the:

Woman tries te

north shore news

@

the Everest ef swimming

Bob Mackin

News Reporter

WEST Vancouver’s
Shane and Debbie
Collins weren’t among .
the swimmers that took
the long way from
Sandy Cove to Kitsilano

on July 18.

The 10-kilometre Bay
Challenge is too casy, they say.
“They insist on wearing wet
suits,” quips Shane Collins, 2
News’ columnist. “It’s counter

_ fo everything we believe in.”

The Collins duo left for
England July 20 to reaffirm
their beliefs by training for sep-

‘arate, yet equally arduous solo
«Swims.

Wanout wet suits.
> Debbie, 39, wants to beat
English Channel.

.." Hypothermia forced her to quit

. “the

halfway through her first try in
34- Momeue Swait of

“Dover in 1997. She was plan-

“8. am.

“Debbie ‘on’ a. guide ©

1995 and is gearing

~The
_Burrards into the WLA \ playolis.
amrocks in a best-of-seven semi-final

ning, to begin her second try at
:England ume
eh, weather permit-

Shane, 49, is accompanying
boat
through the world’s busiest sea
lanes. He made the mek a
another epic swim; a 45-kilo-
metre Howe Sound ‘wip on
Aug. 22 from Horseshoe Bay
to Squamish,

“Debbie makes it, they'll
be the first husband and wife to

separately conquer what swim-
mers commonly regard as their
answer to Mount Everest.

Almost 124 years ago mer-
chant navy captain Matthew
Webb was the first to swim
from England to France. Since
then, more than 6,000 people
have tried. Only 500 succced-
ed. Debbie’s swim comes three
days shy of the 73rd anniver-
sary of a channel swim by
American Gertrude Ederle, the
first woman to complete the
feat.

The rewards aren’t lucra-
tive. Debbie could win a Rolex
watch if she’s the fastest chan-
nel swimmer of the year.

“For the amount of money
and time it costs to do the
English Channel, you could
probably buy yourself a Rolex,”
she laughs.

“You could buy a couple of
them,” says Shane.

“But it wouldn’r mean the
same,” adds Debbic.

The English Channel is a
special place for the Collins

lwo. It’s what brought them
together seven years ago.

In Febriary 1992, Shane
joined a Canadian marathon
swimming relay team preparing

‘for a double crossing of the

channel. The captain was
Debbie. Along with four other
swimmers, they swam from
England to France to England
in 18-hours and beat teams
from England and America.

" “When I met Debbie, 1
took my mentality of enjoying
endurance events back to a

indians 1 make playoffs

re Indians. edged the last place

Burnaby Lakers 12-1

‘Friday to end the Western |

Lacrosse Asséciation regular season.
wire vaulted ‘North’ Shore. over the Maple Ridge

night to'take on the

The Indians travel to Victoria

séties: First Fike Victoria is led by twin brothers Gary and Paul

Gait, two o

the greatest to have played the game.

Game two is Friday at 8 p.m. in Lonsdale Arena. The series

her meets the New Westminster Saimonbellies or defending
champion Coquitlam Adanacs for the WLA championship.

The Mann Cup: national championship is Sept. 8-17 at the

mie of the WLA champ.

The 'Burrards won their final regular season game July 27
15-19 over the New Westmitiister Salmonbeilies to remain in
.playoff-contention. The Indians fell 8-7 to New. Westminster
‘Phursday and needed Priday’s win to Prolong their season.

: Castro ni ,
“TES a grab bag sort

” of day today, starting
“off with the question:

‘How does one go .

about kicking onesélf

~The Pan “American

‘Games’ organizers in

Winnipeg must be trying to.

. find an answer to that one

after putting $209,000 into
Donovan Bailey’s back pock- .

’” et for what turned our to be «

‘Non-existent promotional .” “

_ services...

Hell, they should have

“sent the money. to. Fidel

~ Castro. In trashing Canada
‘and. Winnipeg for permitting
"the ‘defection of sundry

: fot tae Ded Thatta T eetire

Games more worldwide
publicity i ina four-and- -a-

alf-hour speecit than the
former world sprint champi-
on managed in a year of on-
and-off (mostly off) efforts.
And he wasn’t paid so much
as a penny.

Over the years the Cuban

dictator | ras become as much

a part of the Pan- 20 Am ee

sport that we could both do
together all the time,” says
Shane, an East London’ native,
former British navyman and
veteran triathlete. “It’s great to
have your best friend, your
wife, your lover as your training
partner.”

Add spotter to the list.
That’s what Debbie did four
years ago when Shane crossed
the channel in 14 hours by
himself. He vividly remembers
starting on Shakespeare Beach
in pitch black with the lights of
a guide wawler staring him in
the face. Behind him were the
famous, towering white cliffs of
Dover. “The bottom linc is you
feel so insignificant, really like
nothing, which is what you are
if you look at nature.”

When he reached the shores
of France and touched sand
with his fingertips, his salt-saru~
rated tongue felt like a tennis
ball. Covered in grease, he stag-
gered from the water into the
outstretched arms of a French
woman and small welcoming
party. There was no time to
pop the cork. on a bottle of
champagne. Within 10 minutes
he boarded the guide boat to
endure a rough ride back to
England.

