by Ronnie Bains Did you know that the Douglas College weight room is actually being used right now? Weightlifters around the Lower Mainland are currently using our weight room for training in preparation for upcoming competitions. They range from past competitors in weightlifting to new lifters. Some are Douglas College students, while others are B.C. Weightlifting Association members in training. There are 2 different groups that are training during the week. One group trains Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, while the other group comes in Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. I got an opportunity to talk with the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday group consisting of: Katherine Couch Satwinder Ghatarora Pritpal Gillar Tom Matthews Chris Suda Steve Buldissera Cidalia Hopkins Surinder Samra Raj Johal Ghatarora has been training since “87 and has had an opportunity to DC Weightlifters compete in the Junior World Championships in Bulgaria. Other lifters had a chance to compete in the Sea Festival competition held in the Douglas College gym on Saturday, June 25th. At the latter, Katherine Couch placed first in the Women’s 64 kg. category. Cidalia Hopkins, however, who's ranked second place in the 54 kg. category in B.C., didn't get an opportunity to compete. In the 83 kg. category Pritpal Gillar, who attended his first competition, placed fourth. While Rob Maclem came in third, Tom Matthews second, and Randeep Sahota led the group placing first. Steve Buldissera, who recently decided to take up weightlifting competed in his first competition and did incredibly well placing 4th in the 99 kg. category. Buldissera is enjoying this new experience and hopes to continue lifting, and probably compete in other competitions. Many of the lifters are preparing for the next competition which is going to take place in Auburn, Washington in August. Katherine Couch explained that training takes place all year round but not all of the athletes choose to train throughout the year. There are 3 main a SS Other Press competitions held throughout the year. In January there is the Provincial, in March the Western Canadian, and in May there’s the National competition. Following the Auburn competition, which many of the athletes are now training for, there will be another competition in October at Prince George and a final one in December held in Victoria. These athletes, although serious in training, are also having fun at weightlifting and working together to compete. They’re a great bunch, so if you want to drop by and say “hi” or attend one of their training sessions feel free to do so and lend your support, they’re sure to appreciate it. If you're interested in trying lifting and competing for competitions then you need to first become a member of the B.C. Weightlifting Association. To become a member you need to contact the B.C. Weightlifting Association and pay a $25 membership fee. For more information on upcoming competitions, dates, and rankings you can contact Steve James of Sport BC at 737-3089. The Canucks by Candice Lee The Canucks lost the Stanley Cup, so what more is there to say about those Canuckleheads? Well, even though it's officially summer-time in Vancouver, hockey and the Canucks are still on the minds of many. When the Canucks won the Western Conference Championship with a 4-3 thriller in double overtime. Canucks fans, bandwagon jumpers and party animals out for a party poured out -into the streets of downtown Vancouver. That was when the hype started. The town was buzzing with hockey talk for awhile but everything has all quieted down now. I wonder how many of the bandwagon jumpers will remain as Canuck fans. Next season there will most likely be several new Canucks fans as a result of this run into the finals. I remember myself being a bandwagon jumper back in ’82 at age six. And I'm still a Canuck fan now. The Canucks’ amazing run through the playoffs started on and ended - inauphill battle by facing the NHL’s top team during the regular season. In the quarter-finals it was the hated Calgary Flames who lost, with Pavel Bure getting the winning goal in overtime in game seven after trailing 3-1. Then it was an uneventful series with the Canucks beating Dallas in five to advance to the Conference finals against Toronto. It was war. Before the puck dropped, the media, the fans and the two cities were already engaged in a battle. It was ugly but the hype was definitely there. This was a classic. Two Canadian cities were yelling and screaming insults at each other while the two teams prepared for a tough, physical and long series. Fortunately for the Canucks it was notas long as anticipated. Then it was off to the Big Apple to face the New York Rangers, a team that the Canucks never won against during the regular season. Well, the Canucks managed to freak out all of their fans and barely made a game seven but they did it. They DID end up losing the highest prize in the NHL, the Stanley Cup, but we love them anyway. See you next year. CLASSIFIED FORM students, staff, faculty — FREE ¢ for-profit businesses — $3 for first 30 words, 10¢ a word thereafter ¢ first three words bolded free * extra bolds or italicizing 25¢ each word send to classified, c/o other press, box 2503, new westminster,bc v3l 5b2 or bring to room 1020, douglas college or fax to 527-5095 write your ad here INFORMATIO rN a a Ry |! Cegreme ————stuent # ____ category: Omarketplace Qhousing Oeducational Opersonals Qcommunity announcements Join in and play some outdoor sports July 6, 1994 1994 Sixth Annual Dragon Boat Races by Candice Lee The 1994 Canadian International Dragon Boat Races were held on June 17,18 and 19. It was a successful and fun-filled weekend dispite the weather. There were vast improvments from last year’s festival. There were more activities which were aimed at the family. There was a Dragon’s playground with crafts, activities and children’s entertainers for the kids. As for the adults there were more booths with free giveaways at most of them. The Ming Tao booth drew the largest crowd in the booth area. They had giveaways and games. They had a ‘wheel of fortune’ and a puzzle building contest. It was a lot of fun for those who were not attending the races. Although the weather was not the best on Saturday, there was a large turnout. Sunday was a beautiful day and resulted in an extremely large turnout. There were entertainers of all sorts. There were traditional chinese opera and performers as well as western culture performers such as West End Girls and Vancouver Opera. There was a large food court where there were different kinds of ethnics foods from serveral different countires. There were foods from Japan, China/Hong Kong, Russia and foods from western cultures. This years races were very exciting as there were many close races. There were 50 races in all with the finals being on Sunday. Photos: Mike Dutton Those crazy fans by Candice Lee This is what the whole thing is about! The rioters who were downtown after the Stanley Cup loss were not the real fans. The 45,000 plus who were at BC Place Stadium for the fan appreciation day were the real fans. It was a celebration for the fans. And the fans enjoyed themselves from the beginning to the end. They screamed and waved their white towels for one final time as they paid their final tribute to their Canucks of 1994. The players came into the stadium in convertible cars as the crowd screamed and waved towels to a deafening roar. Even some of the players were waving towels, such as BC boys Cliff Ronning and Mr. Overtime, Greg Adams. Then it was the moment that the fans had been waiting for. The members of the team including the coaches stood upon the stage and each came forward to give a short speech. The stadium erupted in cheers as Pavel Bure, Kirk McLean and captain Trevor Linden took center stage. : Special guests included BC Premier Mike Harcourt, Vancouver mayor, Phillip Owen and the Griffiths family. Mr.Owen announced that the street adjacent to the Canucks new arena will be named “Griffiths Way” to honour the late Frank Griffiths who died just prior to the playoffs. This will be a season to remember as the players and coaches go. their separate ways for the summer holidays. There will be many memories that will not be forgotten for a long long time. Thanks again, Canucks, for a great season and all the memories.