Photos – Sports Travel Australia Canada Tour 2011

Ladies and Gents I have been madly working on the photos to be available to you all as promised, however I have more than 42Gb worth of them.  Trying to get this down to 4Gb for a DVD and send out appears to be a difficult task to achieve in a reasonable time period.  So to try and speed this up I have decided to place them up on the web so that you can view and download the ones you want.

To achieve this I need you to send me a email with your first and last names so that I can verify you before sending back a link to gain access.  Please send emails back to sarge6538 @ gmail (dot) com (The email is written this way to prevent autobots sending spam). Either that or try adding me on Facebook and send the request once I have added you, most of you know my name and or my son Zac!

Regards

Vancouver Competition – Days 1 and 2

The last of the two meets finally came around and the middle distance runners started us off in fine fashion, but again they have very strong finishers.  The crowd was a little on the light side to start with but built to a crescendo during the middle of the day.
Anyway, the day kept buzzing along and as it progessed a few niggling injuries started to occur.  Poor Olivia sustained a hamstring injury during the 80m hurdles, but managed to finish the race, but unfortunately that ended her meet for the weekend.  The field team kept us in the hunt for medals and some beating PB’s along the way.  One of the great highlights of the day was Corey and Travis the way they assisted the officials packing away the high jump bags!

Day 2 saw us blessed with a cool bright sunny start for our very last day of competition, giving Vince the perfect start for the 3Km race.  He did extremely well but start suffering from a hip problem and sore shins, but typical of the Aussie spirit never gave up and finished of well.  As mentioned earlier those niggling injuries started mounting during the course of the day, but they continued to battle away.

I haven’t been given the results yet, but as soon as I do I will post them up for you.

Whistler Mountain

Sorry but no blog for yesterday as it was a bit of a free day for everyone.  A number headed out to Stanley Park to enjoy the scenery and one athlete managed to hand feed a racoon (I think that the racoon was more orientated to his furry hat!!).  Anyway from what I understand all had a good time in whatever they decided to partake in.

Today was a trip out to the site of the Winter Olympics 2010, Whistler Mountain.  A short stop on the way had us at a very pituresque place called Shannon Waterfalls.  With the beauty of the waterfall as a backdrop and the scenery at the front many a photo was taken, after which some of the party sampled the cold crystal clear water and one or two topped up their water bottles. On to the bus and heading back to Whistler, our driver Cleveland, which kept reminding me of the Drew Carey show title song – Cleveland Rocks!  Anyway Cleveland cleared his throat and started giving us some insight to the local sights along the way.  I think that his favourite was Squawmesh, with an emphasis on the messssssssh part.

Arrival at the Whistler site was delayed a little trying to find the right spot to collect tickets, but once that was done most started heading off in their little groups.  The gondola station saw many of us mixing with the local montain bike rider population to head up to the first station where they seemed to disappear whilst the sightseerers headup up further.  During that ride most of us were trying to see if we could spot some of the local bear population.

Once at the top there are a number of other lifts (not all were operating) to head to different areas for the skiing, the best was one of the largest free standing cable lifts that we took over to another peak.  The part that struck me the most was the amount of snow and the skiers heading out, completely in stark contrast to the mountain bikers further down. Whilst there we took in the amazing scenery and at one point were even lucky enough to see a very light snow fall occur for a few minutes. No sooner had this all occurred we needed to head off back down the mountains to be back by the required time. We managed to get one of the two silver gondola’s that had a glass bottom, and watching the view down below during the trip was a sight to behold. No matter how hard searched we still could spot any bears, however that all changed on the last of the two lifts towards the bottom.  It was absolutely fantastic to watch them roam!  Two minutes later we saw another in the fields not far away from many of the mountain bike riders, an interesting scenario!

Some partook in a quick search through the village shops for a bargain, a bite to eat (many tried the beaver tail), then off to our meeting point to wait for the bus.

Shopping Trip – Seattle

This morning was another early one and a necessity to be punctual so that we could head out to Seattle for some shopping.  A short trip of just over an hour had us at the US border where we hadd to get off the bus and head through customs, where yours truly lost two apples.  On the bus again and into Seattle where the scenery changed and started to become more like we see on the TV shows. Heaps of cars, more people, horns blaring and here’s your welcome to the good ol’ USA!!

I have great admiration for bus drivers, after Ken our guide over the last several days got us close into the Pike Place markets.  I can only describe it as narrow streets, plenty of people meandering along enjoying the local wares and produce.  We were given 11/2 hrs to enjoy ourselves and sample what Seattle had to offer.

