“There’s no shortage of challenges and real mountain topography here,” Jan Neuspiel says of Vancouver Island’s mountains. “Island mountains have a unique beauty that is all their own.”

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

As the storms roll through day after day, the portents are all in place for another wild winter on Vancouver Island. The snow is piling up in the mountains and more snowfall records are likely to be set as La Nina returns again this year. For Cumberland based Island Alpine Guides (IAG) that means they are likely to be busier than ever.

IAG offers extensive courses and guided trips to make exploring the Island “Alps” enjoyable and safe. Year round they offer an array of climbing and hiking packages. In winter, they specialize in avalanche training and back country touring.

Jan Neuspiel, IAG’s managing director, has 25 years guiding experience. Born and raised in Ottawa, the genial 50-year-old says that skiing was a family affair—“almost a religion.” He left Ottawa “very soon after first year university to become a ski bum, which I’m proud to say, I’m still doing today on some level.”

Neuspiel’s first stop was to explore the Rockies, where he soon became involved in back country skiing and mountain climbing. His introduction to guiding was in the river rafting business. “I discovered that I really loved that way of life, that job—the whole business of taking people into beautiful wild places and sharing that with them and looking after them,” Neuspiel says. “All of that stuff really appealed to me so then it morphed pretty quickly into guiding climbing and ultimately skiing as well.”

After stopping long enough to get a diploma in outdoor recreation from North Vancouver’s Capilano College, Neuspiel headed to the Himalayas in north western India on a skiing expedition, which would be the start of 25 years of Himalayan adventures. “That trip kind of fell apart but it got me over there and then I made my way across to Nepal and that is where I got my first job,” Neuspiel says.

“A couple of years later, I made my way back to northern India with my skis and finally realized the dream of skiing in the Himalayas there. I did some of my skiing there with a friend I had made in Nepal, an Australian, who was starting to toy with the idea of starting a helicopter skiing operation in that part of the Himalayas. Long story short, a few years later I did end up hooking up with him and working at that operation. And, before I knew it, I was running the operation and had been there for 11 years!”

Neuspiel laughs, noting how lucky he has been throughout his work life. But hard work no doubt enters into the mix as well. Himachal Helicopter Skiing is based in Manali, India, a city of 30,000 people located at 6,398 feet. “We grew it from a business that, when I joined, ran about three weeks of heli-skiing, to a business that owned three helicopters and was operating 12 weeks a winter, 250 clients in a winter. So yeah, we grew it into quite a business.”

While in Nepal Neuspiel met and married his wife Amanda, originally from England. Amanda works as a medical herbalist and thus when they decided to leave Nepal their destination had to be temperate for her work and mountainous for his. “The main contenders that fit that description are New Zealand and the west coast of BC,” Neuspiel says. “Neither of us is from New Zealand so we thought we’d consider the West Coast. We came to visit a friend in the Comox Valley and liked it. At first we really dropped our bags here but over time we settled in.”

Neuspiel continued to spend about four months out of the year in India, while gradually building his knowledge of Vancouver Island’s mountains and back country. When they adopted their son Vijay five years ago it was time to think about making a more permanent home here. That was when Neuspiel and another Cumberland resident, Cliff Umpleby, started Island Alpine Guides.

In his web blog Neuspiel sums up how IAG is doing: “Here we are entering our fifth year thinking, ‘The timing was about right.’ We’ve grown considerably every year since we started and are looking strong into the future as Vancouver Island’s premiere mountain school and guide service. Looking into the future we certainly intend to keep meeting the needs of our fellow islanders right here in the island Alps.”

IAG’s most popular winter course is the Avalanche Skills Training One (AST 1), followed closely by the Intro to Winter Travel. The AST 1 is offered at both Mount Washington and Mt. Cain. IAG is licensed by the Canadian Avalanche Centre to provide the two-day courses composed of about six hours of classroom and 12 hours of field instruction. In the classroom, participants learn about avalanche terrain, mountain snowpack, the nature and formation of avalanches, assessing avalanche danger, avalanche transceivers, safety measures and self rescue. In the field students learn terrain recognition, route finding, safe travel, stability evaluation, hazard recognition and small party self rescue. IAG also offers a four day long Avalanche Skills Training 2 course.

