The Terrac2 Standard, Wednesday, July 7, 1993 - Page Ct Sports Menu, Page C2 | SPORTS NEWS, MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283 Skeena Angier hot coffee spilled from his cup, landed on his leg. If he felt pain, he didn’t show it. "It’s a beauty,” he gargled, "a "real beauty." a - some-of the steaming liquid down his ‘throat. A brown trickle rolled down the - gtizgled stubble on his chin. I expected him to wipe it with his sleeve, He didn’t. , _ His eyes came into focus again. He leaned closer. I leaned back. . “The fish," he said in a serrated whisper, "are as long as yer arm." He spread. his hands apart as if he were playing an accordion, His. fingers had been twisted by arthritis; the skin on the backs of his hands turned to leather by hot sun and cold wind. The faded lines of an an- _ Gent tattoo were faintly discernible un- " der the wiry hair of his forearm, He smiled, leaned back, then thrust his face close to mine again. "And no- body knows about it. Thai’s the best art - a oMy face must have betrayed some skepticism. - "T'm not kidding," he said, stretching his arms out again. "The fish are big and fat and they fight hard." “Can you draw me a map?" I asked apologetically as I handed him my notebook and a pencil, wondering what I'd said to make. the old codger so eager to share this secret. __ After all, in a shrinking world of fast disappering trout fisheries this was a | great gift he was giving me -- even ifit was only half as good as he said it was. He placed my notebook on his lap and bent over it, awkwardly grasping the mechanical pencil in his talons and ‘| ‘scratched a crude diagram over’an old |. grocery=list.- Using ‘the.pencil “a5 a _ pointer he Jed, me through the maze. _"Here’s the main road, You go about fourteen miles.: After the powerline (he indicated a fencelike scrawl) you turn TRESPASSING sign you've gons too far. But yer on the right road. ‘You go- back some, turn right and follow that road for a mile. Park there and you'll see a trail into the bush. That’s the ticket." ee I thanked him then slipped the notebook into my jacket pocket wondering if the old fellow was an es- capee from a puzzle factory or a trustworthy old angler who, now that he was in the twilight of his fishing on to his reward, After a half hour the transmission line was overhead, The first branch was rough, the next branch rougher still, in fact, it looked as if it had recently been the target of a bombing raid. , I skilfully piloted round the chasms, exposing the oil pan to grave danger in the process. , I stopped and set out on one old skid trail, and when that proved fruitless drove a little further and set out upon another then another. "There," I said aloud, To my right the sparkle of water flickered through the brush. The trall was short. It took me to a sweet looking liitle tam. In a short time I was in the middle, retrieving nymphs thorugh the water. The pond seemed too small for big trout, but so did many productive. beaver ponds I’d probed in the past. ; . ‘After hooking a number of fingeri- ings my optimism disappeared. I rowed dejectedly to shore and looked at ihe map once more. The old boy had drawn a.line across the road, Above if. he'd scrawled something that looked “like “creek". I had crossed: no creek. Perhaps the lake was farther still. ' [drove on slowly, startling a pair of geese sitting where the beavers had dammed a small creck. My pulse quickened. I made-one. more tum and there spread out before me was 2 lake, a beautiful lake surrounded by pines. * Remembering the old man hed said there were leeches, I tied-on an un- dulant, brown! one and proceeded to: eatcha dozen nice fish, © “The fish were nice, the solitude wonderful. The old man must hive in- tuitivety felt I would appreciate It. I let the wind push me around the lake, watched the fish rise and im- He leaned toward me abruptly. Some His eyes glazed over. He poured TERRACE STANDARD. Counting down to SVT '93 With the Skeena Valley Triathlon set to take to. the water/road this Sunday, organizers are still looking for more entries. People- can—enter either as individuals, duo or team of three. Those teams can be all male, female or mixed. Like it’s six forerunners, this year’s SVT will centre on Lakelse Lake (Furlong Bay) provincial park. The course begins with a L.5km swim in the lake, then it's time for a quick change before leaping on to a bike for the 40km round trip to the four-way stop at the junction of Hwy 16 and Hwy 37 south. Still time to join the action The race finishes with a 10km run, the ig cunners south along the highway towards Kitimat and back to the Furlong Bay finish line. ' SVT spokesman Ray Warner ' noted that format is in line with the standard Olympic short course, ‘ i Needed in particular are a few people to complete teams. These teams have the swimmer and . runner already in place and only | need someone to tackle the ' cycling portion of the race. see more female entries: they've been a little slow to come forward so far. The entry fee is $65 for an individual and $140 for a team and that includes a banquet at the end of the day. Entries will be accepted up to and including race day. And there’s always a need for more volunteers to help put on left. If you come to a big, yellow NO. career, simply wanted to share. his . closely guarded fortune before wading ~ The main road was casy to find. raed ed Ayia org THE LONG and the short of it. Jari Yrkki (above certainly grabbed the attention on the greens at _this weekend’s Skeena Valley Men's golf open. pore Waray oo cans ied Lit ee With a putter like were long ones. A record 116 golfers took part in the event, Full results next week. that, you f fine APD ae could say all his putts agined a time In the future’ when 1, would button hole a younger. man and: | Coxford cracks top 10 It’s official 2 He’s one of the fastest 11-12.year old boys in the country when it comes to the 100m butterfly, Garth Coxford's 1:11.81 time of earlier this season earned him the number seven berth in Swim Canada’s preliminary long-course rankings. The Terrace Blucback has beenon his usual tear in meetings here in the north this. season. In -his latest outing, the McDonalds Invitational. meet in Prince Rupert, he continued his domination by ~~ going 5 for 5 in wins and best times, Noting northwestern swimmers do not get much ‘opportunity to swim long course -- that refers to 50m length pools -- Blueback coach Mike Carlyle was un- derstandably pleased, - Coxford will be back in the competi- tive pool this weekend at the provincial age-group (‘AAA’) championships in Vancouver | Othet Swim Canada. rnkings have Coxford al. number 16 in the 200m ‘fly while the ‘Points. North. relay teams are what is one of the biggest sports events in the northwest, There’ are a number of tasks those volunteers can take on including acting as marshalls to ensure the route is kept clear for competitors, manning refreshment stations along the route and acting as a timer. Volunteers or entrants can elther drop in at the Skeena Valley Triathlon office in the Skeena Mall, phone 635-1581 or send a fax to 635-1582, Finally, Warner encouraged people to come ont to the lake even if they weren’t involved in the race itself. ‘*Bring the family and make a day of it,’’ he said. Juniors — make it | exciting © The winner’s name -- Condon -- is a familiar one to local tennis players. . Bul il wasn’t Nancy who walked off with the title this time but Laura Con- don. . The event was the girls singles at the Terrace Juniors tournament where Condon and Aisha Manji played a hard fought final, Condon eventually win- ning 6-4, : It was another tight battle in the boys ‘A’ side final, Chris ‘iernes. defeating Marcel Page 8-6, And closer yet was the ‘B’ side final where Lee Vanhaldaren edged Roy Hernes 8-7. Boys singles consolation match-ups saw Chris Brown defeat Clint Shep- pard on-the ‘A’ side while Jon Sarsiat cruised to an. 8-2 triumph against Simon Phillips in “B’. "In boys doubles; Page turned’ the tables, he and partner Frank Gration overcoming Chris Hemes and Paul Fleming to take top spotin‘A’ — Vanhalderen notched up another ‘B’ side win with partner Warren, defeat- ing the duo of Sarsiat and Brock Robinson, . Winners of the most sportsmanlike awards were Condon and Manji in girls singles, Matthew Buckle: in boys singles and doubles partners Hernes and Fleming, , The junior tourney followed on the heels of the Terrace Doubles Open where Nancy Condon and Fran ‘Mann took the ladies title, turning back the challenge of Ada Sarsiat and Erna Motschilnig, : In men’s action Swarn Mann and Richard Krieg! were hard pressed in the ‘A’ final by Dean Boucher and Doug Jenion, but held on 7-6, 7-6. The ‘B’ side provided the longest final of the day, Neil Fleischmann and Gordon Woodd dropping Biti Redpath and Guy Kiland 6-3 In the first set, ‘ only to drop the second by the same score. ; Fleischmann and Woodd got back on track: in the decider, however, march- ing to a 6-2 win and the tille. KICKING. Above, members of the under-19 team take a break from a gruelling practice to pose for a championships. Whatever the outcome, co-coach Nick Kolllas (extreme right) said he could be sure Pea atid, jv lsted.at 17th inthe 4°x'$Om free and | » | 5th in the 450m medley. 0 ‘| draw him a treasure map, God willing: team photo prior to their tip to the provincial thay would, as always, give it "200 per cent”.