The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wednesday, August 29, 2001 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D1 S p o rts M & ta % P h o to s by B arrie E rskine AutoGlass t/ b f UPHOLSTERY... SEATS, BOAT TOPS, CONVERTIBLE TOPS.. 1033 APPLE Speers R d. 8 4 2 -6 0 6 0 An Oakville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@haltonsearch.com H A T S O F F T O Y A ! Special Olym pian Brian Dunn o f the Oakville J 's celebrates a catch at second base. Story and another photo, see page D2. Smooth sailing at Canada Games By Norm Nelson BEAVER SPORTS EDITOR Caroline Kaars Sijpesteijn, who will enter her OAC year at Oakville Trafalgar High School in September, is proving to be a quick study as a sailor. A bronze medal at the Canada Games, which just wrapped up this past weekend in London, can attest to that. And she hopes the learning curve will one day include a berth in the Olympic Games. Kaars Sijpesteijn won the bronze in a real dogfight with a competitor from Alberta that went right down to the final race. Well, actually, it didn't quite make it that far because the 1Oth and final day of racing was wiped out because of high winds. And that left Kaars Sijpesteijn on the podium by the slimmest of margins. The two competitors were actually tied but with Kaars Sijpesteijn ahead based on a tiebreaking formula. Basically, it boiled down to each competitor having a first and a second place finish each, but with Kaars Sijpesteijn having two third place fin ishes, compared to one for the Alberta competitor. "I'm not sure how it would have ended up had we gone out that day, but it would have been a good fight," said the OTHS student. She was thrilled with her Canada Games hardware. P h o to by B arrie E rskine Caroline K aars Sijpesteijn show s o ff the hardware that she won at recently concluded Canada Games in London. ' "Yeah for sure. That was what I wanted to get -- in the top three." Although obviously an accom plished sailor, Kaars Sijpesteijn had not begun racing that particular class of boat -- the Byte class -- until this past May. "I just wanted to go to the Canada Games," she explained. "I just decided to try it out. I honestly never thought I'd be able to do it just because I was sail ing against people that had been doing it for a while." For instance, the gold and silver medal winners from B.C. and Quebec, respectively, "had been sailing Bytes for about five years." "A lot of the races it was just boat speed and that's just something that comes with time and experience in the boat." She added that the B.C. and Quebec competitors ended up training with her at the Royal Canadian Yacht Club in Toronto, all becoming good friends. With the Canada Games over, Kaars Sijpesteijn said she'll switch back to both her usual sailing class, the Laser Radials, while at the same time getting her feet wet with the Europe class -- for obvious reasons. "That's the female single handed Olympic class," she explained. Another perk is that next year's world championships in both classes are nearby -- the laser radials in Buffalo and the Europe class in Hamilton. "I want to be able to do the world's in both of those." Her longer term goals include "the next Olympic trials, for sure (in Europe class)." "And then if I still like sailing by then, I'm going to do a full campaign for 2008 (Olympics). "I'm still young, though. I'm just thinking about starting a new boat, hav ing fun, and getting as much racing experience as I can because I started racing pretty late." Many of her junior competitors, she said, had been racing the Optimist class "since they were 10-years-old. "I've only been seriously racing for about two years, really hard. Pretty much since last summer." Her introduction to the sport, she concedes, wasn't love at first sight. "I was sailing at sailing school when I was younger but I didn't really like racing. 1 just didn't understand it. I thought it was scary. "But then, one regatta I just did pret ty well, like out of the blue, and I said, hey, doing good is fun." She was at the Bronte Yacht Club at the time. "It was a good club -- a great place to leam to sail. "Then I went to RCYC and I'm on the high performance team there. We have full time coaching, year round. We go to Florida, around the States, and stuff." Training, she said, is five days a week, Monday to Friday, "and we've got regattas on the weekend." Inaugural Bronte Harbour twilight run raises amazing $6,000 for cancer support group The inaugural Bronte Harbour twi light 5K run last Saturday night made an auspicious debut with more than $6,000 raised for Rebounders, a cancer support group. And the amount is continuing to increase as pledges and corporate dona tions continue to flood in. "I'm overwhelmed by your generosi ty," Andrew Sprawson of Rebounders Canada told the runners and sponsors. "Everyone here has done so much to make this event a success. People heard our story and so many runners and walkers responded to our cause. "The proceeds from the race will do much to help survivors of childhood cancer. "With assistance from volunteers, sponsors and the continuing support of They're off and running in the inaugural Bronte Harbour Twilight 5K run for Rebounders, a support group for survivors of childhood cancer. the Running Company, this will be an annual event in Oakville. "The Rebounders thank each and every one of you." Halton Regional Police, the Rotary Club, the Royal Canadian Legion and the Running Company were major sponsors. Planning and race direction was conducted by the Running Company, Thomas Street where full results and photos are now posted. First male and overall winner was Paul Osland of Oakville in a time of 15:05 First female was Adela Flista from (See Twilight run' page D2) SUMMERWISE INSPECTION DUNDAS & \ TRAFALGAR ROAD 4UU Uundas SI. E OAK TOWN SHOPPING PLAZA T,r»n Korr 0 4 4 -0 2 0 2 ^ stow 257-TIRE 2 5 7 -0 4 2 0 Hoiirc", · · · · · · Oil, lube & filter (up to 5L Fo rm u la 1 5 W 3 0 or 1 0 W 3 0 o il) Rotate 4 tires · Check Brake System Check cooling system Check all Fluid levels Check Electrical system Check Exhaust system Check Front-end suspension Fees for used automotive product disposal may apply. See details in store. . ^ t ! S r^ 2 .Urr` W Mon SM 8am lOpor. Look fo r Our flyer in Friday's Oakville Beaver