For the two day long Intro to Winter Travel the staff guide participants through gear selection and preparation while they manage the logistics of transportation, tenting and cooking. Neuspiel describes a typical outing from the arrival at the departure spot: “We would do final checks through gear, pack up our packs, and have a briefing before we head off up the mountain. We would ski our way to a location where we intend to camp for the night. In the process there is a lot of learning that goes on. Our instructors realize that the best way to teach a lot of outdoor pursuits is through using teachable moments to allow people to learn the stuff they’ve come there to learn.

“We get to a spot, set up a camp, and if the timing is right, probably go out for a little cruise around. If it is a trip where people are on skis, go for some ski runs; if it is a snowshoe trip, go for a wander around on snowshoes. If a person is on a split board, we’re going snowboarding, whatever it is. Camping out in the winter is full of lessons of its own and so we would help people through all of that and teach them how to be comfortable and enjoy sleeping out in the snow. The second day would involve doing a whole bunch more ski runs or whatever and ultimately heading out to finish the trip.”

Not sure if back country touring is for you? “Back country skiing is really suitable for anyone who skis and who is interested in being outdoors, particularly in the wilderness,” says Neuspiel. “It is particularly well suited to those who like powder snow. In terms of criteria the person needs to be a strong intermediate level skier and reasonably fit. Other than desire and a sense of adventure, that is about it.”

Once you’ve taken the courses, Island Alpine Guides has a multitude of tours to satisfy all tastes and abilities. There are Mount Washington and Mt. Cain back country tours, weekend ski tours to Mount Myra, Mount Adrian, or Mount Tom Taylor, heli-accessed touring at Alexandra Peak, Mount Adrian, or Mount Matchlee, as well as a seven-day Mount Washington to Comox Glacier traverse to name just a few of the winter options.

Neuspiel laughs when asked about the snow and the quality of local skiing. “Everyone asks that. Surely it is all Island cement, right? The best skiing is anywhere on the right day. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time. I’ve skied snow as good as anywhere on Vancouver Island. I’ve skied cold smoke powder, over the shoulders, on the back of Mount Washington. It is a matter of being in the right place at the right time and that is a big part of what we do as guides. We make sure we get people to the right spot at the right time to get the best snow they possibly can.”

Island Alpine Guides staff is almost all based in the Comox Valley and are members of the Association of Canadian Mountain Guides. “They are an interesting group of people who share my passion for the mountains and for being in the mountains with people,” Neuspiel says. “They come with a variety of different experiences—from a mountain guide from France that has joined us here in the last couple of years and brings his own French flavor to things, which is fantastic, to a woman who has a really strong background with Outward Bound as an instructor and so comes with a really strong set of teaching skills, to a hiking guide who has been with us for a little while now who has just got keen with a capital K written all over him with everything that he does.”

Neuspiel also focuses his energy beyond the clients of IAG to assist all back country enthusiasts through two reporting services: the Vancouver Island Mountain Conditions Report and the Vancouver Island Avalanche Bulletin. The Mountain Conditions Report was initiated by IAG as a way to share information among people travelling in the backcountry.

He describes what information is provided: “What’s the access like on these logging roads now, what condition is that trail in, are the crevasses on that glacier opened up more, did you see avalanche activity, was there a big rock slide somewhere? Whatever it is that helps people planning their trip.” A new blog has been developed for this report to combat previous problems with spam. Information should be sent to info@islandalpineguides.com.

The non-profit Vancouver Island Avalanche Centre Society publishes an avalanche bulletin three times a week throughout the winter. The current bulletin advises that the many storms to pass over Vancouver Island in the last week of November have created high snow packs with a lot of instability. Jan is the lead forecaster for the Centre and he wants to encourage everyone to send him any information they have about snow conditions on the Island. Email him at forecaster@islandavalanchecentre.com. The information will make the Bulletin better and the interaction with the forecasters will also provide people with an opportunity to hone their skills in assessing snow pack.

