Sports | DrumhellerMail - Page #252
11282024Thu
Last updateSat, 23 Nov 2024 12pm

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.”

Drumheller hockey cool to peewee body checking ban

    It seems the Drumheller hockey community isn’t warming up to new rules to take hitting out of hockey at the peewee level.
    Hockey Alberta announced last week that it would be eliminating body checking from the peewee division starting in the 2013-2014 season.
    “Our players’ safety is the foundation in making this decision,” said Hockey Alberta’s Chair of the Board, Rob Virgil. “There is overwhelming evidence that body checking is the single most consistent risk factor for injuries and concussions in youth ice hockey.”
    Jason Ewing is president of Drumheller Minor Hockey. While he is not speaking on behalf of Minor Hockey, personally he doesn’t like the change.
    “I am not sure if giving them two more years of non contact is doing anything for them. The kids are bigger in bantam, so maybe they can hit harder, but maybe they can take a hit. So, I personally would like to see it stay in peewee and educate the kids on the proper way of hitting and not headhunting. Perhaps that would stop some of the concussions,” said Ewing.
    He said his opinion so far matches the position he has heard in the Drumheller hockey community.
    “Most of the feedback I have gotten is they are not happy about it,” said Ewing. “There are some concerns about moving into bantam and kids are bigger. I believe it was back in 1982 when they moved it from bantam to peewee, so what makes us go back the other way?”
    According to a letter from Hockey Alberta to it members, the decision wasn’t taken lightly and it details the process. “This decision comes after several years of consultation, research, discussion and debate within this province. After consulting with our members at the 2011 AGM (Concussion Summit), 2012 AGM (Body Checking Summit), and with a survey of members in 2012, the Hockey Alberta Board of Directors established a Body Checking Review Committee. This committee, comprised of Hockey Alberta members, volunteers and staff, was tasked to review member feedback, the relevant scientific research and the positions of other Hockey Canada branches,” it states.
    For Ewing, he doesn’t see changing the age making much of a difference.
    “I would like to see more education around it because you step into bantam and you are still going to have kids learning to hit. I haven’t looked at the stats and everything else but I don’t’ see how being two years older is going to stop the concussion, for 14-year-old hitting a 14-year-old as opposed to a 12-year-old hitting a 12-year-old?”
    In the end, he says they have little choice  but to change.
    “It is just an adjustment we’ll have to get used to,” he said.


The Drumheller Mail encourages commenting on our stories but due to our harassment policy we must remove any comments that are offensive, or don’t meet the guidelines of our commenting policy.