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j a 32 thursday sept 12 2002 economist sun stouffville tribune sports masters of their domain by mike hayakawa staff writer t hey are considered long of tooth in the sports world but place them in a competitive environment with others in the same age bracket and the calendar can be turned back several years to a time when youth was served known as masters athletes quit is not a word in their vocabu lary competing in an era of big bucks and lucrative endorse ments for pro athletes masters athletes in canada rarely earn such luxuries they are however a loyal group of performers who contin ue their pursuit of happiness for a variety of reasons it can be a personal chal lenge said nancy black a 40- yearold aurora resident who has competed in world masters events and is the founder and head coach of the aurora masters swim club a competitive swimmer in high school ms black returned to the water after years away when she was prodded by a coworker who had heard of her exploits in the pool it was just a reminder that i had swam she recalled of her start on the comeback trail its not to say what a waste but it made me try it again upon returning to the pool the urge to compete and excel slowly returned to ms black her interest accelerated when she heard the world masters swim championships were being held in montreal that year ms black made the trip and swam her way to three top10 fin ishes in the 3034 age group class that was in 1994 two years later at the world masters event in sheffield england ms black recorded three top10 finishes in the 3539 age staff photosteve somerville a basketball star when he attended jarvis collegiate in toronto chris mcneilly now 47 still shoots hoops and has competed in several mas ters tournaments group while some masters athletes are spurred on by personal chal lenges others seek fulfillment through revisiting the competitive drive they knew as youths i just love to compete im competitive in nature and i feel im successful at it said shona maclachlan president of the markham masters swim club and a member of the masters swimming ontario board of direc tors i competed in university queens university from 197983 i enjoy training for a specific goal in mind and try to test myself goals how about standards ms maclachlan holds provincial short- and longcourse swim records for the 4044 age group in the 50metre 100m and 200m breaststroke events ms maclachlan was on a pair of relay teams that placed third at the 1994 masters worlds in montreal as competitive as most mas ters athletes are some like run ning enthusiast jerry kooymans stay active because its part of their lifestyle when i go for long periods of time without running i feel like im out of shape said the 47- yearold markham resident who excelled in the sport in high school and at princeton university but its also a stress reliever he added mr kooymans is no different from many other master athletes who says the burning desire to remain competitive lingers like other masters sports run ning has records for a variety of age groups and mr kooymans has several to his credit in 2000 he estab lished a canadian outdoor mark in the mile 434 and 3000m 852 in the 4549 age group class in 2001 mr kooymans set nation al outdoor records in the 5000m 1527 and 10000m 3142 in the 4549 group its nice to have the records said mr kooymans who credited much of his success to the coach ing at princeton it gave me something to aim for when i was training i had a goal or target and that motivates me it keeps me going as mr kooymans ages and slows down he says there are still incentives to break new age- group marks i still have goals that keep me going he said a basketball star when he attended jarvis collegiate in toronto chris mcneilly now 47 still shoots hoops and has com peted in several masters tourna ments see competing page 33 anne howland been there done that carriage drivers rely on voice commands the perspective was different but the feeling was the same having spent much of my life in the saddle i found myself sitting in a small comfortable buggy pulled by alex a sleek 20yearold morganquarter horse cross his ears seemed far away and his hind end a bit close but the other sounds smells and sights were like com ing home a lazy snort toss of the head stomp of the hoof lift of the tail ok that perspective is far better from the saddle my instructor on a fine september morning was marg shaw a flight atten dant in real life who took up driving years ago as a hobby that grew and grew our session started as all good equestrian lessons do tacking up or putting on the harness margs practised hands deftly buck led tucked and looped as she put on the girth breastcollar traces and blinkered bridle once alex was outfitted we pulled the buggy behind him buggy goes to horse not horse to buggy and slowly rolled it forward until the horse was between the shafts more buckling ensured horse and buggy were attached and with a helper at alexs head marg and i 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