Vancouver Island may not be the first place that comes to your mind when you think of mountain adventures but Neuspiel is working on changing that. The motto for Island Alpine Guides is “think globally, adventure locally.”

“There’s no shortage of challenges and real mountain topography here,” Neuspiel says. “The other point is the Island mountains have a unique beauty that is all their own. I have to say that over the years it has really grown on me to the point where, in my aged state, if I just wander around in these mountains for the rest of my career I’ll be more than happy.”

Avalanche Safety Tips

Carry avalanche rescue gear—probe, beacon/transceiver, shovel, etc.—at all times when travelling in the winter backcountry.

Avalanches can be associated with sunshine and daily warming. Consider travelling early while everything is frozen, or at night. The Canadian Avalanche Centre website (www.avalanche.ca) lists conditions that may lead to avalanches.

Watch for cracks across the snow surface and listen for the tell-tale “whump” noise associated with a slope collapse.

In avalanche country, always travel in a group and ensure everyone stays within sight of one another. If caught in an avalanche, use a swimming motion to try and stay at the surface. If possible, move to the side of the avalanche. If you’re not at the surface when the slide stops, quickly punch the snow to create an air pocket with one arm and push your other arm toward the surface to help rescuers locate you.

www.islandalpineguides.com
www.islandavalanchebulletin.com

But say the words Kung Fu to Corny Martens, and he says back “Accomplishment through effort.”

When he discovered Kung Fu, “I wanted to learn how to fight,” says Corny Martens, at his Courtenay studio. “I had no idea that it was literally going to open a door to a whole different way of living.”

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

Martens is Sifu (a traditional Chinese title given to a martial arts expert meaning teacher or master) and founder of the Comox Valley Kung Fu Academy on McPhee Avenue.  For the past two years, he has been teaching a style of martial arts known as Wing Chun to Valley residents in a converted warehouse building across the street from Courtenay Elementary School.

The Academy is a non-competitive, family centre that emphasizes fun, fitness, and personal improvement for all ages.  Classes are available to anyone who wishes to learn, regardless of skill or fitness level.  And while Martens’ goal is to teach his students how to take care of themselves physically in a confrontation, he is also determined to impart more than martial arts skills.  On the Academy website he writes:  “You will learn the life skills on how to manage the battles in everyday life that truly make a peaceful warrior.”

According to Martens, that statement reflects the history of Wing Chun, and his own experience with the art.

Legend states Wing Chun was invented in the 1600s by an 80-year-old nun and Chief Abbot at the Southern Shaolin Temple in China named Ng Nui.  Over the centuries, the temple had become a safe haven for critics of the government and other wanted citizens, who used the monk’s right to teach martial arts as a front for raising rebel armies.  At the time, martial arts styles mimicked animal movements, and it could take 10 to 20 years to train a competent soldier.  And that was just too long.

“So they pooled their resources, took all the techniques that were working for them, and analyzed them,” says Martens.  “What came out in the end is the human/animal style, using the strengths that people have naturally and turning that into a fighting system.” The monks could now train a competent solider in three to five years.

When the government learned what was going on, however, they raided the temple.  Ng Nui escaped and settled near a village.  There she met a young girl named Wing-Chun, who was being forced into marriage with a bandit.  Ng Mui taught the girl how to defend herself using the human/animal system.  Because this new fighting system relied on the natural movements of her body, Wing-Chun learned quickly, and without developing great strength.  The girl defeated the warlord in a martial arts match, and won her freedom.

The story reflects Wing-Chun’s reputation as a softer martial art that teaches students how to defend themselves using structure, balance and stance.  Punches, kicks and holds rely on technique intended to wear down an opponent and create the opportunity for escape rather than brute strength.  Students practice specific movements intended to create muscle memory and innate responses for deflecting an attack.

Despite the defensive nature of Wing-Chun, Martens admits people tend to find their way to him because, “first of all, they want to learn how to fight.  And the same for myself—I wanted to learn how to fight.  I had no idea that it was literally going to open a door to a whole different way of living.”

