Terrace, Houston and Smi-
thers and left the Vancouver tour-
nament with 42 medals.

Ten athletes from Terrace tank
part in the tournament

Fifteen-year-old Mike Diana
has been training under Abu Kha-

_dta for three years and he has only

taken part in a handful of compe-
titions.

Bui the Terrace teenager has
found his niche in karate and has
had a fantastic year of fighting so
far.

Diana earned the title of North
American champion in the 15 and
under point fighting. competifion
at the Compete 2001 martial aris
compelition in California last
month.

“Mike Diana was very very fo-
cussed. He did 10 times better
ihan in California and he had: to
fight more people in Vancouver,”

+ said Abu Khadra.

“Abu Khadra says that because

Diana stands much taller and.
. weighs in heavier than most of his

opponents he could be at a bit of
a disadvantage.

“His opponents are typically
smaller and faster, but Mike is
amazingly fast for his size,” said
Abu Khadra.

And that was evident at the
Tiger Balm. Diana focussed well,
concentrated on the task at hand
and left Vancouver with a gold
medal.

Terrace’s Liam
Murphy also had a
great showing at the
competition.

Up until three
years ago, the 17-
year old had trained
under a different in-
strucior and studied
a different style of
karate.

Making the trans-
ition to a new dis-
cipline can be a
challenge. Subtle
changes in style and
having a new in-
structor with a dif-
ferent fighting philo-
sophy can be diffi-
cult.

But Murphy has
made the transition to the Shopun
dojo well. He earned himself a
bronze medal in continuous fight-
ing and a silver in point fighting.

The silver medal fight was

contentious.

“For me, Liam was the better

fighter. He lost on-a technicality
of the judgment,” Said Abu Kha-
dra.

Mario Furtado

Nonetheless, a silver medal
showing is a commendable achie-
vement.

Valerie Ieffrey, who was
competing in the women’s 35-plus
point fighting division came home
with a silver medal.

Ironically, she was up against
teammate Michelle McKone from
Houston who won the gold medal.
In the senior men’s
division local man
Mario Furtado was
not in prime shape
to be fighting.

He arrived in Van-
couver with a
bruised rib and was
up against much
younger competition.
“EF wasn't expecting
him to win. He was
in the 18+ category,
and he is 37,” said
# Abu Khadra.
“The younger guys
tend to have more
power and motiva-
tion than older fight-
ers, but he beat
them all,” he said.
Furtado fought his
“way . ‘to the pold
medal round and-won.

Meanwhile, éleven-year-old
Kevin Ramos was up against a
fast, meticulous, determined op-
ponent.

“His opponent was very good,”
said Abu Khadra.

The fight was evenly matched
until a momentary lapse of con-
centration gave Ramos’ competi-

tor a window of opportunity that

_ clinched the match.

With a spin kick to the head,
his opponent scored two points ta
win 5-4,

Young Jamie Jeffrey also
fought earning himself a bronze.
medal.

Shiraz Reide won the bronze i in
continuous fighting.

But it was Houston fighter Jes-
sica Ewans who made the biggest
mark at the tournament.

The 24-year-old competed in
five different disciplines and won
the gold in each,

“She’s a very dedicated and
focussed athlete,” said Abu Kha-
dra, Everything we do she thinks
about it and focusses on it 100 per
cent.”

According to Abu Khadra,
never in the history of the Tiger
Balm has one fighter fought in so
many disciplines and won the
gold in each event.

With belween 900 and 1,300
entries at the international tourna-
ment, the Shogun Dojo from
northwestern B.C. made a lasting
impression.

Their overall medal haul and a
few exceptional individual efforts
separated the Shogun fighters
from the competition.

“Nobody could believe this!
My master couldn’t believe it, An
organization in Ottawa was
amazed,” said Abu Khadra.

“| Felt special there especially
because we are not from Vancou-
ver. It’s nice to sce them looking
at us," he said,