Myself I have to admit that I enjoyed the culture watching buskers, shoe shiners, stall operators and the like going about their daily grind to earn a dollar.  The shoe shiner was the highlight of my day, watching him in action and discussing life through the use of the bible with the policeman who he was cleaning his boots for.  Here is a pic of him in action!

So many of the athletes managed to see most of the place and sample some of the local foods that we only just hear about on the TV. The parents were just as bad and many made most of the chance to but some cheap momentos in the form of T- Shirts and hoodies. Must admit that the 1.5 hrs went quick, and soon we were back on the bus to head towards to the Seattle Outlets. In particular the Nike shop to pick up one or two pairs of Free Runner 2’s only to find out the last pair went basically as we arrived. Some very disappointed young athletes including some parents!
Did I say how cheap it was to buy clothing here ? Lets take for example, two pairs of Levi jeans for $80, whereas one pair in Aus would cost $125-$150

Grouse Mountain Trip

Today was a sight seeing day up to Grouse Mountain – Vancouver.  So after breakfast a short walking trip to the bus termination point at UBC, from there into the bus ferry at Lonsdale Quay.  A short trip on the ferry over to North Vancouver and onto another bus to head up the mountain, now who said that male drivers were fast, and short to the point!!!  Lets just say that it was interesting watching a poor male running at least 250m from the previous stop to catch the bus at the next stop, because she wouldn’t stop for him!!
Finally at the top of the mountain we piled off the bus to be greeted by a pituresque site with a slight cold nip in the air.  Once the tickets were collected it was off and wandering around the area looking at the wood carvings working our way up to the bear enclosure.  The two bears Grinder and Coola had been orphaned when they were young, and now whilst being looked after like royalty it gave us plenty of photos opportunties and the admiration of how powerful these animals look.

A short ride via chairlift further up the mountain gave us even better views, and those with the daring to head up into the viewing platform and get a 360 degree panoramic view of 5 different mountain ranges. Whilst others enjoyed the opportunity to throw a snowball or two at each other.
The majority headed back down to the previous area to watch the lumberjack show which was quite good with a number of challenges intermixed with some very good humour.  Once this occurred we were all allowed to head down and back to the UBC campus any way we liked as long as were back by 6pm and travelled together in small groups.  A great team building exercise in many different ways!

There were opportunities to stop at Capilano on the way down to do the suspension bridge and cliff walk out on to a glass bottom walkway suspended high up.  I know we headed into Vancouver where we went for the typical tourist shopping for others back at home, came across some very interesting points in history and some colourful characters along the way. 

Competition Day 2

Well another gorgeous looking day greeted us, as we stepped out to the bus to finish off what was a great start to the meet.

The athletes conducted themselves with great poise on and off the track.  The most interesting part of the whole meet was watching the way that all of the athletes interacted with the Canadians.  I am sure that there were a few that struck up some good friendships over the weekend.  Then before you know it, it was all over, some coming away with medals others beating PB’s.  I know one young lady was extremely happy when she beat her PB at the long jump, it was as if she had won a major medal! I was so impressed at her attitude and she was only one example of many during the weekend.

Anyway not much to say other than well done and lets and go show Vancouver what the Aussies are made of!

Results have been collated just trying to sort out how to get them on this blog page, sorry for the delay.

