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.'J 'i .1 ■î by Brad Kelly Clarington continues to strengthen its hold on major sporting sporting events after adding another marquee race to its list. The latest event to land in the area will be the 1997 Ontario Duathlon Championships, which will be staged at Cedar Park on Sunday, May 25, beginning at 9:00 a.m. The event will be organized by the Canadian Cross Training Club as part of their Midland Walwyn Great Lakes Multi-Sport Series. The race will consist of a 3 km run, followed by a 30 km bike ride, and finishing with a 7 km run. It's expected that the race will take approximately 1 1\2 hours for the elite athletes to complete, while others could take up to three hours to cover the course. The Ontario Championship race will attract both provincial provincial and national calibre athletes, and will serve as a National Team qualifier for certain age groups. Cedar Park will be the focal point of the race, with the start, finish, and transition area constructed on the grounds of the park, located just east of Hwy. 57 in Hampton. Clarington council gave their approval for the event during a meeting Monday night. CANADIAN CHAMPS -- For the first time in the school's history, the Durham College men's basketball team won the Canadian Championship. The Durham College Lords won the national title on Saturday night in Vancouver, British Columbia, winning the gold medal game by a score of 66-55 over the Humber Hawks of Toronto. Durham, who entered the eight-team tournament as the #3 seed, opened with a 75-63 victory over sixth-seeded Malaspina University College of British Columbia. In the semi-final game, Durham beat seventh-seeded Grant MacEwan College of Alberta by a score of 75-67. Humber, seeded #8, advanced to the finals with victories over Dawson of Quebec (seeded #1), and Mt. Royal College of Alberta (seeded #4). The Durham College Lady Lords also competed at the National Championships, but didn't fare as well as the men's team. Durham, seeded #4, defeated Mt. Allison (Atlantic) 57-50 in the opener, but then lost 49-38 to the number one-seeded John Abbott College (Quebec). Durham Lady Lords were eliminated in the third game of the tournament after a 78-56 setback to Mt. Royal College (Alberta). j Courtice Wrestlers Grapple Way to Medal Podium At OFSAA Finals by Jennifer Herr Staff Writer The Newcastle Aquatic Club held their 9th Annual Clarington 100 Swim Meet at the Fitness Centre on Saturday afternoon. Seven clubs were competing, including teams from Lindsay, Pickering, arid Variety Village. At total of 891 swimmers were entered in a wide range of distances for all age groups. Above, Jen Lapointe glides through the water during her freestyle race. x --Photo by Brad Kelly by Chris Rourke / "I think I skated my best and I'm jumper, good artistically, and strong, Staff Writer really happy," she said with a smile, as well as being a good kid. The Bowmanville Figure Skating [ ea ^y surprised Club sent one of its skaters to the * did that well. I just All-Ontarios and she came home wanted to skate my with a medal. best and I did and I Lisa Bridget! captured a silver S ot a medal. medal in the pre-novice "C" catego- In orcle J y A* U f 1 -- ry at the recent All-Ontario All-Ontario m championship in Championships; in : Kitchcner- Watcrloo. ; "I'm : pretty happy. It was a big accomplishment : for her," BFSC coach Paul Smith said of Bridgett's silver medal. "I was a bit surprised, the potential is there, but it was the first time all year she had skated like that." Bridgett, 14, is in her fourth year as a BFSC member. She was very proud of her accomplishment. Kitchener-Waterloo, she had to compete in a competition in Lindsay. She placed second in her semjs and third in the finals, which enabled her to compete in the All- Ontarios. Coach Smith said that Bridgett is a good Lisa Bridgett Bridgett's goal for next year is to qualify qualify for the Canadian Championships. In order to do that she has to qualify for the sectional championships, championships, then qualify for divisional, before she can qualify qualify for the Canadians. Smith admits she has got the and talent to for the Canadians, but there's some things that Bridgett wants to improve on first. "I need to work on being more consistent in my jumps and my overall overall performance," Bridgett admitted. Courtice Secondary School's wrestling team pinned down a pretty pretty good showing late last month at OFSAA. According to coach Dave Muira, five of the school's wrestlers did well enough at LOSSA to make the trip to the provincial competition, which was' held February 27 - March 1 at Connestoga College in ' Kitchener. Two of the wrestlers, Walter McCrindle and Dorn Majka, placed fifth in the province, while Jason McCrindle, Dale Pollard and James Holt also represented the area at the competition. Muira says the school usually takes only two or three athletes athletes to the competition, so taking five this year was a nice surprise. But, it wasn't any surprise to Muira that area schools did well. "Durham has usually the strongest wrestlers in the province," he said. In fact, Walter McCrindle is currently currently the provincial junior champ, a title he earned wrestling with an Ajax club, outside of school. He will go to the National Championships in Fredericton next month. Muira said he's not sure McCrindle shouldn't have fared better better at the high school provincials. "He lost a match in the championship championship side, then wrestled the same guy again (in the fight for fifth) and beat him handily," said Muira. Majka's fifth place showing was somewhat unexpected, Muira said. "Dorn was sort of a surprise. We knew he would do well, but we didn't didn't know he would be in the top six," said Muira. Inside Section Two Courtice Competes at OFSAA....Page 3 Skating Video Launched, Life on the Farm Seniors News ....Page 4 ....Pages 8-12 and Views....Pages 13-16 Classified Bargains Pages 17-20