This Sunday, Oct. 26, runners are invited to take part in an inaugural 5 km fun run on the Valley Trail around the Whistler Golf Course. The cost of taking part is $10, with all proceeds going towards the Howe Sound Women’s Centre Society, which provides support to women and children in Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton.
Registration is from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. at the Whistler Golf Course, and the race starts at 9 a.m. Runners and walkers are welcome.
The event is being organized by C2Sky Multisport.
Pemberton hockey player meets hockey greats
Pemberon’s Avery Hargitt was one of 100 hockey players from around Canada chosen to take part in the Chevrolet Safe and Fun Hockey Festival. The third of four festival events was held at General Motors Place this past weekend with other players from B.C., with participants receiving on- and off-ice lessons from hockey legends Bobby Orr, Mike Bossy and Cassie Campbell. The program was offered to kids aged 5 to 8 through Hockey Canada, and focuses on skills development, drills, games, and safety instruction.
Instead of holding a camp for already skilled players, participants were chosen through a random draw.
“I’m worried that many young players will never get to experience the pure enjoyment of the game,” said Orr. “They are pressured by parents, by coaches, and each other. As parents, coaches, and teammates it is our responsibility to ensure that everyone leaves the arena with a positive experience to bring them back.”
Will Routley ninth is Australia
Whistler’s Will Routley had one bad stage in six that dropped him back to ninth in the general classification, but otherwise ranked in the top three all week in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia.
Routley was part of a Canadian contingent racing for Australia-based Bicycle Superstore. He has not been signed to a team for 2009, and is a free agent after top-ranked Symmetrics Cycling announced that they would be putting the team on hiatus until they could find a new title sponsor.
“Basically every day is a GC day,” he told Canadian Cyclist. “There is no time during the race where a team rides tempo to bring a break back. There is a threatening split going up the road all the time. You had to be aggressive and pretty much every day I had to finish exhausted — there was no saving it for the next day.”
Routley’s worst stage was the time trial, which he admits is a weak part of his game but says he has worked hard to improve this year. He also noted that he was even with overall winner Stuart O’Grady to the turnaround point before slipping back to 18 th on that stage. He lost more than a minute to the leaders, and despite a solid stage six he never overcame that gap.
Some of his highlights include getting into breaks with Tour de France veteran O’Grady, and attacking on the fourth stage to get a shot at the overall lead.
Routley finished one minute, 27.28 seconds behind O’Grady in the GC, and just over a minute back of the podium.
For the record
In last week’s story on Thanksgiving marathons in Victoria and Kelowna, the writer inadvertently identified Marc Watts and Alex Watts as brother and sister when they are actually married. They also ran together, and finished together in 4:55:29. The time listed for Alex was a type-o.