Declan Amos

200m, 28.26s, 4th

100m, 13.90s 4th

LJ, 4.77m, 2nd

Shot, 8.5m, 5th

Zachary Amos

200m, 23.3 2nd

100m, 11.59 3rd

400m 51.7 1st

Discus 27.24 5th

Tayla-Paige Billington

800m 2:44.43 10th

1200m NR

100m NR

300m 47.76 9th

Vincent Britnell

3000m 10:46.83 1st

800m 2:17.76 13th

1500m 4:52.79 12th

400m NR

Tara Cheyne

Shot 9.13 3rd

Discus 28.63 1st

Javelin 19.34 3rd

Hammer 21.64 4th

Stefan Cifra

100mH 15.39 1st

200m, 24.19 1st

100m 12.04 2nd

200mH 27.16 2nd

Ariana Delawari

2000m 7:38.36 3rd

800m 2:56.53 12th

1200m 4:27.44 10th

300m 48.91 12th

Matt Ferencak

Shot 10.58 4th

Discus 32.07 4th

Javelin 45.4 3rd

Hammer 19.69 4th

Nicola Fiore

800m 2:46.95 4th

1200m 4:30.28 4th

Shot 9.2 1st

Discus 21 8th

James Follent

200m, 25.3 11th

100m 12.43 12th Heats

400m 62.86 12th

TJ 10.46 4th

Mitchell Follent

200m, 25.85 11th

100m 13.13 6th

Shot 1.46m 4th

Javelin 42.99 3rd

Jenna Heath

200m, 28.07 3rd

100m 13.48 3rd

300m 45.94 7th

LJ 4.26 7th

Corey Lee

Shot 14.65 1st

Discus 49.95 1st

Hammer 42.01 1st

Cassie Lieschke

200m, 27.75 11th

100m 13.57 8th

400m 62.78 3rd

HJ 1.50m 1st

Ngahuia Nicholson

200m, 4th

100m 13.59 4th

HJ DNS

LJ 4.41 4th

Adika Njemanze

100m 11.67 1st

HJ 1.80m 1st

LJ 5.95 1st

TJ 12.07m 1st

Anthony Paraschos

HJ 1.80m 2nd

LJ 5.44m 8th

Daniel Patten

Shot 14.28 2nd

Discus 41.41 2nd

Javelin 39.04 3rd

Hammer 25.92 3rd

Robert Pina

200m, 24.15 8th

100m 12.12 5th

LJ NR

Matthew Rees

LJ 4.32 1st

TJ DNS

Discus 26.92 2nd

Javelin 47.42 1st

Sara Riggs

LJ 4.34m 2nd

Shot 8.14m 1st

Discus 25.06 3rd

Javelin 33.93 2nd

Olivia Roney

80mH 14.28 2nd

200m, 28.54 1st

100m 14.05 2nd

300m 45.14 2nd

Alison Severino

Shot 8.00m 2nd

Discus 25.96 2nd

Javelin 34.45 1st

Caitlin Silk

80mH 13.76 3rd

200m, 29.07 8th

100m 13.95 6th

200mH 31.81 2nd

Travis Stahlhut

300m DNS

Shot DNS

Discus 34.98 3rd

Javelin 44.76 2nd

Matilda Werner

HJ 1.35m 4th

LJ 4.82m 3rd

TJ 11.21m 2nd

Javelin 35.11 1st

Carl Williams

2000m 6:22.78 1st

800m 2:12.30 1st

1200m 3:33.08 1st

TJ 10.51m 1st

Competition Day 1

Finally this was it! The long flights, the bus trip, the tiredness, trying to get used to long hours, the short shopping trips all in a short period of time and here we were ready to go at the requested time of 6.15am on the bus. All were probably the most prompt and on time that they had been so far! They just wanted to compete, but hey just a small issue of breakfast first.

From breakfast straight to the Apple Bowl (stadium name) where we set up camp towards the back side of the stand.  The distance runners set the tone for the day making the locals work hard for their placings, always at the front of the packs fo the majority of the race, but just not quite having enough to finish the race off strong.  Whilst not coming away with a medal they can certainly hold their heads held high!

Unfortunately I do not have the official results, the print out will be due to the coaches tommorrow and I will work hard to get them as soon as practically possible.
Needless to say most athletes medalled, others beat P.B’s, and again others weren’t necessarily competing in their pet events but gave it their best.  Anyone not competing went around in small groups to ensure that all other athletes were given support one way or another whilst they were in a track and or field event.  It was magnificent to watch the way that these young men and women conducted themselves in and or out of competition, they are a credit to the parents and to themselves and all should be proud the way that they represented Australia!

There were some great stories to tell but I must admit I need to get some sleep as the lates have caught up with me finally. Some photos will go up tommorrow evening when I complete the other post!

Training Day on Canada Day!

Today was a little more sedate compared to the last couple of days, which I think was attributable to finally knowing that we have settled in one spot for more than a day.
Off to Whitespot (keep thinking of the fungus that affects Roses!) again for Brekky.  Followed by a short trip to the track for a training session and acclimatisation.

It looked as though that the athletes were finally relieved to get some trackwork under their belt, knowing that they were close to competition time.  There was a general warm up and then they split off into their speciality groups for more defined work.  Kylie working with the track and the ever vigilant Ray taking the throws.  It will be interesting how they go as two of them have never actually thrown the hammer, let alone compete.  Whilst the parents concentrated hard on socialising all the time casting a close eye on proceedings!

