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w Sports ffjc Canabian ^)tategman ♦ August 9, 2006 ♦ durhamreg Che Lafoy OSHAWA TOUCH FOOTBALL LEAGUE I Mil III 20- 10- FOLLOW DLL DUR IMS durhamregion. typepad.com 10R.com Clarington Sports Hall adds five Brad Kelly Lacrosse Festival could get Doug Brown, Pete Landers headline latest inductees CLARINGTON - The Clarington Sports Hall of Fame will have to make room for five more inductees. The current number of inductees will grow from 22 to 27 with the inclusion of harness driver Doug Brown, fastball pitcher Pete Landers, the Breslins Red Raiders hockey team of 1946-47, the Newcastle Merchants baseball team of 1954, and figure skater Lynne Jo-Anne , Robson (Bagnell). Doug Brown The 50-year-old harness driver from Bowmanville has come a long way since entering the winner's circle for the first time as a 17-year-old driver at Kawartha Downs. Since that initial victory, victory, he has visited the winner's circle of race tracks throughout North America and the world, sitting in the sulky for more than 8,100 victories and surpassing surpassing $86-million in career driver earnings. earnings. Milestones that are both impres- ■ sive and hard to fathom, requiring luck, good fortune, and skill along the way. Among the highlights of his career and better Plans are to grow the game It's hard to fathom an event that has grown to the size of the Ontario Lacrosse Festival getting even bigger, 1 and presumably better, as early as next : ■ year. ■ At least that's the plan. Consider the 10-day 'festival based in Whitby already attracts 4,500 ath- ■ letes representing 230 teams, requires 200 volunteers to pull off and attracts crowds estimated at 36,000. Factor in that not only does the event produce provincial champions in the Tyke, Novice and Peewee age divisions,. it also has a national element, with the top Peewee and Bantam players in the country representing their respective provinces, trying to determine who is the best in Canada. - There is also a Paperweight Shoot-out, Shoot-out, a, Provincial Championship for Peewee and Midget girls, and a field element that includes the Harrow U15 girls. -, ■ .i The logistics of trying to stage, such an enormous sporting event would cause a headache. Thinking of expanding expanding it seems unimaginable. But. that's the vision of the sport's governing body of lacrosse for this ; province. "The work that is done is respected by the people from across Canada. It's a good place and a good event," says Ron MacSpadyein; who serves as the marketing director for the Ontario . Lacrosse Association and the Festival. Festival. "We are trying to get recognized nationally as the premier sport event for youth." If the Festival hasn't reached that status yet, it will surely make inroads as early as next year. MacSpadyen would like to add a field component for 2007, and ultimately ultimately envisions teams from the United United States, where the field version of the game thrives, making the ; trek across the border to compete. It would turn the event into an international one, and who knows what the possibilities possibilities are after that? "The exposure for the game would ' be fabulous," speculates MacSpadyen. "I can see this thing doubling in size • in the years to come." It's comforting td know, arid a compliment compliment too, to think that this area is a v* so highly respected for its lacrosse and | 1 wvWwv UUWvl facilities that an event of this nature " has found a permanent home in Whitby. Whitby. For years now, Whitby has continued continued to produce top box lacrosse teams at every level, the program in Clarington Clarington continues to grow in numbers and strength as does Durham West, and a little further north, Uxbridge floors rep teams to complement their house league program. On the field, you have to say nothing more than the Oshawa Blue Knights to get someone's attention. The area is thriving in lacrosse. It deserves an event of this size and magnitude. include topping the Ontario Jockey Club's (OJC) drivers' charts for 10 consecutive consecutive years from 1988 through 1997; holding the record for most wins on the circuit circuit in a year at 417 in 1997; Canadian Driver of the Year eight times; OJC Driver of the year 10 times; and he has represented represented Canada at the World Driving Championships Championships held in Australia and New Zealand. Pete Landers , For more than 40 years, Pete Landers, Landers, who resides in Orono, was one of the most feared fastball pitchers in the world, dominating opposing hitters whenever he took to the mound of any ballpark. His name is still synonymous , with the sport and spoken of in legendary legendary status around the ballparks he graced during his illustrious career. He distinguished himself as one of the best fastball pitchers in the world during his heyday with the Oshawa Tonys team dominating the fastball scene locally, provincially, nationally and internationally, internationally, racking up countless no-hitters no-hitters and a handful handful of perfect games. There were Ontario, Canadian and World Championships Championships with the Oshawa Tony's Senior A team, a silver silver medal at the 1969 Canadian Summer Games and a number of MVP awards that highlighted 'his distinguished career. Breslins Red Raiders Hard to imagine that during the prime of the hockey club in 1946-47, there was no arena in Bowmanville, forcing the team to practice outdoors at Rotary Park. After eliminating Prescott for the Eastern Ontario title, the Red Raiders met Bolton for the provincial crown in a two game, total goal series. The Red Raiders prevailed in a lopsid ed 15-7 win in the opening game before losing the second game of the series 5-2 in front of a large crowd, taking the series 17-12. Newcastle Merchants The Village of Newcastle celebrated its first ever All Ontario baseball championship championship when the Merchants travelled the province, resulting in the provincial title. _ The celebration was amazing, including including a fire truck ride through the streets of Newcastle, a formal banquet, gifts of jackets, watches and medals, plus an all- paid weekend in New York City to see the Yankees play two games at Yankee Stadium. Lynne Jo-Anne Robson (Bagnell) A member of the Orono Figure Skating Skating Club from 1950-52, later switching to the Bowmanville-Skating Club, Robson Robson took in her first ice show at Maple Leaf Gardens when the Shipstad and Johnson Ice Follies paid a visit. In 1956 she auditioned for the show, and after just a few days, received a phone call saying she had been accepted. accepted. She had just two weeks to pack and arrive in Boston to begin tournament with the ice show. This year's induction ceremony is planned for Saturday, Oct. 21. Ron Pietroniro / Metrolqnd Durham Region Media Group WHITBY - Shayne Smith from the Clarington Gaels tries to slow the progress of Oakville's Braden Wallace dur- SSS^r the PCeWeC Pr0Vindal Championsh 'P s at the ^uois Park Sports Centre Friday. racer the water Hampton resident off to Worlds BY BRAD KELLY Sports Editor HAMPTON -- On a bit of a lark, Elizabeth Elizabeth Bateman ventured down one night about' three years ago to an information meeting regarding Dragon Boat racing to satisfy a curiosity. She obviously liked what she heard. Later this week, she will jump into one of the enormous boats as part of her Grand Masters team to compete in the Club Crew World Championships on a brand new water course in the Western Beaches in Toronto. Athletes that participate in Club Crew Dragon Boat World Championships are from the best club crews from over 20 nations around the world, "I didn't think I would make the team, but I really enjoy being on the water, so I thought I would go down for some extra practice," says the Hampton resident of her involvement. She originally enrolled with the Pickering Pickering Dragon Boat Club, but when some extra paddlers were needed for the Grand Masters team, she took up the challenge. Her team will race distances of 200m and 500m in Toronto, but she has paddled as far as 2,000m previously. "It can be physically demanding," she says of the sport. "When you are in a race, it really takes some endurance." The Grand Master team, that is comprised comprised of women aged 50+, has been practicing since last September, including aquafitness classes and such through the winter, before dropping their boat back in the water the first of May. Races will begin Aug. 10 and run through to the 13th. season comes to an end Intercounty baseball club forces Game 6 against Barrie, but comes up short Brad Kelly's column appears every third Wednesday. E-mail bkelly@diirhamregion.com EDS blanks Loblaws CLARINGTON - In Bowmanville United Soccer Club Major Atom action, Loblaws defeated EDS 2-0 to improve their season record to 7-1, Alan Gazdzicki scored twice for ' Loblaws. Strong goallending from Peter Khouri, Mitchell Hunt and Alan Gazdzicki enabled the win for Loblaws. BY SHAWN CAYLEY Staff Writer OSHAWA - The 2006 season is now over lor the Oshawa Dodgers, but it was a campaign they won't soon forget. forget. On the diamond, things began slowly, as the team owned a 4-11 record after 15 games, just like it did a year ago. Then the wins started to roll in, including including a stunning triumph over the powerhouse powerhouse Toronto Maple Leafs at Christie Pits. That July night, the Dodger bats hammered hammered around former Major Leaguer Paul Spoljaric in a 9-8 win, which was the third of what came to he four victories victories in a row lor the club. Definitely one of the high points of the year. However, little did .the players and staff know the lowest of the lows wasn't far behind. On July 16, Dodgers founder founder and owner • Troy May was involved in a car accident accident along with wife Lori and sons Connor and Jamie, Just three days later, the baseball baseball community was shocked when the 39- year-old baseball fanatic suffered a heart attack and died in hospital. As tough as the loss of May was, the club marched on, winning the two games following the tragedy, the first ,of which was played with each Dodgers player wearing May's No. 20 on their backs. "We are always playing this game with Troy in mind," said Ryan Crotin, one ot the Dodgers all-stars from this season. "The intensity level I'd say stepped up, and our aggression level stepped up since Troy's passing. That's what he would have wanted. He wanted us to be a pretty tough-nosed baseball team and that is what we started to become." That was certainly true in their first round playoff series with the Barrie Baycats. Down 3-0 heading into Game 4 in Barrie, the Dodgers pulled out a 3-1 win and then won again in Game 5,6-5, forcing Game 6 at Kinsmen Stadium Monday night. Unfortunately, not much fight remained in the Dodgers, as they lost their final contest 12-1, but the will they showed in battling back to make a series out of something that appeared as good as over alter Game 3 is nothing short of remarkable in light of all the distractions, Crotin accounted for the only run with a sixth inning solo homer oil" Derek McDnid. As for the May boys, both have been released from hospital and are at home now. On Monday, along with Lori, they made an appearance at Kinsmen Stadium Stadium to cheer on the Dodgers. "That made the way we came out to play even harder to deal with," said Dodgers manager Mike Prosper, who was disappointed with the performance. performance. "But even still it was so great to see them out and about like that. Truly inspirational." With the off-season now in gear, Prosper Prosper said lie hopes to keep the core of this Dodgers club together along with adding a couple of players "here and there. "It you look at Barrie and Toronto, there isn't generally a whole lot of turnover there and that is what we are hoping for," As lor replacing May and everything lie meant to the team, Prosper said that is impossible to do. However, lie says the club is in the process of putting the right people in place to make the organization organization as strong as ever. ï e F W v ■ Mmwmv wmÊÈMmmÊmwÈÊm,