Sports | DrumhellerMail

Rage ride three game winning streak

    The wins keep piling up for the Rage, Drumheller’s bantam girls softball team.
   In their last three games, the Rage have gone 3-0 and are currently in second place in their league, behind West Valley, who are currently in first with a 4-0 record.
   On May 13, the Rage took on Airdrie and came away with a huge 19-1 win. Two days later, the Rage followed up with another 13-2 blowout. The team then had a week off, but came out strong with a 17-4 victory over SBR 1.
   After the three games, the Rage have an impressive 49 runs for and only 7 runs against.

Shae-Lynn Skytt throws a heater. The Drumheller Rage are riding a three game winning streak, defeating Airdrie, Nosecreek, and SBR 1 19-1, 13-2, and 17-4, respectively. The Rage are hungry for some tougher games and will be in Stettler this weekend to face some of the toughest teams in the province.

   The Rage are waiting to play West Valley in June to settle who is the top team in the league.
   “In league, there is probably just the one team that’s going to be competition for us. We have a double header in the middle of June against them,” said Shari Fournier, who coaches the Rage.
   The Rage are setting their sights on provincial gold and the easy wins aren’t making it easy to prepare.
   “It’s been tough. We’ve been trying to increase our intensity and work really hard in practices, so when we head to provincials and this tournament, we will bring our game. League hasn’t been offering that competition, so we’re trying to self-impose some harder training,” said Fournier.
   The Rage will be heading to Stettler this weekend to test themselves against some tougher opponents.
   “We have a tournament this coming weekend where we’ll by playing some pretty tough competition. There are a few teams in the tournament that I recognize. I’m confident there will be some good games,” said Fournier. “That will be our true test leading up to provincials.”
   One of the teams will be from Czar, whom the Rage defeated at semifinals in last year’s provincial tournament.
   The Rage will have a chance to show their stuff in front of a home crowd early in June. On June 8, at 10 a.m., the Rage will take on the Calgary bantam boys team at the Newcastle diamonds. A second game will follow at 1 p.m.

Alberta Golf August championship swings into Drumheller

    Some of the most avid golfers in the province will be descending into the Valley in just over two months.
   The Alberta Golf Association (AGA) has scheduled their annual Men’s Mid Handicap Championship, for golfers between a 6 and 25 handicap, on August 7 and 8. The venue is Drumheller’s Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club.
   “Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club has been chosen by the Alberta Golf Association to host one of its provincial championships,” said Tom Zariski. “We’ve secured the championship here to see how things go.”
   The tournament is one of 14 held by the AGA. This will be the first time Drumheller had been chosen as host. Nearly 100 golfers are expected to participate.
   It is hoped the tournament will produce a considerable economic spin-off for the Valley.
   “It obviously helps the economics of Drumheller. It’s interesting to note that golf tourists spend more per capita than most other tourists,” said Zariski. “We will have people, between now and the tournament, coming to Drumheller to play on our golf course, which brings more people here.”
   The Dinosaur Trail course is one of the most unique in Alberta. To ease new golfers into the badlands, the order of the holes has been changed. Golfers will do five holes on the riverside front nine, then head to the back nine in the badlands, then finish off with four holes on the front nine.
   “Our back nine is quite unique with the badlands. It’s kind of a Jekyll and Hyde, course. The front nine is nice park setting and then you get up to the back nine and there are no trees and different terrain. It really creates a challenge for golfers,” said Scott Westman, general manager of the Dinosaur Trail Golf and Country Club. “Most people, even if their skill level isn’t the greatest, enjoy the challenge of the back nine, and the beauty and uniqueness of it.”
   If all goes well, more tournaments may choose Drumheller in the future.
   “It’s kind of a foot in the door. There are people from Alberta Golf who say ‘we will never have a tournament in Drumheller, that course is just too weird’. I’m trying to prove them wrong,” said Zariski. “We could conceivably get on the rotation for Alberta Golf, maybe even all of Canada, and have bigger, better, more important, and more attended tournaments in the future.”

Brothers swim with sharks in Alcatraz race

    Two Drumheller swimmers are taking the plunge into one of the biggest competitions in their lives.
   On Wednesday, May 15, Austin and Parker Knibb, 17 and 15-years-old, respectively, headed to San Francisco to participate in the 21st annual SharkFest swim on May 19.
   “It’s something the Airdrie (swimming) group wanted to do and asked us if we wanted to go along,” said Austin.
   The race takes 800 swimmers on a 2.4 kilometre swim from the famed Alcatraz Island to the shore of San Francisco Bay.
   “This is our first open water swim as a club. It differs quite a bit from other swim events, because you have to swim with currents, swells, sharks, and freezing cold water,” said Austin.

Brothers Parker (left), 15, and Austin, 17, will be diving into shark-filled waters on May 19 for the 21st annual Alcatraz SharkFest. The 2.4 kilometre swim will take the two, along with nearly 800 other swimmers, from Alcatraz to the shores of San Francisco Bay. The waters surrounding San Francisco are thought to be densely populated with sharks.

   Waters are estimated to be roughly 17 degrees celsius on average.
   There is also another danger to consider.
   “It’s the second largest population of sharks in the world,” said Austin. “I think you just have to be faster than the other person, but there are a lot of people and they take every precaution.”
   Austin added that Parker was feeling a little nervous after watching Shark Week on the Discovery Channel.
   Both brothers are very active swimmers, having started training seven years ago, are members of the Badlands Aquatic Club, and are hoping to head to nationals once again to compete.
   “As far as swimming goes, hopefully we’ll make it to nationals this year. They’ve upped the requirements quite a bit, but I have good hopes for it,” said Austin.
   Austin hopes to keep swimming and that SharkFest might open the door to other events around the world.
   “We’ll see if I can get a scholarship in swimming. I’ve come this far, it’d be a shame to quit now,” said Austin. “This is probably a door to do other events. We’ll do this again next year, hopefully. We’ll see how it goes.”

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