SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN _

638-7283

SKEENA ANGLER. .
ROB BROWN

Blood Sport

l | here was more snow covering the ser-
rated peaks of the Telkwa Range that
day in mid September than there is
now, a week before Christmas.

“It’s a spectacular view,” said Don.

“It is,” | agreed.

We’d only a short time earlier made the trea-
cherous trip over the 500 Bypass — a 45 minute
longcut offering some striking vistas of its own —
and were rounding the bend that skirts the top of
Matsen Creek Canyon, the place where the
change in the valley is dramatic.

“¥ don’t like it when there’s that much snow
so early in the year,” I said.

“Why not?” asked Bill.

“Wf the temperature rises there’s a chance of
rain on snow. Thal’s what happened in 1978
when we had a flood that the river still hasn't
recovered from.”

By the time we'd finished fishing Little Griz-
zly, dark clouds filled the valley. The river was
turning gray. We'd touched nothing. I could see
that Don and Bill were losing confidence, a fac-
tor exacerbated by the driving rain and the
quickly rising river.

Half a day’s fishing lay ahead. I thought of
the Lunch Run, an old favourite of Bill Burk-
land’s and now one of mine. Steep and fast, the
Lunch Run is best fished when the water is on
the way up and fish are on the move. I made the
trip downstream quickly. We ate our sandwiches
inside the cab of the truck, then made for the
river.

I grabbed my six-weight Hardy from behind
the seat of my truck as we left. I don’t fish when
1 guide, but I was worried that my sports would
fish with half a heart if they didn’t hook up
quickly. As il turned out, this is exactly what
happened.

The water height seemed perfect for the run.
Bill and Don waded out. They appeared to be
intimidated by the velocity of the water. They
fished superficially, After one pass, | asked if
they would mind if ] gave it a try.

“By all means,” urged Don.

1 waded in, braced myself against my staff
and sent the fly out into the water that would
have been too heavy were it not for the large
submerged boulder there that is only visible in
low clear water.

A steelhead smashed the fly, cartwheeled
and raced downstream in the frantic way that so
many fish I’d hooked in this run had done. The
Hardy de-Luxe bent double as I put as much
pressure on the fish as possible.

“Boy, he plays a fish a lot harder than |
would!” I heard Don say to Bill over the whine
of my reel.

The fish took to the air two more times. It
bolted for the far side of the river and then up-
stream faster than the line could follow. I reeled
frantically, recovering backing. Before the fly-
line was back in the guides, the fish raced
downstream again, taking even more line this
time. I pumped. My forearm ached. The middle
finger of my left hand stung where it had come
in contact with the ree! handle.

The tempo of the struggle changed: the steel-
head’s flights were shorter. I pulled hard at him
from various angles. The fish made another short
burst then flashed as it rolled on the surface. I
gingerly backed up over the uneven botlom to-
ward shore. The fish had been on for about five
minutes. It glided smoothly through the water
when [ pulled on it.

Perfect, | thought. Bill and Don would now
know | had put them on a promising run. They
had witnessed how to play a fish property; not
so long as to inflict too much stress, but long
enough to ensure that the creature wouldn’t run
up on the beach or thrash about on the rocks.
And they were about to see how a fish ought to
be released.

I prepared to gently tail my quarry, carefully
unhook it, then let go without removing it from
the water. After that demonstration they would
fish harder and find the fish | was sure were
passing in front ofus.

Islid the fish into the shallows. Don and Bill

gathered round. A wisp of blood curled out of
fish’ s gill. I dropped to my knees. The hook was
deep in the poor creature's gullet. I cut the line.

There was another cloud of blood, I let her go,

knowing that the prognosis was nat good.

“There’s more out there,” J said, trying to
sound optimistic and failing badly.

“[’ye had enough,” said Don. Bill said he’d
be happy to go too.

We left. The creeks roared. Waterfalls did
too. The valley was wet and cold. The road

looked frail and vulnerable. The next day it.
blew out in two places. The .river rose two.

metres. It was dark and angry.

Life altering

From the roadside to the bike seat — one woman’s 3 Story of getting fit.

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
IN THE SUMMER of 2001, Lucy
Praught stood at the side of High-
way 16 handing out water bottles
while her husband, Ray, compe-
ted in the Skeena River Chal-
lenge long distance bike race.

She was there to support her
husband of five years, but the ex-
perience was bittersweet.

“You look at everyone having
so much fun and you just want to
participate and be part of
something,” says Praught, 23,
who grew up in Terrace.

“T think I just got tired of going
to bike races and being the girl
handing aut the water bottles
when everyone else is having

” fun.”

At the time, Praught weighed
235 pounds and had just had her
first baby.

She wasn’t getting a lot of ex-
ercise and she felt self conscious
abaut her body.

Six months later it was Christ-
mas time.

Her son, Luke, was six months
old and she realised if she was
going to keep up with him as he
grew and became more active,
something had to change.

“He’s such a miracle for us,”
she says of Luke. “I wanted to be
a mom that was fit enough to play
with him.”

That was the beginning of a
major lifestyle makeover.

She decided to try a popular
12-week program designed to shed

weight, develop muscle and adopt

healthy. eating. habits:. .

“What's 12 weeks out of “your

life?” Praught thought.

Like so many others who strug-
gle with their weight, the idea of
shedding pounds was intimidating.

“At first it does seem imposs-
ible to say, ‘I’m going to lose 115
pounds this year,’ when for the
last five years you couldn’t lose
five or 10,” she recalls.

At her heaviest, exercise of
any kind was challenging because
of the amount of energy she had
to exert for even a brief period of
time.

Her weight was becoming an
impediment.

Ray bought her a road bike so
she could join him on rides — in-
Stead it ended up hanging on a
rack on their basement wall.

