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Wednesday July 7, 1999 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER A7 COMMENT * Dragon Ladies surprised themselves with first place finish * They never would have believed it was possible. The group of self-confessed "old gals" more comfortable kicking around a soccer ball not only beat out a high school team of kids half their age at the annu­ al Toronto International Dragon Boat Race, but they came up with first place in their division. "We went way beyond our expectations," said an ecstatic Heather McIntosh, about the first place win in the Toronto International Dragon Boat races a couple of weeks ago. The team of soccer players - all but three in their 40s - had been training for nine weeks just off Toronto Islands leading_______ up to the intense 640 meter race that lasted just a few minutes. Their final time was 3:44 seconds to be exact....a personal best for the team and a whole boat length in front of the second place team crossing the line. How did it feel? "Incredible," said McIntosh, already planning on gathering a team for next year. She is bolstered by the growing popularity of dragon boat rac­ ing, a strategic intense race that she says may be considered an Olympic sport. "It's just getting so huge. It's amaz­ ing, really." The weekend was filled with won­ derful memories. The rally of all the teams on Thursday followed by the races themselves : a good first race fol­ lowed by a disappointing second race DIANE HART the next day. But on Sunday, they decided to pull together, literally, as a team and prove to themselves they could put in a great time on what would be their last - and astonishingly best - race ever. At most of their practices early in the season, they were clocked at 4:09 or 4:14. Their winning time - 3:44 - put them at the top of their division. The team of 21 women received the Canadian Airlines Women's International Award for women in the "B" division, one of six teams trying to get to the finish line ahead of the _______ rest. The race was good from the very start, said McIntosh. At the start of the race on Sunday, the team looked at the teak boat in Lane 3 and wondered how they would fare. After all, they were used to prac­ ticing in the lighter - and faster - fibre glass boats. With hundreds cheering them on, they took off like a shot, paddles up and ready to reach and pull their way in unison to the finish line. The key, according to the team., is never look at the other competitors, all of whom are pulling as hard as your team. "It's tempting just to glance over and see how you're doing, but that's not what you to do. You have to focus and listen to the instructions. And then you just give it all you've got," she said. At one point in the race, another The winning entry in the Women's B division of the Toronto International Dragon Boat Race turns around after cross­ ing the finish line. Members of the team include Janine Wren, Karen LeBlanc, Fanny Marr, Sandra Brans, Heather McIntosh, Lynda Rennie, Jane Carter, Ingrid Schmidt, Kathy Gelder, Kim-Mata Bartsch, Lynn Eagle, Julie Udall, Joyce Allman, Ann Doherty, Joy Uniac, Kelly Sheehan, Pam Edwards, Julia Hutchison, Gina Busbridge, Tanya Civiero, Rose Currie, Maureen McAlpine, Jo-Anne Thompson (reserve) and Len Minty (coach). boat was catching up and it was then the team, dubbed Phoenix, heard the strategic call: "6 pack" which cued them for six long strokes. The strategy worked as they moved ahead and crossed the finish line a boat length ahead of the others. McIntosh said the weeks of training and preparation helped, particularly the training that pushed them just a lit­ tle. "You have to know you can go past where you thought you could go and that's what happened during the race. We just scooted ahead when we worked even harder and that's what made the difference." "We had no idea where we were: at the time you're just so focused and concentrating on breathing and keep­ ing in sync that you don't have to time to worry about where you are." There is also the distracting sounds all round: the calls of other teams, the sounds of the drums in the boats, the cheering crowd and the sounds of the competitors straining to reach for their long and short strokes. The event is made up of a series of strategically placed strokes - long and short - and glides all for just a few short minutes. But from the very start of the gun, it's all on the line as every team member must work hard to get to the finish line. "I felt honoured to be part of it all," said McIntosh. "Here we were just a bunch of older women hoping to do okay. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we'd do so well." "It was just an incredible day," she added. I i Ii Air rage passengers? Ask them to leave So, I'm reading a newspaper on a Canada 3000 flight from Europe and the headline of this particular article reads: "Irritable? It may be your chemistry." And I think to myself, yes, I am irri­ table but I don't think it's my chemistry. I'm pretty sure it's the cretin sitting behind me who has to be doing chin ups on my seatback to jar me that hard, that often. (And the fact that I can't get him to quit jolting my seat is my fault. I can only glare in English.) Irritability on commercial flights seems all the rage these days with sto­ ries of flight attendants being verbally abused, punched, kicked, slapped and -- Warning: If you believe dinner on an airline could not possibly get any less appealing, stop reading this column right here! -- urinated on, it's true. (I just hope it wasn't during that demonstration when the stewardess explains how, in an emergency, your seat becomes a flotation device.) Of course, now the airlines are con­ sidering banning alcohol aboard all flights. Great. Then nobody will be able to eat the food. What they should do is introduce a selective locking system for the seat- belts. At the first sign of trouble, the air rage idiot is locked into his seat and he doesn't move until he's greeted on the ground by a cop with