Martens’ own story starts as a child with a passion for the martial arts.  “It was originally the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that got me really interested,” admits Martens with a slightly sheepish smile.  “And I had an uncle that had his third degree black belt in karate. So I was always saying, ‘Show me stuff, show me stuff!’  Even before that, my older brothers had let me watch some late 70s/early 80s ninja movies.  I was like ‘That’s what I want to do!’”

However, as the ninth child in a family of 11, money wasn’t available to put Martens into a formal training program.  It wasn’t until the age of 16 that Martens got serious about martial arts.  That’s when two things happened—first, he got a job as a cook at Pizza Hut and could pay for his own lessons; second, students from a rival school started bullying Martens and his friends.

“It was a difficult situation,” says Martens quietly.  “It was particularly bad because there was no respectful fighting, where two people have a quarrel that they felt had to be dealt with physically and people stood back.  It was literally three, four people jumping on one person.  A lot of times we’d get jumped and so I wanted to learn how to defend myself.”

Martens eventually found his way to the Wing Chun School in Kelowna (now called Great Wing Martial Arts).  “For six years I kept going and going and going,” says Martens.  “After two years, I had really decided this is it.  The moves were very simple. For me I was quite small and it made it so even I could defend myself.”

Wing Chun was an eye-opener for the younger Martens.  “In this art, it was literally the people who had been there a week longer than me, were that much better than me. Technique is fundamental to the practice of Wing Chun.  I couldn’t be quicker.  It was the most unsuspecting people who were throwing me around,” he says.

The Kelowna school was non-competitive, meaning no competitions or tournaments. Instead, students were taught to compete with only themselves, striving to be a better person that day than they had been the day before.  Martens took that to heart, and delved into the philosophy of Wing Chun.  That’s where he learned the actual meaning of the words Kung Fu—achievement through effort.  In China, the martial arts are typically referred to as wushu.

“There’s a saying: winning 1,000 battles is great, but if you can avoid one battle that’s even more significant,” says Martens.  “The highest level of Kung Fu is to never have to fight, ever.  And that really doesn’t come about unless you really get to know yourself and who you are.  And by knowing yourself, you become better at Kung Fu.  Everyone has struggles and whoever is trying to start a fight with you is probably having a bad day. And so you almost feel compassion for the person.

“It really comes down to people’s confidence and self-esteem,” he adds.  “Just knowing you can take care of yourself.  I kind of released my ego and the people who were bothering me didn’t really bother me anymore because I felt like I could really hurt someone, so I didn’t want to do that.  The confidence just might open new doors for you and other ways to enjoy more of life.”

Martens’ student Brishona Yeoman certainly agrees with that.  I met Yeoman at a beginner technique and cardio class held Monday evenings at the Academy, where her delight in deflecting strikes and delivering kicks belies the effort it took for her to walk through the door.

Yeoman learned about Martens more than a year ago from a poster at a friend’s house. She drove down to the Academy during closing hours and peeked in the window for a look.  “But I couldn’t do it,” says Yeoman.  Despite her interest, she was just too scared to try.  Four months ago, Martens invited the staff at Yeoman’s favorite coffee shop (Coffee Ladybug) to a session, and a friend brought her along.

“From the first class, I loved it,” Yeoman says.  “I really think it’s changed my life.  I’m more confident.  I’m more positive.  It’s improved my physique a lot.  And I really like the pledge because it makes me think about how I am behaving outside of class.”  The pledge is a declaration recited at the end of each class, where students commit themselves to following a code of behavior that reflects the philosophy of Wing Chun.

“I also like that it’s a defensive art,” says Yeoman.  “Corny always says you never throw the first punch, but you can hit first.  And anybody can do it.  It doesn’t matter what you look like.  Every time, you learn something different.”

More importantly, Yeoman loves the equality of it all.  There are 10 levels of learning in Wing Chun, but the belt at every level is black.  “It signifies that everyone is in the dark,” says Yeoman.  “You’re all equal, even if you’re at different levels.”

