THE BLAIR PITCH PROJECT

West Vancouver's Tyler Blair, 21, put on 2 pitching clinic to help
the North Shore Tribe to a 5-2 record at the B.C. Junior Baseball
Championships Aug. 10-13 in Abbotsford. Blair, a reliever during
the regular season, at one point came out of the pen and pitched
12 innings in as maity hours for the team, which ended up los-
ing in the championship final to Delta, 6-3.

Good sports
have more fun

“THE topic of sport

‘has been described
in a multitude of
ways.

One definition I have
~ always related to is
“Sportsman — a person

who is interested in tak-
ing part in sport for
‘sports’ sake; a person
_ who plays fairly, accepting defeat without complaint and
» victory without arrogance.”
*:. Given the state of professional team sports in our
North American culture, the above description wouldn't
“make any sense. Whether it’s the NHL, NBA, or Major
League Baseball, the “mantra” that seems to resonate
loudest is all about “give me the moncy”.

Well, my wife Debbie and I had the good fortune

recently to take part in an athletic competition that
minded us why we and many other people are still
committed to sport, just because of what it can offer to
the soul as well as the body.

~ The event was the Skaha Lake Ultra Swim and took
place j in our province’s interior, just outside of Penticton,
on August 12.:The course was 2 12 km swimming race
along the length of the lake and attracted around 60

swimmers, who decided for some inexplicable reason that
this was the best way to spend a Saturday morning {our-
selves included).

Debbie and I did quite well aiid were both fortunate
"enough to place and earn some “hardware”, but our
memories of the day had ‘nothing to do with where we
finished‘and everything to do with all that is right and
good about amateur athletic competition.

This was the 17th annuai event but it was in jeopardy
of not taking place at all because-the responsibility of
acquiring'a race director had not been resolved. .

Thankfully 2 couple‘of people stepped up to the plate”
and took on the.task of promoting and organizing the
event.: This was the first time that Aiden Gidlow and
Jackie Beck bad taken on such a commitment. At the
end of the day the overall success of the race had a lot to

ith the warmth and openness they.infused everyone -

with, whether. they were athletes, volunteers, or family
and ‘friends just there to cheer on their significant others.

‘The event went off without a hitch and every partici-
pant successfully completed the course — a rarity for
endurance competition. What really impacted on both of
us; however, was the terrific energy every single body _
involved both generated and absorbed.

Where else can you find 60 or so people from all

alks of life sharing a positive experience so unselfishly?
There were: doctors and lawyers, students and construc: :
tion workers, young athlctes with Olympic aspirations —
-young farts like me who just need a

reason-for being, other than getting up every morning
and beirig taken care of i in our crib-safe and pablum-fed-

ietye :
le smiled with joy on completion of their chal-"

nge and.some cried for exactly the sammie, reason. One:

thing was consistent throughout the day — this group < ‘of:
people’would :leave: the event and have 2 memory to last:
them‘a lifetime; something that thankfully as yet has |

unable to. purchase or artificially manufacture in our ;

alled enlighteried and high-tech society." ~,

It'doesn’t matter if you don’t swim, because there are_ - -

a multitude of events available to you if you just take UP
the challenge:.You can run, bike’or kayak yourself to a-
meinorable experience and realize that participating in.

thietic competition has a whole Jovy more to offer than ©

increased physical fitness.”
id don’t. ever forges that the j journey in preparing -

for.such a challenge i is at least as satisfying as the destina- ;

yes, sand. always bear in mind the following com-

ment on ‘those: “dark days” when you wonder what the .

vace on the road where preparation,

.. the trouble is that too many
le fail ‘co: recophi ae it because it comes disguised as
“sweat and ‘work Poe,
4 Shane Collins is athletic. “conch: ‘and accomplishe
arathon swimmer, He is aise a professional speaker on th
athe ih sport and its relationship to emotional and oh
i iw .

rr 1619q0-09

Ci

Rockfalls and
crevasses await
local climbers

Jan-Christian Sorensen

Sports Reporter
porensen@nsnews.com

IT was the fate sherpa
Tenzing Norgay who said
“you cannot be a good
mountaineer, however
great your ability, unless
you are cheerful and have
the spirit of comrade-

_ ship.”

Norgay spoke with authority
on the subject. He accompanied
Sir Edmund Hillary for the first
successful ascent of Everest in
1953.