handcuffs and a stack of paper towels. Either that, or just ask 'em to leave. Also, showing an anger manage­ ment video would be preferable to the latest Adam Sandler movie and it would have a plot. Two words for flight attendants who have strapped an overworked and stressed-out businessman into a seat, cut him off nicotine cold turkey, give him old stuff to read, and really old stuff to eat; brewed decaf. You keep pouring caffeine into him and his abnormal brain waves will eventually show up on the pilot's radar screen. I'm very much opposed to air rage being perpetrated on in-flight person­ nel. I'd much rather see it used on the person at the ticket counter who, after WILLIAM THOMAS All The World's A Circus establishing the seat number of the woman with the screaming baby that badly needs a diaper change, puts me in the next seat right next to her. If not that person then the one who designed the airline's seating arrange­ ments by watching automobile crash tests and noticing that when the back­ seat becomes part of the front seat upon impact, the dummies caught in the mid­ dle didn't complain all that much. The two good things about airline travel these days are speed and cost. You can now fly to Europe in about the same time it takes a guy who lives in Don Mills to drive to Pearson Airport. And cheap! I just flew Canada 3000 from Toronto to Terceira in the Azores for $299 return. Canada 3000 is very, very no frills. For instance, the eight pretzels in the complimentary snack are not allowed to have more than two loops and instead of in-flight movies, they fly slow and low over drive-in theatres until you're out over the ocean. I don't think the coin-operated oxy­ gen masks are a good idea and I hate having to walk out on the wing to go to the bathroom but that communal wet nap they pass around is okay as long as you're sitting near the front. Suffice to say, Canada 3000 is so cheap they work their Air Miles program out in kilome­ tres. As I said, I'm dead against drunk and disorderly passengers on airlines, even if they can prove they're members of a rock band. However, there are ways to let the staff on airlines know you're not happy about their service and seat- side manners. Oh sure, you can put Buy One Get One Free stickers on all the tobacco and alcohol products listed in their duty free catalogue or spill just a tiny bit of liquid preferably bright green, down the side of the emergency airsickness bag in front of you, as kind of an appetizer enhancer for the next guy or even circu­ late an official looking note directing people to "Please pass leftovers to back of the plane to help stock our overseas food bank." And spreading the rumour of free flight vouchers being taped under 10 lucky seats makes for a lot of fun, just when they reduce the oxygen and everybody starts dozing off. Although illegal, the best one is after you check off all the "No" boxes on that Canada Customs card about bringing in citrus fruit and firearms (which by the way would be a great ad for one-stop- shopping in the State of Florida)-- you knowingly and willfully go visit a farm in Canada within the forbidden 14-day period. Oh yeah, I do it all the time and I've never been caught because I travel under the cover of darkness, always tak­ ing a different route to an unmarked farm in a desolate area. The last time I was so upset with the airline, I made a point of petting a few animals too! So, there you go -- a peaceful yet effective protest program against airline passenger abuse, preferable to air rage and well short of a 19-nation NATO peacekeeping mission that begins with "Hi. We're with democratic govern­ ments everywhere and we're here to help." If you have a news tip or story idea, call the Oakville Beaver at 845-3824 OAKVILLE FESTIVAL Live Jazz in Downtown Oakville JULY 91011 Jazzline: 905-815*2022 www.oaKvillejazzfest.com Presented by 0> O A K V I L L E 8 45 -6601 THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF OAKVILLE TENDER FOR: Three (3) Tandem Spinner, Detachable, 8 Cubic Yard Salt and Sand Spreaders TENDER NUMBER: T-17-99 SEALED TENDERS on forms provided will be received by the Town Cleric, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario, L6J 5A6 until 2:00 p.m., local time on TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1999 Specifications, tender forms and tender envelopes may be obtained from the Town of Oakville Purchasing Department, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario L6J 5A6; Telephone 905-338-4197. Tenders will be opened publicly at a meeting o f the Tender Opening Committee at the Oakville Municipal Building, 1225 Trafalgar Road, Oakville, Ontario on Tuesday, July 20, 1999 at 2:30 p.m. local time. The Town of Oakville reserves the right to reject any or all tenders and the highest or lowest as the case may be will not necessarily be accepted. R.J. Coumoyer, C.I.M., P.Mgr. Director, Purchasing and Office Services Tender a d v e r t is in g m a y be v ie w e d o n th e O .P .B .A . w eb site , h ttp :/ /v a x x in e . co m /o p b a . 1225 TRAFALGAR ROAD • OAKVILLE, ONTARIO • L6J 5A6 M E R Suits 20% to 50% OFF Warren K. Cook, Cambridge, Ermenegildo Zenga, by Cambridge, Matteo Maas, Samuelsohm Sport Coats 20% to 50% OFF Warren K. Cook, Cambridge, Ermenegildo 7enga, by Cambridge, Matteo Maas, Samuelsohm Ties $19.99 or 2/$35.00 Value to $75 Pants 20% to 50% OFF Keithmoor, Nash, Gala Dress Shirts 20% to 50% OFF Sportswear 20% to 50% OFF M E N 'S W EA R LIM ITED 294 Lakeshore RcL E., Oakville (Lakeshore and Trafalgar) (905) 845-5542 http://www.oaKvillejazzfest.com http://vaxxine COMMENT DIANE HART WILLIAM THOMAS All The World's A Circus Live Jazz in Downtown Oakville JULY 91011 OAKVILLE THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF OAKVILLE TENDER FOR: Three (3) Tandem Spinner, Detachable, 8 Cubic Yard Salt and Sand Spreaders TENDER NUMBER: T-17-99 TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1999 1225 TRAFALGAR ROAD • OAKVILLE, ONTARIO • L6J 5A6 294 Lakeshore RcL E., Oakville (905) 845-5542