Only Martens wears the yellow teaching belt he earned in 2004 along with his Level 10 teaching certificate.  The yellow signifies coming into the light.  And if Monday’s class is any indication, it’s that light Martens is eager to share with every one of his students.

“That’s what I think my biggest goal is,” says Martens.  “I’m teaching people how to take care of themselves in life in general.”

For more information call 250-702-3780 or visit www.cvkungfu.ca.

That’s right: roller derby, the campy contact sport that filled arenas and thrilled audiences from the 1930s to the 1980s, is back. Nine years after the derby revival started in Austin, Texas, there are an estimated 500 leagues worldwide, making derby the world’s fastest growing female-focused amateur sport in the world—and now two teams have sprung up in the Comox Valley.

Dodge City Rollers in action.

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

A roller derby bout involves two teams with four players each: three “blockers” and one “jammer.” The players skate around a flat track (a banked track version also exists, but in Canada it’s mostly flat track). The two jammers start behind the other players; they need to catch up, break through the pack, race around to catch up again. As they jam through a second time, they score a point for every opponent they pass. The blockers try to make space for their jammer while thwarting the opposing team’s jammer. There are strict rules governing types and timing of body checks, but the game is still rough and intensely physical.

“It’s an extreme sport,” says Alton.

Twenty-first century roller derby is still as colorful a spectacle, and as tough a sport, as derby was in its 1940s heyday, but in the hands of today’s women it has a new focus on sisterhood and social responsibility.

No one who appreciates derby would want to entirely clean up its image—that would take away half the fun—but the local teams want people to know they don’t just kick ass, they also contribute to the community.

They’ve already done fundraising for non-profits such as YANA, the Food Bank and the Cancer Society, while also raising money to cover their own costs. Profit from bouts will go to charity.

The concept of derby gals as pillars of community may be new, but it`s catching on: the Dodge City Rollers were recently invited to present a workshop to a girls’ youth group, through a program run by the LINC called Girls on the Move.

“These women are very strong and empowering and it would be great for girls to see what they do,” says Christine Clupsis, youth worker at the LINC.

“We’ll be teaching skating of course, but also self-confidence—how to be articulate and powerful,” says Alton. “And we’ll be having a lot of fun.”

Being powerful and having fun seems to be what it’s all about for contemporary derby gals. The sport offers a tough, feisty feminism with fishnets and mouth guards, which clearly appeals to women wary of blame-and-complain approaches to women’s equality.

“I don’t want to burn my bra,” says Alton, taking a coffee break from her job as an events coordinator for the Comox Valley Arts Council to talk to me. “But I’d say this is a feminist sport.

“Mind you, not all the women involved would say they’re feminists… Girls just wanna rock out,” she adds, with an appreciative laugh.

Society offers women few acceptable opportunities to be aggressive, let alone to be appreciated for it, says Alton.
“I’ve always been aggressive; now I get to be that way with a bunch of other aggressive women. I can hit my friends and have it be okay—even fun.”

Derby offers women a chance to explore their alter-egos, says Glenice Neal (aka Mo’ Pleasure), captain of the Rink Minx. “It’s an outlet for your wild side. By day I’m a sales associate wearing my tailored business suit, and the rest of the time I’m wearing stripey socks, fishnets and a short skirt, skating around booty blocking other women.” (A booty block, she explains, is a good hard bump from her hip to yours, or vice versa.)

The sport gives women an opportunity to overcome all sorts of fears—from fears of being unladylike to fears of taking physical risks. The skaters I meet while researching this article talk about being pushed out of their comfort zone, physically and psychologically—and loving it, because they discover reserves of strength.

“You have to be strong and you have to be confident, or you’ll get hurt,” says Alton.

The women’s empowerment aspect of roller derby has garnered attention from academic feminists.

In a paper presented to the American Sociological Association, Suzanne Becker writes, “The women involved in this current resurgence of roller derby are redefining the realm of women’s sports, sexuality and femininity… By combining physical strength, aggression, competitiveness and bodily contact with hyper-feminine, suggestive attire, they are simultaneously blurring and pushing the boundaries of contemporary sport and sexuality, bucking the cultural constraints often bestowed upon images and behaviours of female athletes.“

In other words, derby is a way for women to be both radically unladylike and playfully girly at the same time—smashing stereotypes while having fun with them.