Years later, his words ring still
true for a North Shore group of
mountaineers that tackle some of
the world’s highest mountains together.

North Vancouver City firefighter Erik
Bjarnason and five other volunteer mem-
bers of North: Shore Search and F Rescue —

ilt Siegrist, Alex Snigurowicz, Ales Ponec,
Karl Winter and Gord Ferguson — trav-
elled to Nepal in May for their latest adven-
ture.

The group set out with the goal of con-

quering - Baruntse, at 7,129: m-
(23, 389 ft.), but the height was-
n't the only. thing they. found
steep — the ‘climbing permit
alone was $3,000 U.S.

Add in sherpas, porters and
food and. you're facing an
approximately $22, 000 price tag
for six people.

For that reason, they set their
sights on scaling the less-expen-
sive Mera, a. 6,476-metre
“: (21,247-ft.) glacier located
between ~ the.’ Khumbu _ and
Makalu regions.

The.team set out froma now.
“extremely commercialized
Kathmandu, with its restausants, '

“tourist traps and massage par-
lours which cater- to the: ever-

‘., increasing groups of climbers that travel to
the area:

Bjarnason and Ponec. ‘said the Nepalese
= people were extremely gracious and wel-

*_comed: them.into their homes‘ as family -
|" members wherever. they went. ©.
: Not. that’ there é isn re strife i in the scenic

Wednesday, August 22, 2000 — North Shore News - 35

NORTH VAN DIVER DOES THE DEUCE

North Vancouver's Biythe Hartley added to her gold
medal in the one-metre women's competition with a first-
place finish in the women's three-metre competition at
the World Junior Diving Championships in Calgary during
the weekend. Hartley will compete in the Summer
Games, which begin September 15 in Sydney, Australia.

region, though — factions of Maoist
erillas are active in the area.
The North Shore six took a week-! -long
acclimatization: trek from Lukla- to

“Tyangboche Monastery before setting out

for higher altitude.
“Before you acclimatize you’re not sup-

posed to get higher than 300 metres a day ~

elevation or you can develop altitude sick-
ness and die from it,” said
Ponec.
When they first. artived : in
the Khumbu region they
. were told that six overzeal-
ous tourists had Ow just
. days re trying to clim|
too high, too fast.

» “You'd ‘see. the helicopters

_ fly by and they’d have body

_ bags attached to them,” sid
Bjarnason. —_-. :
Not a good omen. *:

In higher altitude, the body
needs time to create more ©
red blood cells so. that the.

his grip and the group

blood can absorb more oxy-

gen to compensate for the:

change in altitude.

coma aad, if a quick descent is not made,
death.

During the’ climb, Everest — only a--

- photo Ales Pane

ERIK Bjarnason, right, and Gord Ferguson take. In the view anne the 6.476 | m*
(21,247 ft.) climb to the top of Mera, in the Nepalese Himalayas. : °

always in sight, beckoning to Bjarnason,, :
He's currently planning a trip to the top of -

the world in the spring of next year. Everest
a over the | region at 8 848 m (29, 028 °
If the Everest ascent gets pushed back a
year because of costs, the team will travel to
entina to ‘tackle Aconcagua ..— the : °
est mountain in South America, stand-.’

“ing at 6,960 m (22,835 ft). -

During the ascent on Mera, the North’
Shore team was whittled down te four after
Wintet' came down with‘a chest infection
and -: Snigurowicz *; was“: snowblinde
Bjarnason caught the same chest infecti
but plodded'on. © >=

The troop endured ialemiens weather

: and negotiated - dangerous rockfalls’ andaq

gaping glacial crevasses on their way. to the

top.
_ Atone point Bjarnason lost. his footing

‘and tumbled into’ one of the’ “chasms. He
almost hauled Ponec

who was anchored.
by a ropeline to Bjarnason — in with him.

. Ponec, however, was able to mainuin
eto the aid of:
Bjarnason, who was dangling upside-down

_ > and saring into the rnb only void.
If climbers. ascend... too”:

“quickly, they could be in danger of devel- a

‘oping High Altitude Cerebral’ Edema, a *.

swelling of the brain that can result:in a’

that they would do se And ‘could
: to: cae that the: aes taken

week’s journey ‘from ‘Mera — was nearly a