The Sea to Sky Eagles RLFC (Rugby League Football Club) is sitting in first place in the B.C. Rugby league standings after a win over the Richmond Bears on Saturday, leaving the Eagles as the only undefeated team in the league.
For the second week in a row, the Eagles' Ally Mac was the hero. The Bears had the lead 19-18 with about 10 minutes to go when Mac scored to put the Eagles in the lead. The Bears battled back and were set to score when Mac intercepted the ball to give the Eagles final possession.
The last-minute heroics came after the Eagles dominated the Bears in the first part of the game, going up 14-0 early on with tries from Adam Misios, Harvey Bell and Matty Upton, with Upton adding another two point conversion. The Bears scored before the half to make it 14-4.
The Bears took advantage of momentum in the second half and added two quick tries to make the game 14-12 before Bell finished off a try set up by Misios to put the Eagles up again with 18 points. The Bears pulled ahead again with a try and a conversion, until Mac's late try secured the win by a score of 26-19.
"It could have been a disaster, our preparation was awful," said coach Keith Reeves. "The directions to the grounds in Richmond were terrible, at one time we had four cars adrift south of Vancouver somewhere. We forgot the kit, started late, had to get changed at half time — in fact, we did everything wrong we could have done.
"But the disaster was averted, some of our touches were sublime, and two or three of the tries were spectacular. I think class told in the end."
The Eagles RLFC also won their first game 12-10 against the Surrey Bears.
Their next competition is against the Vancouver Dragons on Friday, June 14 at Brockton Oval.
The BCRL is the British Columbia division of the Canadian Rugby League, which also has teams playing in Ontario. The top players from B.C. and Ontario will compete as provincial teams later in the season, and the top players overall could go on to represent Canada.
Rugby league is a variation of rugby that has a few key differences, the most obvious of which is that league rugby action pauses in between tackles, and teams can be tackled six times before the ball is turned over. Turnovers result in changes of possession, keeping the game moving faster. As well, tries are worth four points instead of five, conversions and penalty kicks through the uprights are worth two points and drop kicks through the goal posts during play are worth one point only.
For more, visit http://bcrl.ca.
Test of Metal Festival this weekend
The Test of Metal is more than a bike race, with a number of events taking place over the weekend in support of a larger Test of Metal festival.
The weekend gets underway with the now annual Pre-Test Party this Friday, June 14. The evening starts with a cruiser bike ride at Republic Bikes at 5 p.m. that finishes in downtown Squamish. Downtown festival events run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and include Bike Bling, bouncy castles and face painters for kids, Bike Limbo and Funny Bike Races.
The annual Test of Metal Race starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday. All told, more than 1,100 spots were sold to the event, not including pro elite riders, and at least 800 of them are expected at the start line on Saturday.
There's one important course change for riders this year with additional singletrack opening off the Ring Creek Rip. With the cooperation of the Squamish Dirt Bike Association, the Test will divert onto the Whiskey Tin and Empire Mills trails before rejoining the Rip en route to the Powerhouse Plunge.
The Ring Creek Rip itself has been modified to accommodate a hydroelectric project, and the opportunity to use singletrack instead of road brings the total singletrack distance on the 67km ride to around 40km.
The finish area at the Loggers Sports Grounds will feature the CrossFit Squamish "Strength in Stone" competition, as well as the usual vendors, food and beer garden.
On Sunday morning, the annual Mini Metal takes place at Squamish Station Mall, open to kids aged one to seven.
Sunday afternoon is the annual Rockstar Invitational; a downhill competition that is open to invited riders only and features some of the steepest and rockiest terrain in the valley.
For more, visit www.testofmetal.com.
Seawolves hosting meet
The Whistler Seawolves swim team is hosting its first ever meet at Meadow Park Sports Centre this Sunday, June 16 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The club is hosting teams from Squamish, North Vancouver and West Vancouver.
Spots still available for Tough Mudder
With just over two weeks to go, the second annual Whistler Tough Mudder race at Whistler Olympic Park is close to being sold out on both days. Only the Camaraderie phase of registration, May 24 to June 17, has any spots available, and they're $180 on Saturday and $170 on Sunday.
The exact course is still something of a secret, but the distance will be 10 to 12 miles (16 to 20km) with between 20 and 25 obstacles from start to finish — many of which you'll need the help of teammates or other solo racers to complete.
For more on the event and registration, visit www.toughmudder.com and navigate to the Whistler event.
Squamish Tri training available
On June 30, NCCP certified coaches Bjoern Ossenbrink and elite athletes Rachel McBride and Nathan Killam are offering a pre-training clinic for the Squamish Triathlon the following week, Sunday, July 7.
The training session includes transition drills, coaching for the swim start and drafting drills for the bike portion of the race. The clinic is free for TriBC members and $13 for non-members to cover the cost of insurance. To take part, meet at 9 a.m. at Alice Lake Provincial Park with your gear.
WORCA hosted biggest ever Toonie Ride
The number of entries in the June 6 Toonie Ride topped 470, which is believed to be a new record for the Whistler Off-Road Cycling Association — and probably caught the sponsors for that week's event off-guard. Only a few years ago WORCA topped 1,500 members for the first time and last season had over 1,800 members by year-end.
Tonight's Toonie (June 13) is hosted by Bike Co., Nesters Market and The Adventure Group. For more on the race and other upcoming WORCA events, visit www.worca.com.
