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BS - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 11, 2003

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN

ROB BROWN

Taimen 9

he cabbie mumbled angrily. The pro-

testers swept around the cab like an

angry sea. Joan felt as if she was

about to be crushed under the heel of
an implacable force molded from shared hatred
of the protesting mob. She concentrated on the
protesters, They were young.

“What are they upset about?” she asked, hop-
ing the driver could speak English,

The driver turned.

“What are they so mad about? Why do they
protest?" she asked again in a stilted manner
that would have offended someone fluent in
English.

“You Ess...Day walk Amaircun embahsee,” the
driver forced out every word as if he was pass-
ing a stone, “Kids hate Amairca, They wrong.”

Joan noticed that Billy was huddled in a ball
next to her in a semi-foetal position, withdraw-
ing from the surroundings, and, she felt, from
her. The driver continued. “Too young to know
war-1950-war not over. No Yankees then Kim 0
Sung come over Bridge of No Return at
Panmunjeom—take freedom, take all!”

To Joan it seemed hours until the tail of the
enraged crowd whipped by the cab, As scon as
they were settled at the hotel, Billy brought out
the pictures from Lewis and pored over them.

“This is it,” he shouted to her as she climbed
out of the most soothing shower she could re-
member. She rushed out of the bathroom with a
towel loosely draped over her. He held up a pic-
ture. He was more animated that she’d seen him
in the last three.days. 3

The photd shéWed.a person,dbviously Mongo-
han, with his arm around Lewis. The Mongolian
had on a ball cap emblazoned with the words
Magic Tiger Eco Tours.

“This is the key!” shouted Billy, grabbing
Joan and swinging her around with such vigour
that the towel fell to the ground. He bolted from
the room, leaving her naked and dripping.

She was in bed, dry and drifting off when he
returned, still excited, but not as wound up as
when he left.

“They have an internet cafe in the hotel. The
attendant — a really helpful guy — helped me
find my way around.” Billy had always been
computer resistant. Joan appreciated the enorm-
ity of the assistant’s task.

“I found Magie Tiger Eco Tours. I learned how
to e-mail, I sent them an e-letter. I have their
address. They list Lewis as one of their guides.
We just have to look them up when we get to
Ulaanbaatar.”

Joan found Billy’s enthusiasm endearing for a
short time, but, as he went on and on, it became
irritating. She fended him off, then slept fitfully.
In the morning’ Billy made sure they breakfasted
in record time. —

The return trip to Incheon, not delayed by pro-
tests this time, was short too, In three hours they
were landing in Mongolia, on an airstrip outside
Ulaanbaatar.

A wave of relief swept over Joan as she step-
ped from the small MIAT jet. The landscape
was sparse and sprawling. There were vast skies
and no tall buildings, and, mercifully, no
crowds. She felt a twinge of homesickness.

Their typically posh hotel seemed out of place.
She reclined on the bed and after reading of its
amenities she browsed the tours offered in an
accompanying brochure. The tour of the Gandan
Monastery had a strong appeal for some reason.
She came back to the description:

“Check out the incredible 30 metre tall gold
plated statue of the God Avaloki Teshara-Megid
Janraisag,” it read.

“As an old legend has it, the monks who wor-
ship here have perfect eyesight and the ability
to see perfectly into the future. You may have
your fortune read by one of them.”

The next morning, while Billy sought the in-
ternet cafe near the hotel, the one the desk
clerk had told her was situated in the old Com-
munist Party Administration Building, she made
the walk to Gandan is search of seers. She found
herself in front of the Monastary’s Main Hall not
having asked anyone for directions.

She walked into the entrance, past monks
prostrated on stone ramps, past small parties of
tourists and their guides as if she were invisible.
She passed a sign announcing teaching halls in
all kinds of languages, and, os if pulled by a
magnet, entered a narrow hallway that opened
into small, fragrant garden half in shadow.

In the midst of the foliage a small man, a
monk, sat with his head bowed, She sat. He
looked up.

“You are here,” he said in a soothing voice.
“Why have you come?”

To be contintiedin. cB

TERRACE STANDARD.

838.7283

Locals tear up the track as high
speed series comes to town

By JESSIE GIES
LOCAL RACERS are turning up
the heat this Saturday when the
third leg of the WESCAR race
series hits the Terrace Speedway.

“It’s fast,” says local stock car
racer Gary MacCarthy.

MacCarthy and pit mechanic
John Cooper have spent countless
hours and.at least $20,000 of
MacCarthy’s money keeping the
remodelled mid-90s Camaro
Sportsman Chassis in shape for
the WESCAR OK Tire Challenge
Series.

“We've been in the shop until
eleven every night for the past
three months,” MacCarthy says.

His car, number 92, has a
nearly 400 horsepower sports en-
gine that is professionally built,
“balanced and blue-printed to
spec.”

MacCarthy says his car peaks
at 85 miles per hour on the
straightaways of the local oval lo-
cated off of Queensway Dr.

“This is a professional level
race, this is nat grassroots,” says
WESCAR announcer Doug Wall-
er.

Throngs of fans have been
turning out to hear the crunch of
fibreglass and smell of rubber
burning at the high-velocity
WESCAR events.

“We're estimating 30,000 to
40,000 will see the (WESCAR)
taces this summer,” Waller says.

There are 25 late model stock
cars, formerly called hobby
stocks, registered in this year’s
circuit which travels to nine spots
between Terrace and Penticition
this summer

“We have more cars this year
es ane

-~- We're hopin for a as 9 five
wag, TS Of! SP een

GARY MacCARTHY is primed for this weekend’s WESCAR pro stock car races hitting the oval track
here June 14. Spectators are guaranteed some high adrenaline action. JESSIE GIES PHOTO

than we've had in a long time,”
says Debby Reinhardt, Terrace
Stock Car Association spokesper-
son.

“This could be really exciting.”

The speedway can pack 1,500
spectators into its’ stands and Re-
inhardt hopes to see a full turnout
this Saturday: That’s when 15 cars
come to Terrace to race with five
local drivers including MacCar-
thy, car number 14 driver Ian
Black and newcomer to this
year's series Darcy McKeown,

finish,” says MacCarthy.

Though MacCarthy bombed the
main event race at the Prince
George inaugural race May 17,
Waller says that doesn’t mean
anything for MacCarthy’s chances
this weekend.

“To judge a race car on its first
outing is not really valid,” he
says.

The total purse for the circuit
tour adds up to about $100,000.
After each race, the pay out is be-
tween $5,000 and $8,000.

After, Terrace, the tour stops at

L

rues, 2M

~ | Local

Williams Lake, Penticton and
Vernon. The final dust will fly
back in Prince George Sept. 13
where the circuit started.
MacCarthy has been racing
since 1992 and has won his fair

_ share of championships at the Ter-

race Speedway.

“It’s our home track we know it
well, We're going to try and win
this race. Darn right.”

The race starts at 7 p.m. with
timed runs starting at 5:30. Tickets
are $7 for adults, $4 for seniors
and. students, and $17 for families.

hoopster

UK-bound

"By SARAH A.

ZIMMERMAN
IT TOOK 15 weeks of re-
gimented training and
strict’ dieting, but it all
paid off for Ashley Whit-
tington when he took home
a second place finish at a
recent bodybuilding com-
petition in Nanaimo.

The May 24 Western
Naturals Bodybuilding fit-
ness and figure competi-
tion set the stage for Whit-
tington’s first ever compe-
tition.

“IT was pretty happy
with that for my first
show,” Whittington says,
adding it was exciting to
be in a competitive set-
ting.

Weighing 209 pounds,
the five-foot-10-inch tall
Whittington competed in
the heavy weight class
competing against two
other men.

Athletes were evaluated
on their muscularity, defi-
nition, body symmetry and
vascularity — or as Whit-
tington puts it, how much
the veins “pop out”.

To get into peak condi-
tion for the event Whit-
tington’s schedule for the

. 15 weeks prior to the com:

petition would make even

‘ithe most dedicated athlete

KRISTY MacDonald is in
for a treat this summer as
she travels to the British
Isles to play in a unique
two-week basketball tour.

The local Grade 11
student played on the
Caledonia
basketball team this past
season and is hoping this
summer's travels will give
her even more experience
on the hard wood.

She was selected to go
on the tour after
participating in an
intensive basketball camp
last summer in Olds,
Alberta put on by NBC

ASHLEY WHITTINGTON recent placed second at a western Canadian
bodybuilding competition. SARAH A, ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

cringe.

Armed with a key to a
local gym he would get on
a stationary bike at. the
wicked hour of 3 a.m. ta
start his day off with 45
minutes of cardio,

After the early morning
work out he would return
home to prepare one of six
low-carbohydrate, «high

day.

protein | meals he ate each:

Then it was back to the
gym for 7 a.m. for two
hours of working out and
lifting weights.

After working an eight
hour shift at his job as a
grocery store clerk, Whit-
tington would then practise
his bodybuilding poses and
be in bed by 9 or 10 p.m.

“It’s pretty hard for the

first little while doing it
and: you don’t really want

-

to go do cardio then go
back and work out then go
to work all day,” he con-
cedes. “But you know you
gotta get up and your body
gets into sort of a routine.”

With the help of Mike
Dhami and Donna Graf,
both of whom were com-
petitive bodybuilders at
-one time, Whittington. was

“able to better prepare for

the one-day competition.

Kermodes

Camps, a US-based sports
training organization.

“I'm really excited,”
says MacDonald, adding
this is the first time she
will get a shot at overseas
travel.

If the camp in Olds is
any indication of what's to
come she and her 12
teammates, mostly teens
from Alberta, will be in for
a lot of work.

“When I was there
every muscle in your body
ached,” says MacDonald
of the camp. “You pushed
yourself so hard and used
Continued page B14

pays off

“IT saw him going down
to the gym when he was
probably 16 or 17, just a
young kid out of school
and he’s progressed awe-
somely,” says Graf. “All I
can say is he's very dedi-
cated and very self-disci-
plined.”

Whittington says the
long days and strict die-
ting, which included a lot
of plain baked potatoes
and supplements, was
worth it.

“You diet and you train
just for one day and you
want to look your best just
on that one day,” he says.

“I guess it really tea-
ches you about your body
and how food affects it.”

Being a natural compe-
tition also meant all the
athletes were drug tested -
something Whittington
says gives him extra rea-
son to be happy with his
performance,

"It's nice
you're a naturat athlete,"
he says.

His second place finish

means he’s cligible to
compete in more competi-
tions this year.

He's hoping to make his

second -appearance ‘at:.a

bodybuilding show later & ae

this fall.

to know |