Bé - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, May 26, 1999 CHRISTIANA WIENS) ROB BROWN hatada: the first time I heard the word was some twenty years ago. It was at one of those tedious workshops teachers go to on professional develop- ment days, at least I think it was. The workshop, or whatever it was, is al- most obscured in the haze of distant unimportant memories now, and so is the identity of the speaker, but his words, and the emphasis he put on them are vivid. I remember them well because I was bot in pursuit of trout in those days, looking for hot spots, seeking Shangri-las. The now amorphous tipster was enthusiastic, “It's a big lake,’” he said, ‘‘Near the coast. Near Prince Rupert.” He extended bis arms the way the fishermen do when talking trout, There were these giant cutthroat, which, he said, grew larger than 10 pounds. Ten pounds is a lot of pounds in the cut- throat world of cutthroat trout. The extinct Lohanatan leviathans that roamed the Pyramid Lake in Nevada had been know to reach 30 pounds, but in the rest of the real world a two pounder is a good catch. So there I was, left to stare at a recreation atlas, my head full of fishing dreams lined by this Spartan image of a coastal lake amid tall mountains that cast shadows through which Spoited mega trout swam. I asked around. Someone told me that once I’d made the far side of the Skeena I’d find a trail on the right side of the Khatada River that leads to the lake. I told this to Dionys De Leeuw, who went up the right side of the river and found it arduous, Later I realized my informant was probably talking about river right, which is the left side of the river when you're facing upstream. Anyway, Dionys retumed unscathed and reported that the cutthroat were not cutthroat. at all. but big, aggressive rain- bows, a fact even more surprising given that coastal lakes don’t usually host that species. A few years after that, I flew into Khatada as the guest of Bill Gourlay, It was fast: cataracts, large fish and anglers fish- ing for them at the outlet ofa small lake. We roared into Khatada. The lake was long and deep, rimmed by snow-capped mountains, There were cabins, a few sandy beaches and two boats on the river, Bill motored across the water to one of the beaches. After disembarking and deplaning at the same time, Bill cast spoons far out into the depths. Soon he had a trout of some four pounds. Fly fishing was a hopeless proposition at this spot so Bill cruised to the lake’s end where I made some long, but fruitless throws from a platform of logs. The fishing wasn't memorabic, but the setting sure was. This was rugged beauty of the highest order. There were other places to go in the quest for fish, to many others wilh brighter angling prospects, so J shelved the fine memories of that day at Khatada and pursued them until I heard that Interfor had plans to mine the trees in the valley, I had no memories of heavily-treed hillsides. Why would anyone want to squander the rough beauty of that place for a few low lying spruce? Now I wanted to go back and take a closer look. Last weekend I was able to do that, first with Rob Hart, the head of the Coast Mountain Group of the Sierra Club, and my long time fishing brother, Mike Graham. We quickly found the trail on river right. When you enter these narrow valleys of the lower Skeena tributaries, you hike back in time. We hiked back to sometime around the beginning of March. Far the first kilometre the crew had done a decent job, cedar rounds and coduroy werc inset to offset the soggy path, but further on up their enthusiasm had obviously waned with the result that the trail be-, came indistinct. At places we would have Jost it altogether except for the helpful tracks of a moose that was just ahead of us. Finally, the trail petered out along with the moose spoor, We made a foray up the slope to the west, then tumed back. At home we consulted the Inter- for map. Between the brown blotches denoting fu- ture logging dotted lines showed trails or ancient skid trails, it wasn’t clear which, There had been some logging in the valley already. Everything seemed to indicate this had occurred prior to the Second World War, but nothing even remotely close to the scale planned by Interfor. After hearing from a couple of good judges of such things, that biologist Joe deGesi was brilliant and that he knew the Khatada and its fish, I phoned him. Joe confirmed that the rainbows of Khatada were a breed apart with big heads, unusually big mouths and an carly tendency. to picsivery. The Khatada ralnbows prey on kokannec, said Joe, but if the already volatile feeder streams that pour down the bow] at Khatada were unhinged by clear- cutting, then the young zainbows who depend on them for rearing could well be forced into the lake where they would likely be devoured by their progenitors as well. ’ I thought about that delicate equillbrlum as we made the next leg of the hike up the Khatada, over spongy cranberry bogs fo a rough cut cabin at the end of Davis Lake where we watched a pair of those magnificent trout spawning in the clear brown water in the shallows on river left, , C ROXANNE CHOW never dreamed soccer could take her this far. The 19-year-old former Terrace resident just found out she’ll play on Canada’s Under 20 team at the Pan American Games this sum- mer. But the last time she was playing soccer on one of Terrace’s fields, she was 15, in Grade 10 and training for the provincial Under 16 soc- cer tournament: :- : It was a game that changed her life forever. While there, Chow’s play was so impressive she was named to the provincial team and her family moved south so she could train with her team, But adapting from life in’ Terrace to the hustle of Vancouver's east side tock some getting used to. “It was a big switch,”’ she said laughing. ‘Ya, you could say that.”’ ee The right outside guard found her game got stronger and she gained experience playing small toumaments in New York and Boston. By the time Chow was in Grade 12, she made it to B.C.’s Under 20 team in the