44 ~ North Shere News — Wednesday, March 15, 2000 The crowd of 1.200 at the PNE Gardens saw Hamilton win the most exciting Goiden Gloves bout Saturday. But North Vancouver's Lara Cubitt didn't get to fight. The 20-year- old's opponent, Geraldine August of Nanaimo, failed to show at weigh-in Friday. In her first fight in 1999, Cubitt beat August's teammate Cheryl Ashby in 20 seconds. LEFT JAB Les Hamilton is 45 years old, and he has gioves of gold. The North Shore fighter beat Port Keils’ Dave Reeves by a split deci- sicn in a 178-pound senior bout Saturday at the 60th Golden Gloves amateur boxing championship. it was Hamilton’s first Golden Gloves belt since a 1272 bantainweight win. Hamilton trains at east Vancouver's Astoria club. COVERING THE GAMES ints march Bob Mackin Sports Reporter bmackin@nsncws.com THE Saints came march- ing home with the trophy they didn’t get in 1999. The St. Thomas Aquinas Saints won the B.C. boys AA high schoo! basketball champi- onship Saturday at Kamloops’ Riverside Coliseum 65-48 over Ladysmith. The North Vancouver tcam missed out on a chance to avenge last year’s championship loss to J.L. Crowe when Ladysmith knocked-off the Trail school’s team 61-46 in a semi-final. The Saints were three-time A winners in the early 1990s before jumping to AAA. The team entered AA play last season and made it all the way to the. 1999 final, but lost to J.L. Crowe. “It’s been a great year for our kids, we’re just happy we're able to come out on top,” said Saints’ coach Rob Ros. The Saints beat Prince Rupert 79-68 in Friday’s semi-final. Sean Thistle was the game’s high scor- er with 24 points. Morgan Watt and Paul Zwierzewicz had 18 points cach. On Saturday, the Saints trailed Ladysmith 12-6 after the first quarter and took a slim two- title coming down for us.” Ros said. “We went to some full court pressure in the second quarter that got us back in the game, they had a late chree (pointer) in the first half chat cut it to two points, we'd gone up by a five point lead.” The Saints carried the momentum into the third quar- ter and dominated Ladysmith in the fourth, en route to victory. Ryan Lee had a pair of key three- pointers in the third. Four players combined ro go nine-for-nine from the foul line in the fourth. “In the second half our defence took them out of their game and they only scored 19 points in the second half. That was the difference right there.” Ladysmith all-star Jeremy McCulloch was the high scorer of die tual with 21 points, but Thistle led the way for the Saints with 18 points. Lee, the game’s most valuable player for the win- ning team, had 16. James Healey, who had a trio of treys, added 11. Thistle was named the tourna- ment’s most valuable player. Thistle and Lee were voted to the tournament’s first all-star team. Ros said the win was signifi- cant because the Saints beat a school that has historically been one of Vancouver island’s strongest. “That makes it extra special ike aca NEWS photo Cindy Goodman BOB Bremner of Capilano RFC (centre) fends off Michael Armstrong (right) as Gien Miller watch- es during Sunday’s national rugby tryouts at Klahanie Park in West Vancouver. Canada’s best domestic players gathered for the weekend to vie for a spot under new head coach David Clark. Bob Mackin Sports Reporter Park culminated in a 25-19 scrimmage win for the Who wants to be a rugby nat? — stuff for new national team head coach David Clark. Clark is build-.- Green team over the Black team Sunday. ing a side to face Tonga in the Pacific Rim tournament ~ at. Thunderbird Stadium May 20. bmackin@nsnews.cont A weekend of tryouts for Canada’s national senior rugby team at Klahanie 2 FieldTurf the answer to local playing field for us to beat a program like Ladysmith. They’re a very good team, they play well, they play together.” point margin into the locker room with a halftime score of 31- 29. “Offensively the ball wasn’t The game featured Canada’s best domestic players strutting their See Bremner follewing page durability. I'VE forgotten the player’s name, but about 30 years ago, when Busch Stadium in St. Louis replaced its field of real grass with AstroTurf, this Cardinals’ outfielder’ declared: “Anything that horses and cows can’t eat, I won’t play on.” - Then he announced his immediate retirement. Ever since that particular brand of artificial turf was invented in 1965 for installa- tion in the then-brand new Houston Astrodome, many more players in many more sports have cursed mod sod in its various forms for all the reasons you've ever heard. Everything from rugburn and consequent infections, to waterlogged, non-porous surfaces that won't drain, to the non-forgiving velcro-like grabbing of roorwear and Jim consequent injured ankles and knees. Nonetheless, it was accepted at the pro sport level as being better than November seas of grassless mud, which don’t look par- ticularly nice on TV. As the old saying insists, you can't stop progress. And now comes along a new — well, no more than three years old — artificial turf that appears to be the answer to all those problems. And a couple of weeks ago North Vancouver city council agreed in principle to the installation of an entire field of the stuff at Carson Graham high school. All it has to do now is find the money, which could be any- where from $600,600 to $1 miilion. It’s a Montreal invention called FieldTurf. The artificial grass looks amazingly like the real thing and is planted in a base made up of alternating layers of sand and ground up rubber. As the story goes, this turf is a refuge for old Nikes. Or, for a complete playing field, substitute 20,000 used tires, similarly ground up. Laid on a sand base, it is porous. The rain gues right through and into the drainage system below. And unlike previous artificial cov- erings, it is safe for soccer and rugby. No danger of rug burn. . The ultimate validation came last month when prest- dent Sepp Blatter of FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations) OK'd it for World Cup play up to, bur so far not including, the World Cup final tournament itself. Unul now, artificial turf has been a FIFA no-no. Canadian soccer, as you may imagine, has greeted this development with joyous cries of O frabjous day! Calloo! Callay! All interna- tional games with crowd appeal currently wind up in Edmonton, where soccer interest is minimal, because Commonwealth Stadium is the only major park in the country with real grass. Now, if other stadiums across the country install this stuff when their current rugs wear out, there will be several venues for World Cup pre- liminary rounds. But, alas, not — at this stage of tech- nology — B.C. Place Stadium. Unlike other artificial car- pets, FieldTurf can’t be rolled up and moved away to make room for trade shows and ute like. When it’s put down, it stays down. More’s the pity, for the carpet under the Dome is scheduled for replacement within the next five years. But schools and commu- nities are the real markets. It would be nice to say that North Van is a pioneer. But it’s not. Portland, Ore., was the first on board in 1997 and now there are seven fields in that area. A community in Peansytvania brags that in the two year: since it installed the new turf, - the field has hosted more than 606 events and looks as good as new. Last year Burnaby put in three fields at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex and is totally happy with them. So is Bob Lenarduzzi, general manager of the soccer Eighty-Sixers, who have start- ed training for the new sea- son on one of them, Langley also installed one last year indoors, as did Port Moody, which is outdoors. And a few thousand miles to the south- west, New Zealand’s rugby All-Blacks now have one at their practice facility. oe North Van installed a cou-.. pie of goalmouth test patches last fall on one of the grass - soccer pitches at Loutee Park. This spring hey are pristine ’ oases, surrounded by beaten down grass and mud. Thus - council’s decision to move ahead. ; Given the lack of level... - ground for aiways-playable "| playing fields on the mostly ; perpendicular and rather © moist North Shore, these new tields would seem to be a natural. They, like AstroTurf, carry an eight-year guarantee, and can be used ©.” around the clock... As for maintenance, a , | report by one U.S. high school sports director puts the figure at $500 a year, the ~ cost of brushing down the field every six to eight weeks. What's the annual cost of maintaining a grass field out here in the rain forest? Don’t ask. Time to get on with it.