Adrenaline December 2010 January 2011

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Dec/Jan2010/11

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Clark Gillies

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ADRENALINE Regina Sports December/January 2010/112

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December/January 2010/11 Features

04 From the Team

06 Cougar Volleyball

08 Y’er WelcomeWelcome to JerryWorld

9 Your Body, Your MindPersistent Pain

12 Regina Northwest Wrestling Club

14 All AboutKettlebells

16 Mark & Craig McMorris

19 Girls in the Game

20 Focus OnBiathlon

24 Gift Guide

26 Regina Dolphins

TABLE OF CONTENTS

10 Forever & TodayClark GilliesThe Moose Jaw-born NHLer is the only former Regina Pat to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Today, Clark Gillies makes his home in New York but has many Saskatchewan memories.

28 Stacey ShandTriathlons, ultramarathons, adventure races, extreme challenges - no matter what the event, Stacey Shand brings a positive attitude and never-give-up determination.

22 Field LacrosseThe Bishop’s University Gaiters have four players from Regina making their mark on the team. Keegan Durovik, Ross Wills, Joe Laprairie and Tyler Stensrud find Bishop’s the perfect fit.


FROM THE TEAMAdrenaline: Regina Sports

Issue 14: Dec ‘10 / Jan ‘11

Published by: Adrenaline: Regina Sports

Editor-in-Chief: Julie Folk

Administration Manager: Allie Folk

Sales & Marketing: Ashley Kasdorf

Contributors: Bob Hughes, Maurice Laprairie, Rachel Molder, Jay Roach, Jordan Robertson

Printing: Printwest

ISSN: 1920-468X

Contact:Adrenaline: Regina Sports(306) [email protected]

To advertise: [email protected]

Website: www.adrenalinereginasports.com

Cover design: Jay Roach/ AdSparkCover photo: By Jussi Grznar

Copyright covers all contents of this magazine. No part of the publication may be re-used or copied without the expressed written consent of Adrenaline: Regina Sports.

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Assisting the goal...As Christmas is on its way, we think about giving – giving back to our community and to sport.

We are often asked by our readers how they can help support Adrenaline. We are told the local content and profiles on athletes and sport in our community is appreciated, and how can they help? There are quite a few ways to do so.

The first is through a subscription. The cost is only $20 (+GST) for 10 issues every year; it’s a gift that keeps on giving – for you and for a loved one.

The second is for businesses to advertise with Adrenaline: Regina Sports, online or in print. We can work with you to help you with your advertising needs, and in return your product and service is seen by readers of the thousands of copies we print that are sent to homes and businesses in the community.

The third is for readers to support our advertisers! Not only do all of our advertisers have quality products and services, but they are supporting local sport and making Adrenaline possible. It is because of them you are able to read about your favourite local sports and athletes. So please support them in turn. We do here at Adrenaline, and we have not been disappointed.

At the time of our printing, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are on their way to the Grey Cup; congratulations to the Riders on a great season.

Enjoy our December/January issue and all it has to offer. We will be back in February with even more coverage of our community and our sports.

Happy Holidays,

Julie, Allie, and AshleyColumn photo by Maurice Laprairie


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There is change ahead for men’s volleyball in Regina –

improvement and growth.

The University of Regina Cougar Men’s Volleyball team sees progress on the horizon this season. But where it all starts is at the early levels of development – and the team is making sure they are doing all they can to promote the sport and help young athletes.

“In Saskatchewan as a whole, there are not a lot of boys playing volleyball,” said

Cougar head coach Greg Barthel, citing the popularity of football and other sports as a cause of why there aren’t many youth involved. “We have a working relationship with the (Regina) Volleyball Club where I serve as a bit of a mentor for the coaches, try to help recruit coaches, and our current roster players and alumni players are coaching with the club as well.”

The Cougar volleyball team features many local players – eight from Regina and one from Swift Current – which means they understand the necessity for quality

programming in Regina at the club and high school level. Brody Waddell and Jamie Wilkins are both in their fourth year with the Cougars. They came up through the high school and club system in Regina.

“I think (boys volleyball) is getting way bigger now compared to when I was playing in Grade 9 in my first year on the provincial team,” said Waddell. “I remember one year my club team had eight guys on it, whereas now they have to cut quite a few people to form a team. It is getting larger, which means there will be more talent. I think there is more information being put out there, and more knowledge of it.”

Waddell played for Martin Collegiate until his Grade 12 year, when he joined the Winston Knoll team because Martin didn’t have a senior boys team. It was there he was encouraged to look at playing at the university level. But he didn’t begin playing with the University of Regina until a couple of years later, when he knew what he wanted to do with school.

Wilkins had grown up watching the Cougars play and knew it was where he wanted to be.

“I was in Grade 12 and Greg was coming in for his first year coaching at the university,” said Wilkins. “I talked to him and he said I should come to tryouts. Growing up, I was watching the Cougars, and wanted to stay in Regina and take school. I had respect for the Cougars who played here and I always wanted to play with the Cougars. I wasn’t sure if I would get the spot, but I worked hard enough.”

Because much of the team is from Regina, they are usually quite familiar with each other. Having local players also means a larger fan base and shows younger players what is possible in Regina volleyball.

Setting it up


“It makes you want to give back to the Regina volleyball community,” said Wilkins. “Support the roots where you came from. It also helps you plug into those opportunities, so you go help out with your high school or the club teams, and you know where the opportunities are to help out.”

It’s important to do so because although the Cougars have a few new recruits, they will continue to be a local team.

“We do recruit outside the province or country to shape the roster, but I think the core always has to be Regina or Southern Saskatchewan,” said Barthel.

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Welcome to JerryWorldY’ER WELCOME

Column photo by Maurice Laprairie

DALLAS, Texas – You step out of the cab and it’s like heading into a whole new world, one you could only imagine. There, before your very eyes, is this monster of a creation that looks like a spaceship about to rise into the heavens. The first things that catch your eye are huge parking lots filled with vans, motor homes, and tents, surrounded by tens of thousands of people barbecuing. Some of them have been there for days. Tailgate parties.

They are all there to watch their beloved Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team, play a home game in the breathtaking Cowboys Stadium, a billion-dollar edifice to one man’s wealth. Opened just a year ago, it is the latest offspring of owner Jerry Jones; his biggest dream ever. He wanted to build the most luxurious stadium the world has ever seen, and he’s done it.