“T had this bike hanging on the
wall and | couldn’t even go ride it
— not for 10 minutes,” she recalls.

Getting into.a regular exercise
regime took a lot of personal
Strength and determination.

“If you don’t believe in your-
self it’s really difficult for other
people to believe in you,” she
says. “By telling other people you

IN LESS than a year Lucy Praught lost 100 pounds and
changed her lifestyle in the process. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

are going to do if, it makes you
accountable.”

Tt, was-a simple formula — eat
healthy and make a tegular exer-
cise regime a priority.

It required a complete change.

of lifestyle from what and how
much she ate to how she spent her
free time. .

She started writing down her
workout regime in a special bin-
der her sister put together for her
for Christmas.

Praught used the binder to keep
track of how much weight she was

“Ai first it does seem
impossible to say, ‘I’m
going to lose 115
pounds this year,’ when
for the fast five years
you couldn’t lose five or
10.”

lifting, how many repetitions she
was doing and used lined paper to
keep a journal of her progress.

On days when she felt like she
wasn’t making any progress she
would Jook through the binder to
remind herself how far she had

“more confident and

come.

“It kept me accountable, to see
my improvement and not be dis-
couraged,” she says.

Tn January 2002, Praught’'s
journal contained entries where
she said she Aoped she could lose
a given amount of weight or
wished she could accomplish a
certain workout.

Six weeks later
her entries reflect a
determined = atti-
tude:

Feb. 18, 2002

it’s so exciting
because I can and
do have the power
to change.

The key, she
says, was setting
short term goals
which were achiev-
able.

And it worked.

By June Praught
had fost 90 pounds,
but more importantly. *

Praught entered her first bike
race this summer — the Red Sand
Raot Chute.

Instead of handing out water
bottles as others competed, she
was the one on the bike.

“Red Sand is pretty early in
the season and | know she was
just really starting to get a lot
more confidence in her fitness,”
says race coordinator and avid
biker Mike Christiansen.

“I think she just entered to
have some fun and see if she en-
joyed it.”

Though she says she was slow-
er than she would have liked, the
race marked a turning point in her
confidence and her physical abili-
ly.

“T think it sparked the competi-
tive spirit,” she says.

Next up was Eight Hours of
Onion Lake, an endurance biking
relay held on the Labour Day
weekend,

She competed an a three-per-
son team along with Ray.

The event embodied what she
was looking for -a place to come
together with other people who
love biking to compete in a fun
yet challenging event.

In the past year, Praught’s fit-
ness level has skyrocketed and
her determination has become a
source of inspiration for other

eople.

“Lucy is the kind of person
who, I think, once she gets her
mind set on something she just
gets motivated and her enthu-

siasm is infectious ” says. Christ:

jansen. a

te rey Peay te *
I used to” “train! vat a national.

level and this year I've been
training a lot more in part because
of her.”

Continued Page B12

she was doing what THIS IS Lucy Praught handing aut water
she had set out to do bottles at the Skeena River Challenge road
and ‘in the process biking race in the summer of 2001. Now
she discovered 's new she’s gone from the road to the bike and

passion — biking,

Local takes aim at Aussie

combat shooting competition

By JEFF NAGEL
A TERRACE marksman
has made armed forces
history.

Pierre Cote is the firsl
Canadian Armed Forces
Ranger to compete with
Canada’s team at a major
international combat
shooting competition.

He’s just back from
Brisbane, Australia, where
he shot with the 16-mem-
ber Canadian team al the

plans to keep riding in the future.

Wax up

the skis |

HAVE YOU always
wanted to try crass
country skiing but
just need someone to
give you some poin-
ters? -
January 4th -skiers
of all ages and abili-
ties are hitting the
Onion Lake cross
country ski trails —
snow permitting - for
The Snow Valley

Nordic Ski club’s an-

Australian Army Small
Arms meet for much of
November.

“This is the first time a
Ranger has ever been invi-
ted,” sald Cote, who qua-
lified on the strength of his
scores at a shoot in Ottawa
in the summer.

Cote competed in a
variety of combat shooting
events ~ long-range shoot-
ing at 600 metres, firing

from protected trenches, .

team assault events, and

close quarters pistol com-.

bat. He used a regular
atmy issue C-7 .223 ca-

PIERRE Cole lines up > his sights at the Australian Army Small Arms meet.

libre rifle and a Browning
9-mm. pistol.

Some events involved
running up to 2.4 kilo-
metres through obstacle
courses, navigaling razor
wire and other barriers.

And. when the targets
were checked and the
scores were tallied, Ter-
race’s Ranger held his gun
up. high. Cote finished
eighth in long-range com-

bat. shooting out of 135.
‘competitors from 10 coun-

tries. And his four-man pis-

tol team finished seventh.

“It was just an excel-
lent experience,” Cote
says.

Australian range condi-
tions were unique. Besides
the summer heat, sharp-
shooters had to be careful
to avoid hitting kangaroos
or flying foxes that would
frequently jump or glide
through the competition
area. Then there was.the
more. disconcerting local
fauna,

Massive spiders, scors

Brisbane

plons and a wide variety of
poisonous snakes were
plentiful and would frequ-
ently infiltrate the bedding
and clothing in the sleep-
ing quarters. Cote says

shaking them out of boots --

and other ilems was a
morning ritual,
He said his success in
may open up
more armed forces shoot-
ing. possibilities for him,
including competition in

Ottawa and possibly: an~

event in Bisley, England.

nual open house.

That means free
skiing, informal les-
sons, tours of the
new trails and cheap
rentals for. those
withoul gear,

’ There will be free
food, drinks ‘and Jots

of activities for the. -

whole - family” to
enjoy, ©

For. more. details
call. Mark: at 638-

8567 during the day. | -
or evenings, at ‘635+

3132.

K

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