BEST IN HIS CLASS Handicapped skier in PHIL CROWSON is without a doubt the best in Canada at his particular sport. At the upcoming werld championships he is likely to finish well into the top 10. . ¥et Crowson toils in obscurity. He trains six days a week: weight-lifting, jogg- ing, rolter-skiing to condition. country skji aftern g. In fact, many himself for his sport, cross | he can be seen hate ee pounding the North Van- couver pavements — with his guide. Phil Crowson is blind. **He’s a very. dedicated athlete,’’ Jacobsen, head coach of the Canadian blind cross country team at the world champion- ships for disabled skiers, cur- says Annar. sunday news po in In- **He’s rently -underway nsbruck, Austria. trained very hard. Crowson is, at the very least, ‘‘dedicated”’. On a typical day, — the 34-year-old darkroom techni-. cian rises at 5:50. am and prepares to catch the two connecting buses that take HANDICAPPED SKIER Phil Crowson, teft, of North Vancouver, in training with running mate, Randy Metcalfe, can often be seen pounding the pavements around his home. Hoping to capture a piace within the top 10 at the current worfd cross- country skiing championships ln Inasbruk, Austria, Crowson maintains a rugged training schedule. with Betty Latimer 922-9637 3-5 and 8-10 pm Clip Out - good for 2 FREE CLASSES Jan 84 WVUC — Weel Van United Mad Mesontc Hall, 1783 Aaws Anne Wyman Budio. 1705 Marine W— Workout 8— Body PLEASE NOTE: $2.00 Drop in SUNDAY WORKOUT Small personalized MODERATE CLASS tor the out of shape U] ‘ BOOY CLASSES Lean to satety use light ’ ADJUSTABLE WRIST & ANKLE WEIGHTS ’ ' i) $20/mo.wum —_ $3.aro .~ W Ven (showers) MOD— Moderate op-in fee e weeweeeseeesewmeuawew eeeewnwewe ese nenmna ns 7 him from the North Shore to his job at CX Film Process- ing Labs in Kitsilano. Off work at 2 p.m., he is home. and training by 3. He puts in two to three hours with either skiing guide Olve Punsvick or running guide Randy Met-— calfe. From there, Crowson drags himself home to catch a few precious hours with his wife, Vera, and eight-month- old son Matthew before it’s time to grab those elusive eight hours of sleep and start the whole cycle over again: The irony of all this is that _five years ago Crowson had never been on a pair of skis and had been virtually dor- mant athletically for over 10 years. Then, if someone had predicted the sport he is in and the training levels he has attained now, he probably . would have laughtéd at them. **F just went out for the Fun ‘of it. | never thought ['d get this involved,’” says Crowson of comipetitive cross country “skiing for the blind, which he took up at the late age of 29 after hearing about the pro. gram through the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. It was through that pro- gram that Crowson came to the attention of national -Accounting -Bookkeeping Clerk-Typist -Legal Typist -Legai Steno Steno Medical Office Assistant Word Processing BRICKLAYING BITSD (Engish/Math/Sc tence Upgrading) BUK DING SERVICE WORKER MEAT WRAPPING TAX! ORIVER WELDING LEVEL © paar CAMPUS Gurmaby, B.C. V6Q 3H1 434-5722 Rewind frases, Pacific Vocational 4] } ) nstitule TRAINING EQUALS EMPLOYABILITY Pacific Vocational Institute offers the following training op portunities at its Burnaby location + BUSINESS OFFICE TRAINING CNG (Compressed Natural Gas Conversion) LPG (Liquid Propane Gas Conversion) SHORT OROER COOK TRAINING TUITION FEE: $32.50 PER MONTH Intakes: Jan/Feb 1984 ang in certain cases throughout the year For information on these and other technical training opportunites at all Pacific Vocational Institute locations phone or visi Career Advisory and Student Services MAPLE RIDGE CAMPUS Avenue End of 248th Street Maple Ridge, 6.C. V2X 61.4 or a SECTION orlds coach Jacobsen. After finishing third in 1979 at Ski For Light, an annual sym- posium for blind = skiers, Crowson was approached | by the coach about competing at- the national championships. Crowson placed respectably that year and went ori to win the nationals in ’82 and ’83. For those feats he was twice selected male cross country skier of the year. — Although his prodigious training is an obvious key. io his success, Crowson has had a fair amount of athletic ability to work with from the start. He was an all- round athlete as a child, par- ticipating in everything from track and field to wrestling. At age 15, however, the Delbrook Secondary grad began to experience vision problems, which were found to be -the early stages of retinitis pigmentosa — a pro- gressive eye disease that results in blindness. This will be Crowson’s third visit to the world championships, which are held every two years. In Nor- way, in "80 he placed 18th in a field of 28 skiers, while in 1982 in Switzerland, he im- . proved to 14th spot out of 34 CONTINUED ON PAGE B3 Up to 10 months Upto 7 months Upto 5 months Upto 7 months Up to 10 months Up to 10 monihs 5 months 4 weeks Up to 20 weeks Upto 6 months 10 weeks 5 days 3 days 20 weeks 3 months 8 days 7? months 462-7131 Ay Hayy? ben innate