Once training was completed, another short trip later and we were in Kelowna city centre to take part in celebrating Canada day with the locals.  In exchange for a small donation was a mini Canadian Flag and small Canadian Flag pin then off wandering around through the many stalls of wares and food.  Along the way, yours truly managed to meet up with a quite young and good looking  female ‘Mountie’ who was more than happy to have a photo or two taken.  Three hours passed quite quickly, back onto the bus and into a food/restaurant area for tea and supplies, guess where everyone headed – Wal-Mart, only this one was bigger than the previous.  However three of the hammer throwers headed back to the track to compete – Best of luck to you!

Back to campus for tea and relaxation time before the team meeting.

Tommorrow is competition day and I will endeavour to have the results up for you as soon as practically possible, with the hammer throwers I should have a follow up post to this one in a short time!
Didn’t get the chance to post this up prior to the team meeting, and we have been told we have our first silverr medallist, and the other two athletes posted PB’s.  Further details on this tommorrow!

Must get some sleep!

Kelowna Arrival

Well most of the athletes have had a good rest, all packed up and on the bus ready to go!  Unfortunately after a head count we seemed to have lost one athlete, only to find he was still asleep, I think he shall remain nameless.  I immediately thought of Jeff (aka of Wiggles fame), WAKE UP Jeff!! However a number of the athletes thought it was dry!

Anyway the White Spot restaurant in the outskirts of Vancouver was the venue for breakfast and wasn’t there plenty of it! Eggs, crispy bacon (thin and skinny), small sausages, toast, fresh fruit salad and I left the best for last, pancakes with the obligatory maple syrup.  Heaps of coffee, fruit juice and great service!  It happened to be one of the Mum’s Birthday today and was met with a small pavlova style cake of some sort, I just wished we all looked that good at 21!  At this stage we were due to head down Highway 1, however mother nature gave the area a visit overnight and a massive mud slide over the road had stopped that one.  Must have been fate, as the alternative highway gave us multiple opportunities to view the remaining scattered spots of snow over the mountain tops.  Great opportunities to get a running shot or two from the bus window as we continued onwards towards Kelowna.  Unfortunately the rain started and the photos stopped.

Lunch stop was in a small town called Hope, trivia time = What was this famous for? and No we didn’t come across exploding gunshops, machine gun fire and mayhem!!!  Answer at the end of this blog.
Heading on and through the mountain and to the other side and what a different contrast, sun out, a slight drying landscape and hardly a remanent of snow in the hill tops.  A stop along the highway to visit the first Wal-Mart, it just reminds me of heading from Sydney north or south and stopping at one the big petrol stops with Maccas present, except here is the great big hunk a Wal-mart store as well.  Talk about cheap prices, try 24 bottles of 500ml water for $2.50 Canadian, plus tax then converted over works out to a Whopping $2.70 AUD.  It was only half an hour stop, but it was like  watching kids in a candy store.  The idea was to get some essential supplies and food for tea tonight. The giant marshmallows were a hit, I swear that one of the these supersized things contained about 4 normal mashmallows that we get back in Aus.

Onwards and final arrival in Kelowna about 6.15pm, into accomodation on the BCU campus followed by a team meeting at 7.30pm.  Kylie conducted some tempo runs (joined in myself and must admit did me the world of good), others went for a run and some off playing modified rugby, kicking a ball around etc.  Enough to get the cobwebs out and the blood flowing!

Tommorrow is a training session and some free time!  See you all later!

If you haven’t guessed the trivia question – It was the filming of Rambo occurred here!

Up in the Air

The first of many of the stretching options on the long 14 hr flight

Well we are up in the air and on our way!
Already had a number of conversations with the athletes and they are certainly looking forward to the next several weeks.  Must admit it’s been great listening to them and envious of their opportunities, just wish this was around when I was younger!  Mind you it was a bit hard when Noah was building the ark!
Have arrived in San Francisco go through the immigration, collect the baggage, out with the passports again, electronic finger prints, mug shot, fill in another form then on the flight to Vancouver. The whole process seemed to go quite smoothly despite the heavy amount of passengers in a very large airport compared to Australia. Finally we have arrived, through the entry process and out to the bus and on the way to BCU (British Columbia University) to stay the night before heading off to Kelowna. BUT hang on didn’t anyone tell them to stop driving on the wrong side of the road!!!!!
Headed off as a group to the shops to get tea, back to lounge area to use wireless access where I bumped in to a young lass named Kat who was from Brisbane and is on a trip to see friends etc.. Had a good chat and finally managed to sneak off to bed to get some kip!
Tommorrow is the trip to Kelowna ready for the weekend……..