“You have to be strong and you have to be confident, or you’ll get hurt,” says Jen Alton (aka Jenerator Altonator, crouching at far right) posing with her Dodge City Rollers teammates. “It’s an extreme sport.”

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

Not all feminist commentators like derby, however. For Twisty, who writes a blog called I Blame the Patriarchy, roller derby is “super-conformist hootchie-cootchie dude-pleasin’… proto-porn—a non-penetrative, G-rated, but nevertheless two-dimensional, stereotypical, and bogus picture of female sexuality generated from an amorphous plasma of cultural misogyny.”

Clearly, the academic types have almost as much fun with their theories as derby gals have with their skates.

All the talk about derby’s image and meaning shouldn’t eclipse the fact that it is, above all, a sport. Alton says she enjoys having an excuse to die her hair purple, but first and foremost, she and her derby sisters are athletes.

“As a team, mental strength comes first, physical strength is a close second and what people’s perception of us is while we play our sport isn’t even on our radar.

“Once you put on your skates any thoughts about how you look disappear, because you have a job to do… fishnets don’t help take the pain away from a bone-rattling body check.

“Derby is a place for women to become strong competent skaters, be supported by our fellow derby sisters, and take part in a seriously badass contact sport. If we can be campy while doing it, all the better!” says Alton.

Both teams have three practices per week and most players also work out between practices to increase strength, speed, endurance and agility. They work with personal trainers, hockey coaches, yoga instructors and other derby teams in order to be their best.

“You have to be in top shape to play this,” says Donna Attfield (aka Tainted Shove), the Rink Minx’s coach. A former soccer coach and aerobics instructor, she researched the game heavily so she could provide effective coaching to her teammates.

I get a taste of just what’s involved one Tuesday evening at the Merville Hall, where Neal and Attfield have invited me to take part in a practice. I haven’t roller skated since I was 12, and as for my sports experience, well, not only was I always chosen last for every team, I had to endure the two captains pleading with our gym teacher not to have to take me. But now I am an adult and have found my own way to be fit; I walk, run, practice yoga and dance, and feel confident that my superb balance and coordination skills will help me out.

At the hall, Attifield sets me up with a pile of equipment. Blondie’s Call Me blasts out through the speakers as I strap on huge knee-pads, elbow pads, and wrist protectors. With the awesome soundtrack, I feel like I’m starring in a sports movie. Cool!

Neal passes me something that looks like heavily padded bicycle shorts.

“Oh, those are great,” says one of the players. “We get some wicked bruises on our hips and butts.” She pulls her pants down to show me a big, purple, fist-sized contusion on her thigh. All of a sudden I am aware of the fragility of my hip joints and I pull on the padded shorts gratefully.

“Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, anyday,” sings Debbie Harry and I feel my heart pounding in time to the beat. That must be adrenaline, I realize.

“Are you nervous?” asks Attfield. “A bit,” I say, grinning back at her.

The other women are suited up and heading off to skate in big circles around the hall. They’re laughing, joking, teasing each other. Once I get my skates laced up and manage to stand upright (a comedy act that includes falling, grabbing other women convulsively to prevent falling, and equal parts swearing and laughing) I shuffle out to join them. After a few laps I remember to breathe and find I can actually, kind of, skate.

By the time the warm up skate is finished, my legs and feet are screaming at me. I figure my research is done; I can quit and take some journalistic notes for the rest of the evening.

“OK!” shouts Attfield, blowing her whistle. “It’s time for drills. We’ll separate into groups of three. Laura, you go with Glenice and Jen.”

I consider telling her I’m finished now, thank you very much, but some tough, determined part of me grabs Glenice’s hips and lets her pull me and Jen along the track, weaving in and out of orange cones, alarmingly fast.

The whistle blows. “OK, switch,” shouts Attfield. Now I’m in the back of the train which whips me around like I’m on an amusement park ride—it’s fun and scary and out of control and I just hang on.