It can accommodate anywhere from 80,000 to 110,000 fans for football games - high school, college and pro – in addition to any other event you can imagine.

We were in Dallas to attend the annual North American convention of EXIT Realty. So, we just had to go to a game, and we were there the Monday night that Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo broke his collarbone and the New York Giants beat up on the Cowboys.

This is a stadium that makes you spend less time watching the game on the field because your eyes are stolen by everything else there is to see.

There is a pair of 391-foot high arches that span the length of the stadium. There are two, yes two, 60-yard wide high definition screens hanging along each sideline; the biggest in the world. There are massive glass doors the width and the height of the stadium at each end that open wide. There is a retractable roof over only the playing surface. The playing field is 50 feet below street level so when you walk into the place the first thing you see as you look down is the field below your feet. This season’s Super Bowl will be played there.

The Statue of Liberty could stand inside the stadium. It’s as wide as the Empire State Building is tall. The joint chews up 3 million square feet. For any major events, about 15,000 people are working inside and outside the stadium. Security is tight. You don’t get in until you pass through security.

There were some incredible moments when we went to the game. We wore Saskatchewan Roughrider sweaters, and it was amazing how many people knew about the Riders, who are Canada’s Team. Some wanted their pictures taken with us. A bunch of guys from New York City were sitting in front of us, and one of them turned around and said, in that unique New York accent,

“Hey, I know all about da Riders. Great team. I gotta friend whose nephew plays in Hamilton and he’s gonna be da greatest star they’ve ever seen up there.”

Now, Taylor Field may be a loud place to watch a game from, likely the loudest in the CFL. But you have not heard deafening, ear-numbing noise like you will in Cowboys Stadium when the Cowboys do something to get the crowd going.

JerryWorld is indeed in another world when it comes to stadiums. The final tally to build it was $1.5-billion, most of it put up by Jones. He was spending $1-million a day when it was being built. He travelled the world to get ideas for his place, visiting great stadiums everywhere. He wanted anybody attending an event to enjoy it and leave with a sense of awe. He succeeded.

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Persistent Pain: It’s not “all in your head”By Rachel Molder, Physiotherapist

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YOUR BODY, YOUR MIND

Pain has been described as a highly sophisticated danger alarm system that is designed to warn the brain when we are in danger. Pain is, in most cases, a blessing because is protects us from injury or disease; but when that pain becomes persistent, it may become a curse. Thirty-one per cent of adults in Canada live with persistent pain.

Once we have sustained an injury, there is a normal process of tissue healing that occurs in the body. This process includes stages of inflammation, scarring and remodelling. Pain is usually at its highest in the early stages of tissue healing, but pain will sometimes persist and get worse even after the tissue has had time to heal.

When we have persistent pain, changes happen not only in our tissues but also in our brain and spinal cord. The main changes in the brain are the manufacturing of more sensors in the pain ignition pathways and of more chemicals in the body to activate these sensors. The pain system becomes hypersensitive. Now things that used to hurt the body a little bit hurt a lot (i.e. a normal muscle stretch) and things that didn’t hurt before now hurt (i.e. touch to the skin).

Persistent pain is real. It’s not all in your head. But persistent pain compared to acute pain requires specific attention for it to be managed properly.

Some persistent pain management tools:

• Educate yourself about persistent pain and know that pain management is key to your recovery to a normal life.

• Understand that your hurt isn’t harmful - your nervous system is using pain to protect at all cost, not inform you about damage.

• Purposefully seek out activities that produce danger-reducing chemicals in your body (enjoyable activities, stress/anxiety management, exercise, etc.).

• Be persistent and patient while pacing yourself to gradually increase your activities and involvement in life - you can plan your return to normal life.


FOREVER & TODAY

CLARK GILLIEShas won four Stanley Cups, has been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and has had his #9 retired by the New York Islanders. One of his proudest accomplishments is the Memorial Cup he won with the Regina Pats in 1974.

“Winning the cup was a huge, huge thrill,” said Gillies from his home in New York. “To this day, to say you won a Memorial Cup as a Canadian junior hockey player, it’s very special.... When I was playing in the NHL, I used to say to the guys all the time, ‘how many Memorial Cups did you win? Oh ok...’ It’s great bragging rights, no doubt about that.”

Gillies grew up playing minor hockey in Moose Jaw, playing on up to five different teams a season in various divisions, in addition to football, basketball, and baseball. At the time Moose Jaw didn’t have a junior team, so he joined the Regina Pats in the 1971-72 season. In his first game, he was in three fights, was kicked out, and couldn’t wait to come back. He joined the team with 13 other rookies, including Dennis Sobchuk, Mike Wanchuk, and Greg Joly. They showed their talent from the start, making it to the western final in 1972, and losing to Flin Flon in the first round of playoffs in 1973. Then came the 1974 playoff season.

“Our top line was Dennis Sobchuk, Mike Wanchuk, and myself,” said Gillies, who had his number retired by the Pats in 2000. “They used to call me Gilchuk because I played with the two Ukrainians... (The team) was a pretty crazy bunch. I can’t tell all the stories, but Friday night games were fun. We’d play, get a case of beer, then go to someone’s house. There was a bar on Dewdney and Pasqua called the Paddock where we used

to hang out. We’d meet there more often than I’m sure the coaching staff wanted us to! It was right down the street from the RCMP Academy and we had many run-ins with the recruits from the RCMP. We got thrown out of that place at least once a week. Long story short, we had a fun team that liked to have fun off the ice together. But when we were on the ice, it was all business.”

The challenge of the playoffs that year for the Pats was against the Swift Current Broncos, who they had to beat to go onto play Calgary in the western final. The Swift Current series went seven games, and Gillies played against future linemate Bryan Trottier. After battling through the series they beat Calgary in four and then went onto the Memorial Cup.

“It was quite a battle,” said Gillies. “It was fun every step of the way, but a huge stepping stone into the NHL, and taught you what you needed to do to get the job done.”

Gillies knew teams were interested in him for the 1974 NHL draft. He went fourth

to the New York Islanders, with whom he would spend 12 of his 14 NHL seasons. Up until Gillies was about 18 years old, he had never thought of making hockey into a career.

Gillies took his role of the tough guy from the Pats onto the Islanders. He had 570 penalty minutes in 201 games with the Pats in his three seasons.

“That was just the way I played,” said Gillies. “We used to fight a lot. In Moose Jaw, even growing up there were no restrictions. At seven or eight years old, you could fight during the game. We fought then, and it happened a lot. I played hard, and I was one of the bigger guys. If somebody picked on one of the smaller guys, I was there to stand up for him, which usually equated into getting into a fight. I never really went looking for it. There were some instances trying to get things stirred up, but for the most part I really enjoyed playing the game. I don’t fight anymore, I’ll tell you that much! I’m retired from it now.”

From Moose Jaw to Buffalo


Brad Anderson played with Gillies on the Regina Pats for two seasons, and he was drafted the same year to the Islanders. He went to four Islander training camps with Gillies and also spent the 1975 playoff campaign with the team. He said Gillies actually didn’t really like to fight.

“He was such a big guy, it was almost called upon him to do so from time to time,” said Anderson. “He knew when to take care of business... In 1975 they were playing the Philadelphia Flyers in the playoffs. In those days, the Flyers were known as the Broadstreet Bullies and they were successful by beating teams up. There were a lot of bench-clearing brawls. I remember in the playoffs Clarkie met a guy by the name of Dave Schultz; his nickname was the Hammer. The game was in Philadelphia, and Clark was in his rookie season. They met just inside the blue line and Clarkie dropped the gloves and basically took it to the Hammer. The fans were screaming and then Clarkie was moving him around like a rag doll - the Spectrum went quiet. At the end of the period, it was just electric in the Islander dressing room. Everyone was pumped, and all the guys were saying never again are the Flyers going to push us around. I really believe that’s when the Islanders started their climb, with Clarkie being a rookie and taking care of business.”

Gillies had a reputation for playing better when something got him going – if someone gave him a cheap shot, or hurt one of his players.

“Teams would come in and say, ‘don’t wake him up, let him go out there and sleep,’” said Gillies. “Most of the time it was true, but they couldn’t resist. Let the sleeping giant sleep! I had to rely on my teammates to fire me up if need be.”

Gillies was the enforcer but he holds a few records in the scoring department – he has the NHL record for the most consecutive game-winning goals with four in a row. He also scored hat tricks on Ken Dryden and Grant Fuhr, and in 1980 when the Islanders beat the Boston Bruins in the second round of playoffs, he scored the overtime goal for the win. Gillies played for many years on a line with Trottier and Mike Bossy, on what was called the Trio Grande line. They played together up until 1980, before the Islanders’ won four Stanley Cups from 1980 to 1984.

“The first (Stanley Cup) was obviously the best because it was the first one,” said Gillies. “And it’s a tremendous feeling, because you go almost two months of very, very intense hockey. Every game is tough. It takes a special kind of player, a special kind of team, to go with that intensity with that much at stake and that much tension. There are a lot of sleepless nights, bumps and bruises... It tells you about the team we had and the commitment our guys made to winning.”

During the Islanders’ dynasty years, there were 16 of the same players who won the Cup together the four times. There were also the same trainers, general manager, and coach, the legendary Al Arbour. Anderson said Gillies – with the Pats and the Islanders – was always a quiet leader who led by example.

“He’s just a really great individual, and a true Saskatchewan athlete,” said Anderson. “He’s a very down-to-earth individual and a very good guy.”

After Gillies’ years with the Islanders, which included two years on the All-Star team, and playing with Team Canada twice, Gillies played two years with the Buffalo Sabres before retiring.

“I became a stockbroker a year after I retired,” said Gillies. “As soon as I finished playing, it was like, ‘boy, what do I do now?’ I took a year off and played some Old Timers hockey the first year I was retired... A friend of mine was manager for Smith Barney, so he gave me the chance to come back and get my security license, in January of 1990, my family moved back to New York (from Buffalo).”

Gillies had the opportunity to go into coaching, but decided the position was too uncertain and stayed in New York in the securities business; he now works for Raymond James Financial. He and his wife, Pam, have three daughters and five grandchildren; they still return home to Saskatchewan to visit family.

On one trip home, they were in the Toronto airport when Gillies received a phone call. He was connected to Jim Gregory at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“Jim came on the phone and said, ‘Clark, it is my pleasure to inform you that you are one of the inductees for 2002.’ It was a pretty emotional moment. I couldn’t control myself, I was just hysterically crying. My wife said, ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘no these are happy tears.’”

Gillies remains the only Regina Pat to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. He’s had a full hockey career and has only one more wish – to be a fan when the New York Islanders win the Stanley Cup once again.

Photos courtesy of Clark Gillies


The Regina Northwest Wrestling Club Mat Rats have an

interesting name and also a long history with a serious goal of developing and training young wrestlers. We met a couple of their wrestlers who have a “grap” on the future of the sport, and found out a bit of the club’s history.

Kyle DuMont, now the head coach, may not have been part of the original club, but he was one of the original “Mat Rats.”

“The Regina Northwest Club has been around since the ‘70s,” said DuMont. “After it started, Bruce Pierce began helping out at Martin, where the club ran out of for the first 20 years. Then Lloyd Church and my father (Kelly DuMont) got into it in the late ‘80s. They had wrestled in the club in high school, and they wanted us (Kyle and his cousins) to get involved. It was the Underdog wrestling club at the time, and we would come after they practiced; they started calling us the Mat Rats, and that’s how we got our logo.”

The club moved to Johnson Collegiate about 15 years ago. In its grandeur, the Regina Northwest Club won multiple

provincial and national titles. Now DuMont, who began coaching when he was done his university wrestling career, and the other coaches are building the club back up, starting from wrestlers as young as five years old. Athletes wrestle with their high school teams as well as with the club, and as early as Grade 6 they start looking at making the Western Canada Games and Canada Games teams.

“Wrestling is a neat sport, and an opportunity to do something that’s different,” said DuMont.

We had a chance to talk to two wrestlers on the team, and learn about their background, present and future in the sport. They both showcase what the Mat Rats are all about.

Leah Carr

With older brothers to teach her, Leah Carr was never a stranger to the sport of wrestling. Then she and her friends decided to join the Mat Rats three years ago.

“My brother had wrestled all throughout high school, and I would go and watch him and thought it was a cool sport,” said Carr. “I like the feeling when I go onto the mat and I like to know it’s just me doing what I do best, just giving it my all, every match, and knowing that nobody else can change how I wrestle except for me.”

Carr practices with her Miller High School team after school, goes home to eat supper, and then comes to club practice. The extra work has certainly paid off. She has won multiple tournaments, and last year won gold in city championships and silver at provincials.

“To be the silver medallist in Grade 9 at the Saskatchewan High School Athletics is huge,” said DuMont. “Then she went to the national championships and was highly competitive in her weight class with 28 athletes; she was just out of placing at nationals.”

With good memories so far and more to come, Carr is excited for the future. “My goal is to succeed in the sport,” she

Mat Rats

Kyle DuMont coaches Leah Carr (left) and Ashley MacNeil.


said. “I hope to go far with it. I want to wrestle all throughout high school and then maybe get a scholarship at university; it would be cool to do that.”

Ashley MacNeil

“Ashley MacNeil is a story of determination and perseverance,” said DuMont. “Ashley is legally blind and one of the most talented athletes in Saskatchewan high school wrestling right now.... She never backs down. Even on days when she loses her vision completely, she still comes out, practices, and works harder than anyone out on the mat.”

MacNeil has won multiple provincial club championships, medaled at many tournaments, and was second in her weight class at high school provincials last year. The Grade 12 student wrestles with the Mat Rats Club as well as with her high school, Winston Knoll.

MacNeil was in Grade One when her brother’s wrestling coach suggested Ashley try the sport. She wrestled for a couple of years, quit for gymnastics, and then came back to wrestling in Grade 7.

“Wrestling is one of the sports where a blind person is pretty much equal to a sighted person,” said MacNeil, “and it lets me get my aggression out! It’s really competitive and it’s more of an individual sport than any other sport.”

MacNeil has been legally blind since she was born. Without her glasses, she can only see a bit of light.

“With blind girls, you always stay in contact when wrestling,” said MacNeil, “so I can feel their movements better than a sighted person can. I can feel what they’re going to do before they do it.”

Last year MacNeil went to the Rocky Mountain Wrestling Camp. She was

given awards for her hard work and determination. She trained with members of the Senior National Women’s Team, and they said she was working them just as hard as they were working her.

MacNeil’s next goals are to medal at nationals, and then wrestle at the University of Saskatchewan.

The accomplishments she and Carr have had are due to the Mat Rats club.

There are many other promising members of the club, including Kyle Dishington and others who are looking towards nationals.

For more information, or to inquire about joining the club, contact: Kyle DuMont at [email protected]. Or, come see them at a practice, held Mondays and Wednesdays (6-7 pm for the young group; 7-9 pm for the older group) at Johnson Collegiate.

Photos courtesy of Jay Roach


ALL ABOUT

Kettlebells A great workout in a convenient little packageBy Jordan Robertson, YMCA of Regina Fitness Staff

Kettlebells originated in Russia in the 17th century and have been used for hundreds of years to train Olympic athletes, military, and police. The application of this equipment has now carved out a niche in the fitness industry for the general population.

Why are kettlebells so effective?

The majority of kettlebell exercises are multi-joint exercises that target multiple muscle groups at the same time. With kettlebells an individual can execute time-tested effective exercises such as: the clean, the snatch, and push jerk with relatively low skill level compared to the counterpart exercises with a barbell. An individual can achieve a quick, efficient, and very effective kettlebell workout in 30 minutes or less. Therefore they are great for individuals on the go.

A kettlebell workout is very versatile and can incorporate all the necessary health components in the same workout. You can train your cardiovascular system, muscle skeletal system, and improve your flexibility and strength all with a kettlebell.

Kettlebells are cost-effective and are relatively cheap compared to other fitness equipment and machines. Since kettlebells are small they can be easily stored under a bed or taken with on a holiday or business trip. There are no excuses when it comes to kettlebell training because you do not need a lot of time to accomplish an effective workout, you do not need a lot of money, you do not need a lot of skill, and you can do a kettlebell workout virtually anywhere.

A kettlebell workout design allows you to perform functional movements which will strengthen your muscles and allow you

to perform activities of daily living with more ease, strength, and effectiveness. However, it is important to seek professional guidance to ensure you are using kettlebells safely and effectively.

At the YMCA of Regina we have staff who will take you through a supervised kettlebell workout so you can see and feel the benefits of this excellent equipment. If you feel it is time to spice up your exercise routine, give us a call at 755-9622 or visit regina.ymca.ca to make an appointment with our certified fitness staff.

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Mark and Craig McMorris stand at

the bottom of a 108-foot jump, staring at the height. Finally Craig goes up and airs the jump, so off goes Mark to do the same. Later that year, they’re in Whistler. Mark does a back-10 double. Craig watches, and then off he goes to do the same.

“It’s crazy just how much we push each other,” said Craig, 18.

The McMorris brothers are making a name for themselves as they snowboard on circuits and tours close to home as well as internationally. Saskatchewan snowboarders have an identity of their

own on mountains across the world. With commitment, drive, a love for the sport, and a little bit of an extra push, it’s more than possible for those from the prairie province to succeed.

“There’s no way I would be here if it wasn’t for Craig,” said Mark, 16, a day before leaving for Sweden. “It’s so insane how much you feed off a sibling. He does something that I didn’t think was possible, and then I need to do it right then and there. Same for him. We’ve just been feeding off each other and riding together, and here we are. We’ve been wanting to one-up each other our whole lives. That’s the way to go. Being from Saskatchewan, for both of us, you do that much more and work that much harder when you’re at the mountains to get ahead of everybody.”

When Mark and Craig were young, their mom took them to Lake Louise. They picked up snowboarding and fell in love with it. Then they began making mountain trips, heading out to Mission Ridge in Fort Qu’Appelle whenever possible, and their dad built them a backyard snowboard park – it has all helped them to make careers out of snowboarding. A few years ago, they began snowboarding with Russell Davies and Team Saskatchewan. They were sponsored by O’Neill and Class Five Snowboards, although Mark is now sponsored and riding with Burton and Craig also rides with the OffAxis team.

“Two years ago I was at the US Open, and just went in there hoping to have a good run and have fun,” said Mark. “I ended up making it to the finals. I was standing there with all my snowboard heroes,

Prairie Pow(d)er


and it was like – ‘Whoa. I think I can do this.’ These people were at the same level I was, and they had more experience but I could maybe keep doing this and start winning these contests.... Last year on January 25th, 2010, I won my first event, an international world cup, and then it just all made sense. I could do this for sure.”

Mark rides in three different tours – the Dew Tour in the United States, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, and the LG FIS Snowboard World Cup. Typically he’ll complete the first couple of events of each, then see where he is ranking. From there he’ll focus on perhaps one tour over another. But snowboarding isn’t just about contests and tours – there are so many different aspects involved, such as photos and video.

“One of my favourite moments is the video part,” said Craig. “You work all year, you’re always going to different spots, trying to get as much footage as you can put together. Then you go to a movie premiere and watch yourself, and it’s fun to see people enjoying it.”

Some snowboarders just go to contests; others only do photo and video, which are put out by sponsors or film companies. Mark and Craig both do a bit of each.

“You can do so many things in snowboarding,” said Craig. “Contests are the sport part and then film and pictures are really artistic. Then for some people snowboarding is recreational. That’s what I like about it – there are so many things to do. If you don’t win a contest, you can go film.”

When summer rolls around, Mark and Craig can also be seen out on the water wakeboarding, or skateboarding at one of Regina’s skate parks. While they focus on snowboarding, they have competed in wakeboarding as well – for Craig, this is the first year he has put more of an emphasis on snowboarding, but he used to compete in both equally. The two sports cross over well.

“My goal in snowboarding is just to have the longest career I can and keep in the sport for as long as I can, and just love to still do it,” said Mark. “You’ve always got to keep it fresh and make sure you’re doing what you want to do in the sport and are happy doing it... It’s about expressing yourself and having the image on the snowboard that you want to have.”

Photos opposite page from left:Mark by Jussi Grznar, Craig by Kiriako Iatridis.This page from top:Mark, Craig. By Jussi Grznar.


Craig’s main goal this year is to get the best footage possible. He’s participating in a documentary, and also has his calendar planned out for contests over the winter. While Mark and Craig are based out of Regina, there is a lot of travelling to train, compete, and film.

“Now that the snow is falling, for the first time to get back on the board is exciting,” said Craig. “People say it’s a fun sport, but it’s really something I truly enjoy – to first start, it’s that feeling of adrenaline.”

To get into the sport, it takes a lot of help – Mark and Craig are quick to thank their parents for supporting them as they started out, and also note how far their sponsors have taken them to the next level. The support helps them continue to keep on snowboarding.

“It’s laid back but we take it seriously,” said Mark. “It should be taken seriously because it’s a high risk sport. But it’s a good way of life. You get to travel and meet people and have a ton of fun while doing it.”

Craig McMorrisPhoto courtesy of James Fredrich


Girls in the Game is the perfect title for this program, as it is all about girls getting active, getting involved,

and getting in the game.

Sport is now very inclusive to both girls and boys. But sometimes it’s a little bit harder for girls to take that first step.

June Zimmer, a nationally recognized coach, teacher, and researcher, saw this as an issue, and took her expertise and applied it to practical programming.

“We started in 2008,” said Zimmer of the origins of Girls in the Game. “I used to be a teacher, so I had always noticed with my physical education students that girls would choose to withdraw and not participate. I grew up as a competitive athlete, so I didn’t really understand that. I started working at the university and researching, and I realized we needed to do something.”

Zimmer took her idea to the University of Regina. With gym space, she began Girls in the Game, a program for girls. The first program was multisport, which 160 girls registered for. This year there are over 1,000 girls registered in programs in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, and White City, in the seasonal multisport programs, as well as more specific programs such as curling, golf, water polo, gymnastics, running, and yoga. There are also “mom and me” programs and this year for the first time there is a co-ed program for siblings, although the program as a whole is still focused on girls.

“They are really excited to come,” said Zimmer, who knows first-hand as her daughter is involved. “Our motto is confidence

and friendship. We try to instil confidence, we’re teaching them skills, and we focus on friendship and team-building. The goal is not to create the next Olympic athlete – although that would be awesome – but we really just want to create a generation of girls who are confident in their abilities and themselves, who might head out and play outside instead of standing there and watching.”

The base of the program is learning sport skills and then implementing them in modified games to put the skill into context. The older group will then start to understand strategy. The idea is to introduce girls to sport and activity and help them enjoy it and participate.

Tanya Elliott always wanted to make sure her daughter, Jorja, wasn’t afraid or intimidated by sport. Jorja had been involved in other activities, but when Elliott heard about Girls in the Game she really liked the idea behind it.

“She loves it,” said Elliott. “Girls in the Game, she wants to be there and has a blast. I think it has a lot to do with that it’s all girls, either her age or a little bit older, and the coaches are female. Having a role model is a good thing.”

Jorja has only been involved for one season, but Elliott has found that she is not as fearful of new situations and is more open to giving things a chance.

“I think this program also builds confidence and preparedness for the future,” said Elliott. “There are so many benefits.”

Girls in the Game fills up quite quickly, which shows how much both girls and their parents are enjoying the program and benefiting from it. During the nights at the U of R and other venues, there are many excited little girls in pink shirts running around, ready for their time in the gym. It translates outside of the program as well.

“I’ve had a couple of really cool experiences,” said Zimmer. “A dad emailed me, telling me he came home from work and his daughter was waiting with a hockey stick to shoot pucks, and that had never happened before – she had developed an interest.”

For more information, see www.girlsinthegame.ca.Photos courtesy of Girls in the Game

Girls in the Game


FOCUS ON

Cross country skiing is a workout.

Now try cross country skiing, then stopping and breathing evenly long enough to get off five very precise and very accurate shots.

Not that easy.

This is biathlon, a sport that began in the military. It is also a civilian sport, and we primarily see it on television once every four years during the winter Olympics.

But it doesn’t happen just once every four years – it’s everyday for many people in and from Regina. The Regina Biathlon Club has been going strong since the 1980s, and dedicated athletes work hard at mastering the two aspects of the sport.

“I’ve tried lots of sports and it’s definitely the most challenging I’ve ever tried,”

said Scott Perras, who began with the Regina Biathlon Club but now trains in Canmore, Alberta, with the national team and competes at the international level. “In many sports, if your general fitness improves, you improve in all parts of the sport. If your fitness improves in biathlon, you’ll be better across the field, but no matter how fit you are, it won’t make you a better shooter, so it’s a challenge.”

When Perras began, he was coached by Neil and Karen Fahlman, who are still with the club today. They became involved in 1997 and have coached their children, as well as many others in club, up to the national level.

“We just have a passion for the sport and absolutely love it,” said Neil Fahlman. “We’ve always tried to include the entire family. If the parents are coming out with their kids, we practice out of town (at the Regina Wildlife Federation), so the parents often stick around. We then encourage them to get their skis out and

we just include them in the lesson... So it’s a good bonding thing, and the road trips are always nice.”

The club is the only civilian club in Regina, although there are also cadet programs. The Regina Biathlon Club, which is a part of the Regina Ski Club, trains in the city during the week on trails in Wascana Park, and then out of town on the weekends. They focus equally on both elements of the sport; high performance skate-skiing, as well as shooting. Kids start as young as 8 or 9, using air rifles, and then the more skilled they become, they move up in levels.

Heather Boyle, 14, began with the club three years ago, following her brother, Connor, into the sport.

“The first time I skied, we were in Canmore for a competition,” she said. “Three days before the competition I tried skiing, and then I got third.”

Boyle has competed with the club throughout each winter, as they compete in a series of races called the Sask Cup. She has done fairly well, and looks forward to continuing in the sport.

“I have a lot of fun,” she said. “I like the shooting part, and that I can teach some of my friends how to ski.”

Races vary by age category, with the distances increasing by age. There are also two race formats. In a sprint race, an athlete shoots twice, five shots each time. For every shot missed, there is an extra 100 metre penalty loop. In another race format, if a shot is missed, there is a one-minute penalty added to the time.

When Perras joined, he was 15 years old and involved in other sports. He did well when he started, and after his first year of university he decided to train in the sport full-time.

Shooting for success

Scott Perras


“That first year (of training full-time) I ended up qualifying for the Canada Winter Games team,” said Perras. “I medaled in my first race. It was a shock for most people, myself included! We went onto medal as a team in the best we had performed as a team (at the Canada Games).”

Perras took his bronze from the Canada Winter Games and used it to motivate himself to continue. He and another biathlete from Regina, Mat Stachura, moved to Canmore to train where the national team was. For the past three years, Perras has been training with the national team, competing on the international circuit in Europe.

“There are always long-term goals in terms of the Olympics,” said Perras. “I’d say my improvements come from the training but every day I put that little extra in because of the motivation... I honestly think, from what I’ve seen, that those who put the most in get the most out. It’s tough because you have to be willing to fail... But I like to know I put everything on the table and the outcome is what it is.”

In Europe, biathlon is on the same professional level as hockey is here in Canada. Fans begin following biathletes. Perras still feels a lot of support from back home as well.

“It’s a really good spectator sport,” said Fahlman, who continues to follow Perras’ career. “Obviously I love the sport, but even more so because there is the stadium element of the shooting range, so you get to see all the great skiing technique – the hill climbs, the passing on the straightaways, and then you get to see the challenge on the range.”

The Biathlon Club encourages more people to become involved. They are beginning a masters recreation program, and would like to see more people come out to the sport.

For more information, see www.reginaskiclub.ca and click on the biathlon link.

Photos courtesy of the Regina Biathlon Club Heather Boyle


The Bishop’s University Gaiters have a secret weapon –

Saskatchewan.

Bishop’s University could be called “Canada’s Team,” as six provinces are represented by the players. Four of those players are from Regina.

“It’s a perfect fit here for people from Saskatchewan,” said Keegan Durovik, the captain of the Gaiters, who is now in his fourth season with the team. “It’s a really small school – 2000 people – and we’re in the suburb town of Sherbrooke (Quebec), and it’s completely English. I’m five minutes from school and it’s a perfect, tight-knit, small community and it fits us pretty well.”

Field lacrosse is still growing in Saskatchewan, but the players here are of high quality. As Bishop’s players come home for holidays or the summer, they spread the word about the lacrosse possibilities out east and in the United States.

“The better players coming out of Saskatchewan tend to be well coached in the field game, skilled, hard-working players,” said Rob Engelken, one of the Gaiters’ coaches. “They tend to understand our systems and fit into them well. The student athletes we’ve tried to recruit for our lacrosse program are good students, from good families, from good communities, and most significantly are just great people. The Regina players are the epitome of this! Keegan, Ross (Wills), Tyler (Stensrud), and Joe (Laprairie) stand out as quality student-athletes, who are hard-working, coachable, respectful, quality individuals who are pretty much in the same vein as Chris Lesanko (a

former Regina-born Gaiter) and others before him. So we’ve had a long history of having quality players and people from Saskatchewan.”

The Regina players are also true to the overall character of the team. The Gaiters made it to the semifinals this season and have been in the top four

of the Canadian University Field Lacrosse League seven times in the past ten years. As Engelken says, it’s not just about the talent of the team.

“Some of the teams we play against may have more talent on paper and are pulling from higher quality Ontario players, but we’re second to none as far as the character of the players we have on our team,” said Engelken. “This year we won a lot of one or two goal games, and that’s about the guys coming the extra step, and believing in themselves, in the system, and each other.”

When Durovik went home to Regina in the summers, he talked about the program that he enjoyed so much at Bishop’s. It led Ross Wills to think about going to school out east.

Biting intofield lacrosse


Wills, like the other Regina lacrosse athletes, began in the Queen City Box Lacrosse League, through which he developed as a player until also playing field lacrosse in high school. He played for Team Saskatchewan, but didn’t think about a future in the sport. Now that he has been to Bishop’s, he’d like to continuing growing field lacrosse in Saskatchewan. Having players as role models should definitely help.

“I know when I go home, I’m putting quite a bit of my time into the field lacrosse league in Regina,” said Wills. “This past year I was coaching and reffing, so it definitely helps because people know about us in the field lacrosse community in Regina.”

Joe Laprairie and Tyler Stensrud were inspired, and this year joined the Gaiters as rookies. Laprairie had thought about going to the U.S. to play, but decided to stay in Canada. Engelken said playing in Canada, there are many more opportunities to play in and win championships – whether they be provincial, regional, or national. The league is, overall, quite competitive and the Regina players enjoy being a part of it.

“The McGill wins were the biggest this season,” said Laprairie. “We had an overtime win that was huge. Those McGill games against our biggest rival, they were great games of lacrosse.”

Laprairie added with this team it was all about the players filling their roles – for him, it was faceoffs.

“Everybody had to find their roles and stick with them and specialize,” said Laprairie. “I really enjoyed it; it was a great learning experience.”

Stensrud hadn’t been thinking about continuing on in field lacrosse; he had finished a two-year course at SIAST when he heard about the program. He had played with Durovik, Wills, and Laprairie in box lacrosse and field lacrosse, and was interested in the idea of playing at Bishop’s. Now, he loves the school, the team, and encourages others to come play. Stensrud looks forward to his next four years with the team after this year; Bishop’s finished first in the league, won the quarterfinals against Toronto, and came up just short in the semifinals.

“The weekend before our quarterfinal game against Toronto, in the regular season, Toronto killed us,” said Stensrud. “Coming into our quarterfinal game, after the first half we were tied 5-5. Then we came back in the second quarter and ended up beating them 15-5. We didn’t want the same thing to happen as the week before, so we came through and shut them out in the fourth quarter.”

What the sport, the team, and the Regina players are all about is really the team bonding and how they come together.

“The guys used to just be teammates and now they’ve turned into brothers, and that sets us apart,” said Durovik. “We’re such a small community at Bishop’s, and that transfers onto the lacrosse field. We live with each other, and hang out together...Being part of a team like this has blown away my expectations. Living in Quebec and going to Bishop’s has been an unreal experience. It’s been nothing but positives, and one of the best decisions in my life to come out here.”

Photos courtesy of Maurice Laprairie


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The Dolphins reach the last hour of their practice, and

during a short break, their head coach, Sylvain Pineau, comes over to divide them into groups of three. They take to their lanes, and take off for a set of 75 metres full out, all out in their specialized stroke. Eight sets later, they’re breathing hard, exhausted, but happy with another successful and rewarding workout.

It’s a daily occurrence – with two workouts of two hours each day for senior athletes, swimming is a passion and a lifestyle. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It balances my life in every aspect and gives me something to be proud of,” said Jessica Winter, who at age 18 swims with both the Regina Optimist Dolphins Swim Club as well as the University of Regina Cougars swim team. “I’d be lying if I said I loved getting up at 5:30 am every day, but I love racing. And I love being recognized

for the hard work I put in. You get out of it what you put into it.”

Winter has been swimming with the Dolphins since she began in the Junior Dolphins program when she was ten years old. She realized swimming was a part of her future last year when she won provincials in the 100 m freestyle and was then in the top eight at age group nationals in the 400 m freestyle. Since Pineau took over coaching the team in May of 2009, the increased workouts and longer training sets – in addition to her own dedication to nutrition and managing school and life around her sport – Winter has continued to excel and surprise herself with her accomplishments.

Winter, Quinn Moore, and Cassandra Brassard are all swimming with Team Saskatchewan and will be headed to Portland for an international competition with Pineau in mid-December. It’s still early in the season, but Pineau feels that the club as a whole has come a long way and is ready to move forward. The Canadian Open at the beginning of

December will show how far they have come.

“They swam really well at their first meet,” said Pineau. “I think that has helped them buy into what they’re doing. They know that if they stick with the program, it’s a guaranteed improvement.”

That means a commitment to going all out in the pool, and spending the other 20 hours each day living healthy and dedicating themselves to choose the best habits for success.

“If one guy gets tougher, the next one has a better chance,” said Pineau. “At practice you’re as strong as your weakest link... On any given night, you can have a couple of guys win a race who aren’t supposed to, and everybody gets foot taller. That’s where the team comes into play – the

That extra stroke

“You have to want to be better than you were

yesterday.”- Sylvain Pineau


stronger everybody is, the faster they’re going to swim because they feed off each other. But you need to be self-disciplined and you need to love swimming. To be a good swimmer, you need to like to be fit, to strive to come to practice, and to get better. You have to want to be better than what you were yesterday, beating yourself.”

Brassard is a swimmer who has shown just that. At the age of 14, she has found success with the backstroke and is striving to achieve even more. She began with the program when she was six, and while she has played other sports, swimming has taken precedence.

“When I first started swimming, it felt natural,” said Brassard. “I have an extra love for it.”

Swimmers start in the Junior Dolphins program, and participate in fun competitions, and then when they move on to the regular Dolphins program, the real competition begins.

“I started peaking when I was 13,” said Brassard. “I got a silver at age group nationals in the 100 back. I went to senior nationals in Victoria and swam pretty well there. I didn’t make the finals, but I’m hoping this year will be better.”

Brassard has qualified for the Olympic trials, so she hopes to take the next steps to get there, starting with placing at nationals this year.

“Competing is a lot of fun, and in this sport, the more you travel you get to meet lots of people,” said Brassard. “Within the club, coming to practice every day I see all my friends and it’s a lot of fun. We all have something that we want to achieve, and we’re feeding off each other to achieve it, so it’s a really good environment. The coaching is really good. They have a lot of confidence in us and there’s a lot of trust

between swimmer and coach and we really believe they know what they’re doing to help us get better.”

With 200 swimmers in Junior Dolphins and 100 in the regular Dolphins program, Regina has a lot to offer. Pineau hopes to keep growing and improving the program as the individual swimmers look to become faster, improve, and make a name for themselves.

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Photos courtesy of Maurice LaprairieOpposite page, bottom right:

Cassandra BrassardAbove: Jessica Winter


Stacey Shand made a promise to herself 12 years ago. She’s not

only kept that promise, but exceeded it far beyond what many would see as humanly possible.

She has run 146 kilometres over the Crowsnest Pass in Alberta in 27 hours and 48 minutes. She ran 227 km over volcanoes in Costa Rica. She swam 3.8 km, biked 180 km, and ran 42.2 km three times in three Ironman races. And, most recently, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya in four days each.And these are only a few of Shand’s many

accomplishments; her list just continues to grow .

“I have a lot of fun,” said Shand, who was born in northern Saskatchewan, and came to Regina to attend university after growing up in Ottawa. “There are definitely hard times, but in the end I feel like I am really living, and taking full advantage of my body. I haven’t reached a limit yet, which keeps me trying different things and going longer or bigger or harder.”

When Shand was in university, she was in a car accident that crushed her legs into the passenger dashboard of the car. Later that day she knew she had to have surgery

and thought of how she had never been very active.

“I thought, ‘whatever comes out of this, whatever I have left after my surgeries, I’m going to take full advantage of it,’” said Shand.

Since that time, she kept to her promise, starting slowly and building to where she is today. The journey started after her accident. She had two knee surgeries and physiotherapy, and then Shand slowly began training herself.

“One night I was walking home from the university, and a runner went by. I thought I should give it a try,” said Shand. “Once he got out of the distance, I started jogging. I would jog for a minute and walk for three, and it felt as empowering as it always looked when I saw people running.”

Shand’s first race was the five km CIBC Run for the Cure when she was 25 years old. After the race, she felt like she was on top of the world and went home and registered for the next race – the Hypothermic Half in Regina.

Later that year, when she saw the See Jane Tri clinic poster, she knew it was the perfect fit with the cross training she was doing in swimming and biking. She participated in her first triathlon, and soon she signed up for her second.

“A lot of it is just adrenaline,” she said. “You get pumped up and everybody’s talking about doing a race, and it’s like, ‘Awesome, I’ want to do it!’ I get geared up really quickly and excited about things. When I say I’m going to do it, I’m really firm about committing to it.”

Surpassing Mountains


To build up to a full marathon, Shand ran a half marathon a month. Once she was more comfortable, she started pushing the limits, and she likes the idea of seeing what her body can handle in back to back races.

“Very early on I had heard about the Ironman,” said Shand. “I went home and googled it. On a sticky note, I wrote down the distance of the swim, bike, and run. I put it on my bulletin board and for two years it sat there looking back at me. I knew I would do that distance one day.”

Shand soon realized she was more comfortable with endurance events than faster short events; she would much rather do an Ironman or half-ironman than a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon. Once she signed up for her first Ironman, she spent a year focused on building up to it. She ran a marathon a month to prepare, and her first Ironman, in Louisville, Kentucky, was as awesome as she had always thought it would be.

From that point on, she’s challenged herself everywhere from the Rock & Ice

Ultra Marathon in the Arctic to adventure races and the Route of Fire in Costa Rica. She’s a triathlete, an ultra marathon runner, and an adventure racer – no one description really fits.

“I think mixing it up is what keeps me so excited and interested and energetic,” said Shand. “Honestly, I think what keeps

me injury free is cross training. I know I don’t fit into one circle, but I can’t imagine stopping anything. I love it too much.”

Shand knows she could possibly improve more at one discipline if she focused on one style, but her real motivation comes from seeing how quickly the body can adapt to training and new challenges. Shand plans her races about a year in advance. From there, she maps out her training schedule according to her goal races for the season. Her trainers and coaches assist her in putting together a plan while Shand herself, a researcher at the university, prepares for challenges.

“I spend a lot of time thinking about races, and I make a plan for every circumstance. The more different situations I’ve been in, the more I’ve learned and experienced, so the mental planning has become more a part of the events than they ever were before,” said Shand. “I love the research. When I went to Costa Rica, it was so fascinating to do research about what snakes to watch for and what plants to watch for. For Africa, it was fascinating to learn about altitude and what it does

to your body. When you’re in the middle of these events, you can get blindsided, but if you feel like you’re prepared in 98 per cent of the other areas, it’s like, ‘Let’s make a plan and we can deal with this when something comes up.’”

Shand was doing ultra-marathon events such as Sinister 7 and the Death Race, which deal with mountains and altitude. With strong finishes (only 12 women have finished Sinister 7 in five years), Shand has qualified for international trail running events. She wanted to continue to learn and push herself. When she was the second place female in the 227 km Route of Fire in Costa Rica in February, she saw there were more opportunities than she had ever realized.

“I had no idea what my body would even do, and it only got stronger each day (of the multi-day event),” said Shand. “I live in Saskatchewan, and I didn’t even know if I could handle mountains. When I knew I could do them, I wanted to see how much I could handle mountains.”

Through her research position at the university, Shand has worked with many people in Tanzania near Mount Kilimanjaro. She decided to attempt to climb Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya to see how her body would react; if the climbs went well, international races, such as one through the Alps, would become all the more possible.

Shand left for Africa in September, and spent her first week there doing research and visiting Green Hope Organization’s project sites, medical clinics, and orphanages, all with patients affected with AIDS and HIV.

“As much as I put myself through, I don’t know challenge,” said Shand. “And I hope when I do face extreme challenge in my life, this will somehow be preparation or training for me.”


Shand had her Kilimanjaro climb planned, followed by one day of travel to Mount Kenya, and from there she returned home.

There are three routes up Kilimanjaro. Out of the 27 guide companies who take climbers up the mountain, only three offer guides for the Umbwe route – the toughest, steepest way up. The biggest challenge is the altitude and the body’s acclimatization to it. The average time to

climb the Umbwe route is seven to ten days, and the minimum is six. Shand wanted to climb it in four days, but the company had trouble believing she would even be safe on the route. On the evening of their second day of the climb, Shand’s guide told her they could try for the four days she wanted.

“My guide knew other guides, and when we’d meet other groups, the guides would ask him who he was there with,” said Shand. “He’d point to me and say we did the Umbwe – which they call the double whiskey route because you feel like you’ve taken a double shot of whiskey the whole time because it’s so hard on your lungs. Then they would look at me and they would say ‘cheetah, cheetah!’”

Mount Kenya was a completely different experience. The altitude isn’t as bad, but the climb is much more rugged and physically challenging. Shand completed her climb up Kenya in four days once again, carrying all of her water for two and half days, climbing all the way up.

Shand has accomplished a lot in the past few years, but she was adamant that nothing comes easy or is ever taken for granted.

“There’s always doubt in your head,” she said. “Even on Kilimanjaro, I had a half hour to get to the top peak, and I didn’t know if I could do it. I was so physically exhausted and everything was so strange – my heart rate wasn’t the same, my lung capacity wasn’t the same. But then you get there, and there’s that rush that you’ve accomplished that. I’ve felt like that in so many circumstances. In Costa Rica, I remember finishing and I was almost in shock that I had run that long. I said to this guy, ‘do you know how many times I thought I couldn’t get to this point?’ He said, ‘that’s why we’re here. We sign up for these things because we don’t know if we can do them.’”

Shand’s inspiration and motivation comes from many different areas – friends, family, and enjoying life to the fullest.

“I was at the base of a rock face on Kilimanjaro and I could see the glaciers and realized I had not thought of money or work or anything in the past two days,” said Shand. “What had I been thinking about? I had been thinking about how is my heart, how are my lungs, how is my body, am I drinking enough, am I eating enough? I thought how this was an escape from real life. Then I stopped myself. This was not an escape from real life. This was real life. I was so in tune with everything that was going on with my body; that’s as real life as you can get. When I feel human is when I’m out there doing these things. It’s just me and nature. The more I get to experience that, the more I want to because I really feel like I’m living.”

Shand is excited to keep going and see what’s next. Whatever she’s doing, it all comes back to her beginnings in sport.

“I’m taking full advantage of my body and I haven’t reached a limit yet,” she said. “I’d like to go further and higher and harder. I’m just living up to that promise.”

Photos courtesy of Stacey Shand


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Adrenaline December 2010 January 2011