SPORTS
conquer

Wednesday, August 4, 1999 ~ North Shore News — 33

EWS photo halle Wworson

DEBBIE Collins (left) and husband Shane are in England this week. Debhie is
making her second attempt to swim across the English Channel. The body of
water is as chaiienging for swimmers as Mount Everest is for climbers.

Debbie, a Victoria native,
swam across Shawnigan Lake at
age nine 2s her father rowed
beside her. She was an 800-
metre specialist for the
University of CC.
Thunderbirds swim team while
studying medicine, later gradu-
ating to become a physician
and a devoted marathon swim-
mer in her spare time.

Both Debbie and Shane

Cap College hosts
basketball tourney

CANADA'S hoop
heroes of the future are
“on display now in
North Vancouver.
"The first national juvenile
(under-17) basketball tourna-
ment began yesterday.
.Teams from nine provinces
and the Yukon Terntory are

-Mmeeting in the Aug. 3-7 event *

‘at Capilano College and
Argyle secondary. Round
robin play began Tuesday and
‘finishes Thursday.

The men up-off against .

Alberta tonight and tomorrow
against New Brunswick. Both
games are 8:15 p.m. starts at
Capilano College.

The women host New-
foundland at 2:45 p.m. today

covey of sports agents trying
to get Cuban baseball play-
ers to go into hiding and
miss the flight home. A few
always do.

This, plus the fact that
Rebellion Day (July 26) and
Fidel’s normal marathon
speech usually coincide with
the Pan-Ani Games dates,
affords him a wonderful
opportunity to blast the var-
ious host countries. Had the
Winnipeg organizers sent
him the 200 grand, I’m cer-
tain he'd have given the city,
the country and the sports
agents another half-hour of
his gasbag time.

Just how much of his
time Bailey gave is moot.
But by all accounts it wasn’t

at “Argyle and Quebec at 6:30
p.m. tomorrow at Capilano
College.

Championship round play
runs Friday and Saturday.

The under-17 women’s
champienship climaxes at 6
_p.m. Saturday. The men’s final
follows at 8 p.m.

The men’s team includes
North Vancowver’s Brent
Charleton and Sean Thistle.
The ‘team’s ‘coaches are Paul
Lberhardr and Jon Acob, who
will helm the Capilano College
Blues next season,

Ashley Burke of North
Vancouver. is the only focal
member of the women’s team.

Fer tournament informa-_

tion, call 241-HOOP.

. — Bob Mackin

agents, Fidel probably has
earned some sympathy from
the super capitalist owners
of major league sports fran-
chises in the U.S. and
Canada. For them, agents
are a pain in the wallet; for
Castro a pain in the Cuban
sports development system.
If asked what a dozen -
sports agents at the bottum
of Burrard Infet meant to
them, both undoubtedly
would come up with the

same answer — a good start.

Meanwhile, I think some
members of Canada’s roiler
hockey team might be
thinking a similar fate would
be appropriate for their ana-
bolic steroids goalie, Steve
Vezina.

have completed swims around
Bowen Island and across the
Saait of Georgia. They train
together a dozen times a week
for sessions lasting up to four
hours. They also make annual
pilgrimages to Pafo Alto, Calif.
to spend a week with coaches at
Stanford University’s. world-
renowned swim program.

For Debbie, the. water is
where she goes to relieve the

NORTH Vancouver's “Bren

stress of her job as a physician
and Physiotherapist. Shane
retired three years ago as a TV
ad sales manager to establish -
the couple's Pacific Bodyworks -
fitness c i, business.

“TE used to be in the adver-
tising game,” Shane says. “You
could do a muttimillion dollar

- contract and I can’t remember . °°

one of them. Something like |
this means s everything,” A

Br c
Sean Thistie of B.C’s. under-17: men’s tea
competing for the national: champlonsh

aware, they won gold and:
then lost it when Vezina
tested positive.

Steve Vezina, meet Ben
Johnson. Does anyone out
there believe the Pan-Ams

would go by without at least °

one drug scandal? Of course
not. But why Canada? After
all, following the Johnson
scandal, this country insti-
tuted the strictest, out-of-

the-blue drug testing system

in the entire world of ama-
teur sport.

The key word here is
amateur. Vezina is not an
amateur. He plays profes-
sional roller hockey. Just as
in the Olympics, the Pan-
Ams now allow professionals
in some sports to compete.

: drug testing program er

course not.

teammates, who, presum- ;
ably, were clean, would it’:
not make. sense to test: calls
team athletes before — .

“instead of after — thei

events?: Get rid of the

offenders ahead of time?
- Elirainate the inevitable

embarrassments? Give the
clean team members a fair -
shake?. Sounds logical.’ 2
The offending: goalie i isa fos.
descendant of the’ immortal
Georges, the Montreal” :
Canadiens hall-of-famer for =. ,
whom the NHL’s goalténd-
ing trophy is named..TB -

ended Georges’ career — oat

buch, As for.the sports... Incase, YOU, WETEIVE nn aaron eaee Dose roller haskey Dave tana nw SeeltS. page 9 -