summer of 1997 and the lower mainland was starting to feel like home. “We had a pool of players that train together,’’ she said. : ROXANNE CHOW during a Florida game against the U.S. National Team in the summer of 1998. Soccer sensation offers hope for local youth Chow, found it fairly casy this year to train two to four hours a day — whether that be kicking a soccer ball or lifting weights at the gym — and still maintain her grades. She’s studying kinesiolgy —— the study of human body movements — and had a 4.0 grade point average last year. Which, she said, she’ll need if she wants to attend med school, Will Chow be a doctor by we ‘Stick at it and dream big,” she said. “Sometimes all it takes is perseverance,’’ When it came time for university, Chow decided to go to Simon Fraser Univer- sity for practical reasons. “Tt was close to my honse,”’ she said. “I could play soccer and go to school,” the time she makes it to her goal of making Canada’s senior national team and play in the Olympics? “I’ve got tonnes of time,”’ said Chow explaining that most of the team is now in their late 20’s and should be ‘always PORTS hanging up their cleats fairly soon. She hopes her fondest memories so far — playing on Canada’s qualifying team for the World Cup and winning gold at the Canada Summer Games — will give her the exposure and in- spiration she needs to con- tinve, Her fondest soccer memories of Terrace in- clude her Caledonia coach and the Terrace Minor'Soés } cer ‘Association ‘who were: there when slic needed them. She said she hopes Ter~ race youth don’t feel isola- ted because three of her SFU teammates are from tural communities. She said Terrace’s youth, who believe they have potential, should keep trying. “Stick at it and dream big,’’ she said, *“‘Sometimes all it takes is perseverance.” JILL HARVEY and Tyler Franson team up for their: Canadian Power Lifting Championships and are training at Effective Fitness. The two took gold in the pumping up to compete in a higher weight class. Power lifters win gold in Calgary THREE LOCAL athletes took the Ca- nadian Power Lifting Championships by storm May 8 in Calgary. After months of training at Effective Fitness in Terrace Emie Mithomens, Tyler Franson and Jill] Harvey won gold in their respective weight classes. Harvey, 17, competed in the 132- pound class female teen division and broke a Canadian record every time she lifted. ‘It's like no pain no gain atid it’s awesome to push yourself to go far- ther,” she said. | Harvey now holds the Canadian squat, bench and dead lift record for her weight class. Despite her apparent light weight appearance, Harvey squatted 253.5 ‘pounds, benched 121,25 pounds and deadlifted 303 pounds. Lifting almost twice her body weight, Harvey plans to keep training and hopefully keep breaking Canadian power lifting records, “Tvs like no pain no gain and it’s awesome to push your- self to go farther,” she said. Her parents, Lyle and Barb Harvey, own Effective Fitness which is an ad- vantage for Jill's training, *‘I- usually train six times a week and it’s great to see all the training pay off,’” she said. She started weight training a year ago and got Interested in power lifting only six months later. Emie Milhomens, 23, has been lift. _itig weights since he was 13 and said he is going to keep lifting as long as he can. His win at the championships is the second straight for him and next year he will be competing in a heavier weight class, Milhomens broke the bench and squat record in the competition and tied the dead lift record, Next up for Milhomens are the North Americans in August and the World Championships in November, both being held in Calgary. Tyler Franson, 19, has only been power lifting for six months, but he dominated the 165-pound male teen class. “I only stated lifting because Jill asked me to,’’ he said, ‘I figured it would be great to get into,” Franson’s impressive lifting got him the gold in bis class, Terrace Standard Sporis 638-7283 Sports _Scope Thursday, May 27 B.C, Seniors Walk-A-Thon from Terrace and Kitimat ta the Mount Layton Hot Springs. Walkers and pledges are welcome. Call Bob at 638-8648 for more information. Saturday, May 29 Senior Games playdowns for darts at the legion hall, 2 p.m. start, Calf the legion for more information. Sunday, May 30 Action Off-Road Chal- lenge in Kitimat, Mountain bike and cross-country races in Kitimat. Northcoast rugby union league game at the Northwest = Community College fields, women start at 12:75 p.m., men start at 1:00 p.m. Kermodei Classic 5 or 10 k road race, 11 a.m. start at the Coast Inn of the West, Call Jack at 638- 0751 for more informa- tion. Saturday, June 5 Satur- day night Thunder Races at the Terrace Speedway, Time trials 5:30 p.m., racing begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 19 Fan Appreciation Day at the . Terrace Speedway. | ‘Sunday, June 20 Fa- ther's Day, Sponsors Day at the Terrace Speedway Sunday, June 27 Nartheoast Rugby Union games at Northwest Community College. Women's games start at 12:15 p.m., men start at 1:00 p.m. Friday to Sunday, July 2 to 4, Skeena Valley Open Men’s Golf Tournament. Saturday, July 3 Com- munity Day at the Terrace Speedway. Sunday, July 4 Coke Classic weekend at the Terrace Speedway. Friday to Sunday, July 9 to 11 Skeena Valley Open Women's Golf Tournament, Sunday, July 11 Northcoast Rugby Union games at Northwest Community College. Women's games start at 12:15 p.m., men start at 1:00 p.m. Friday to Saturday, July 16 to 16 Skeena Vallay Open Junior's Golf Tournament, Saturday and Sunday July 17-18 Memorial Day weekend at the Terrace Speedway. Sunday, July 18 McBike Cross Country race at the Spring Creek watershed in Terrace. Mountain Bike and Cross country races, Call |: McBike at 635-5225 for |: more information. a ie Saturday and Sunday |- July 31 and Aug. 1 GMT Goodwrench 100 at the |: Terrace Speedway, : Sunday Aug. 15 Kiddies Day and Last Points Day at the Tertace Speedway. To get your game, event ‘ or meeting added to the: | Menu, fax us at 638- 8432, altn: Sports ment. 4 5