The whistle again. “Switch! Let’s go, gals!” shouts Attfield. I hesitate. That would put me in front, pulling two women, both bigger than me, while other teams, all much faster, weave around us.

Attfield notices me hesitate. “You too, Laura. Get going,” she shouts, and not in an encouraging “you can do it” kind of way, but rather with an alpha “don’t you dare try to weasel out of this, wimp,” tone.

Yikes! My yoga teacher never talked to me like that.

So I do it—slowly and clumsily. But I do it. And I do the next exercise, too, where we work in pairs, pushing each other side to side with our shoulders. By then my legs have gone beyond the jelly stage and I’m sweating freely under all the equipment. I feel I can take a break with honor. I’m tired, sore and exhilarated. For the others, the practice is just getting started.

And their commitment to derby doesn’t end when they unlace their skates. Contemporary derby is avowedly grassroots; rather than put themselves in the hands of managers, the players run the teams themselves. The Dodge City Rollers estimate that they each spend about 15 hours a week on derby—including practice, meetings, administrative tasks, and socializing (partners are called Derby Widows, says Alton).

Tasks include public relations, recruitment, venue relations, fundraising, bookkeeping, event planning, and coordinating with the Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Association, which regulates the sport. Because both groups of women are building teams, and eventually a league, from scratch, there’s a steep learning curve as they prepare to be accredited by the WFTDA.

By the time all the organizational infrastructure is put in place, the Minx and the Rollers will be ready to present their sport to the Comox Valley public. They anticipate an enthusiastic response.

“The interest is huge,” says Neal. “There are 2,000 people at bouts in Vancouver, with people paying $20 a pop; in Victoria it’s over 1,000. Locally, everyone we talk to about it wants to know when the first bout will be.”

Clearly, these women are on the move—and you better get out of the way, or you might be booty-blocked.

For more info visit: www.wftda.com

Qu’s connection goes like this: He had been banished from his state of Chu by a corrupt king.  Then he learned of the impending invasion of Chu by a neighbor state.  This was too much for him so he tethered himself to a rock in a river to commit ritual suicide as a protest against the invasion. The good people of the kingdom rushed into the water in their fishing boats to try to save Qu, but it was to no avail.  So, they beat drums and splashed water with their paddles to keep evil spirits from his body.

Ultimately Qu Yuan’s legacy in China ended up being commemorated century after century on an annual basis by boat races that take place on the anniversary of his death.  The boats are traditionally long and narrow canoe-style vessels decorated with carved heads and tails of dragons, which are held to be the rulers of the rivers and seas.

The Comox Valley Dragonflies at practice. The Dragonflies are one of six teams in the Valley.

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

Eventually the dragon boats spread beyond the confines of China and the races have now annual events in some 40 countries.  And, as many Comox Valley residents—at least those that ever find themselves near local waters—know, dragon boating is very much a facet of the local scene.

In British Columbia, dragon boating is part of the legacy of Vancouver’s Expo ‘86.  At that event the Chinese delegation brought with them six teak dragon boats.  From that grew the Canadian International Dragon Boat Festival, the first of its kind nationally, thanks to the efforts of David See Chai Lam and Milton Wong.  This was the first dragon boat race/festival outside of Asia, created as a showcase of Vancouver’s growing cultural diversity and to promote racial harmony and cross cultural understanding.

A decade later Dr. Don McKenzie of the University of BC, in conjunction with physiotherapist and breast cancer survivor Dr. Susan Harris, formed the first breast cancer survivor dragon boat team in Vancouver.  Their intention was to prove that upper body exercise has a large role in recovery from breast cancer and lymphedema because it can improve the range of motion, reverse muscle atrophy, stimulate the immune system and activate skeletal muscles.  The only criteria for becoming a member of a breast cancer survivor team is having had a history of breast cancer.

Since that time dragon boating has grown immensely in popularity, with breast cancer survivor teams being a part of all festivals. In the Comox Valley the breast cancer survivor team, and the first dragon boat group on the local scene was Hope Afloat, which was formed in 2001 in conjunction with the Comox Recreation Commission.

In the case of Hope Afloat a group of women in a support group were discussing full-time return to work after having completed their cancer treatments.  It was at that meeting the topic of dragon boat racing came up.  As it stood, the nearest option for getting involved in the sport was in Nanaimo.  This was hardly practical for women who were working.  As it turned out, four local women were involved with the mid-Island team. They were contacted and the wheels were set in motion.  Within a few months, thanks to the support of Valley businesses, service clubs and individual donations, enough funds were raised to purchase the Valley’s first dragon boat.

From that first purchase the concept of dragon boating took off in the Valley.  Hope Afloat gifted their boat to the Comox Recreation Commission, which agreed to make it available to other groups who were interested in getting into the sport.  The rest of the tale is, as they say, history.

There remains, however, says Christine Saunders, Comox Valley Dragonflies team manager, a widespread assumption that dragon boating is still confined to breast cancer survivors (though they remain integral to the sport).  Many teams, like the Dragonflies, are strictly recreational.

The Dragonflies team (the oldest in the Valley after Hope Afloat) was formed in 2002.  The Dragonflies compete in approximately four to five events through the racing season, and primarily compete as a mixed competitive team.  However, they have also raced in a number of women’s festivals through the years.  The Dragonflies are one of six teams in the Valley, including the original Hope Afloat team.

Going back to the beginning for the Dragonflies, and for Saunders, it all came about due to an ad placed by Comox Rec in which they asked if anybody was interested in a dragon boat, as the Hope Afloat boat was now available for other user groups.

“I phoned and then went to a meeting in January of 2002,” she says. “There were a good 40 people there and I became a member of the first team.  We had a 6-16, which is the standard dragon boat worldwide.”

Part of her personal motivation, Saunders says, was that she felt she needed to get involved in some sort of a sport, mainly because she needed the exercise and wanted to do something that appealed to her.  Since she was raised by the sea, she felt that something to do with the water would work for her.

“I’d never been particularly active in sports,” she says.  “I like to say I’m a great spectator, and when my kids were growing up and playing baseball or soccer I was always out there to cheer them on.  But, I wanted and needed something for me.”

Right from the beginning she found it to be a fine fit for her.  It was a good group of people to be with and the sport demanded team solidarity in that all must pull together.  People get tight with one another—figuratively and literally—in relatively short order.

“For us it’s basically recreational,” she says. “There is the competitive aspect and we have achieved a considerable degree of success, but essentially we go out to be on the water and to have fun.  One of our biggest challenges is to get more men involved.”

A further misconception about dragon boating (the first being that it is confined to breast cancer survivors) that Saunders would like to set straight is that it is not exclusively a female endeavor, but decidedly calls for gender mixed teams and they are, she says, always trying to attract men to the sport.

Many men, Saunders adds, believe that dragon boating is strictly a female involvement, and at a certain level females must predominate.  There are no exclusively male teams, but in any of the major competitions in which they have been involved, such as Victoria and Nanaimo, the biggest section is the mixed group.  And, of the 20 people on a team, at least eight must be female.

As for the physical aspects of dragon boating, Saunders describes it as “a wonderful sport.  It’s whole body exercise,” she says.  “While it creates certain demands on the novice it doesn’t take long to adjust to the stresses of the sport.”

She notes that Fitness Excellence in the Valley offers dragon boat training and that it’s a good idea to take that sort of training, especially in the winter, before the season begins.

“Winter is definitely a good time to get started,” she advises, as competition season isn’t the best time to learn, so it can be a bit disappointing for the newcomer since the others on the team are more advanced.

Part of the allure, Saunders says, is the sense of solidarity that comes about from the experience. Everybody must be able to rely on everyone else in the boat.  There is no hierarchy in that regard.

“The speed of the boat comes about from everybody paddling as one,” she says. “Everybody must hit the water with their paddles at exactly the same time.”

While the Dragonflies initially used the boat made available from Comox Rec they have, since 2007, had their own boat—a boat with a special legacy and of which the team members are very proud.

It came about when team member Monica Greenwood and her husband, