36 - North Shore News — Wednesday, March 29, 2000 MARTIAL ARTS CHALLENGE The Squamish Nation Rec Centre in North Vancouver hosts the Molson Export Martial Arts Challenge on April 8. Thai boxing, kickvoxing. full contact and pancration bouts will be featured. Among the 34 competitors is Mehdi Pouroskoui of North Vancouver's KB-One Martial Arts Academy. Tickets range from 20 to $35. First bout begins at 8 p.m. Call 318-1902 for info. Playoffs ‘possible but club’s fate controlled by cther teams Bob Mackin Sports Reporter Smackin@nsnews.com CAPILANO Rugby Football Club’s drive for the Premier league playoffs continued Saturday with a con- vincing win over Cowichan. Capilano played its final ~ regular season home game at Klahanie Park in West Vancouver and left fans con- tent with a 26-7 win. The 6-12-1 Capilanos counted on tries from four plavers: John Granander, Brent Steacy, Morris De Cotiis and Garth Prouse. Bob Motazed converted three of the four tries. Capilano led 26-0 until Cowichan scored a convert- ed try late in the game. The eighth place Capilano Premier side gained five points in the standings and are one point below the 7-9-2, seventh place UBC Old Boys’ Ravens in a race for the last playoff berth. Six of the top seven teams advance to the playoffs. Second place Pacific Pride, a national development team ~~ — Suppo SO, Ottawa has come up with more lolly for Canada’s elite amateur athletes to help them continue fulltime training for the Sydney Olympics next September. Big deal. On the previous $800 a month many were reduced to a diet of Kraft Dinner. Now that they're getting $1,100 monthly, theyll be able to add wieners and beans to the ~ mix. No doubt because their country is hosting the Games, the Aussie athletes are being tempted towards greater excellence by greater * rewards. Especially the swimmers, reports marathon swimmer and North Shore News fit- ness guru Shane Collins. The West Van resident — who has never seen a body . of water he didn’t wish to swim across — was down there recently, aiong with his lovely wife and swim- ming companion Dr. based near Victoria, does not Participate in post-season play. Capilano meeis first place Castaway-Wanderers (14-3- 1) Saturday in a must-win, regular season finale in Victoria. Even if Capilano scores an upset victory, the team cannot control its fate because the Ravens have a game in hand. UBCOB plays Saturday against James Bay and finish- es the season a week later against Pacific Pride. Meanwhile, Burnaby beat Capilano 15-10 in a second division game, while the third division side recorded a 5-0 defaule win over che Brit-Lions. On Sunday, the over-40 Capilano Snowcaps lost to the Twilighters, five tries to one. The women’s team lost its playoff game to Velox 10- 5 and ended the season with a fourth place result in its division. The first division men’s side was idle, but visits the University of Victoria Saturday in a playoff match. In off-field news, Capilano RFC is holding its annual general meeting April 6 at 8 p.m. at the Klahanie Park clubhouse. ing national siti Debbie, to take part in a couple of open ocean races. Also to have a look at Sydney's Oiympic prepara- tions. You have to remember, if you didn’t already know, that the land of Oz is sports crazy. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact it’s way down there at the bottom of the world; and there’s a psy- chological need to let all us people north of the equator know they're around and about and doing something. Their brash demeanour has labelled them, in some quarters, as the Texans of the southern hemisphere. Any Aussie psychiatrist, specializing in helping peo- ple get rid of their inferiority PEOPLE NS GOLD TRAIL BEGINS Ex-North Vancouver resident Alison Sydor began her quest for Olympic gold Sunday in Napa. Calli. She finished third on the first stop of the World Cup of Mountain Biking. Sycor won silver at the 1996 Olympics in Atianta. Sydor edged out Ontario’s Chrissy Redden. Lesley Tomlinson, who splits her time between North Vancouver and Victoria, was 17th. PLAY NEWS photo Paul McGrath CAPILANG RFC's Jeff Lim attempts to block a kick by Cowichan’s Dan Harlow during Saturday’s 26-7 Premier jeague win by the Norin Shore side at Klahanie Park, The team encis the regular season April 1 in Victoria. comply se, would starve to death. No customers. Compeutive? In the extreme. That’s your agent’s assessment. But Collins cer- tainiy goes along with their worship of sport and their ability to compete, especially in the water, his particular area of interest and exper- tise. Swimmers down there, he reports, enjoy the sort of high visibility worship that only hockey plavers can command in Canada. And the best of them do a little better in the personal bank account than do Canada’s $1,100-a-menth amateurs. For instance, $10,000 bonuses are available to any and all Aussie swimmers who set world records, Asa result, he says, they have been known to meticu- Jously pace themselves in their occasional wrecking of world records. Just beat the old record by the thinnest of margins. Then, the next time out, better the record you just set. Another $10,000. Double your money, double your fun. Sydney is littered with 50-metre pools and the sport is so big in the schools, inter-school meets — the Aussies call them car- niv ts — are staged during regular school hours and play to capacity houses. The brand new Olympic aquatic centre has more commercial space than GM Place. Everything for sale is water-related. While Collins was brows- ing there, someone remem- bered he'd swum the English Channel a couple of times. He became an instant VIP. Here at home, Swim B.C. doesn’t want to know hiro or his hardy band of open ocean swimmers. This may change, howev- er. Both Australia and the U.S. are pushing to have a 25- kilometre open ocean race included in future Olympics. He and Debbie teok time out to swim in the New South: Wales 5-km open ocean championship. When the authorities heard there were two Canadian swim- mers among the 2,000 Aussies taking part, they instantly created an interna- tional division for them and hailed them as divisional co- winners. This event gave them an opportunity to try out the latest in competitive swim- suits, developed in Australia by Speedo, the swimsuit manufacturer which has its roots in that country. They come in different styles — neck to ankle with or without sleeves to the wrist; neck to knees, also with or without sleeves. Never, since your great- granny went down to the seaside a century ago to dip her toes into the water, has so much skin been covered by a bathing suit. Buc this cover-up is different. It sim- ulates sharkskin and thus has less drag than the human hide. As you're probably aware, shacks are the fastest creatures in the ocean. Aussie swimmers have con- sistently bettered their best athletes - Canadian style times while wearing them and will use them at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has approved. The marathon swimming nabobs also have approved the suits for their sport inas- much as they don’t keep the occupants warm or add to their foatability. Asa result, he and Debbie will be wearing them in July when they try the 45-km stretch from Squamish to Horseshoe Bay. But before then, June 16, they'll be in Florida, along with 200 others, for the 22- km Key West Marathon, the world’s most competitive open ocean race. Protected by shark cages? Not at all. A. kayak, with various forms of shark repellent aboard, will accompany each swimmer. But maybe the West Van couple will have an extra edge. When any curious great whites, hammerheads or grey nurses see them in those sharkskin-like suits, surely they’ back off. Professional respect, so to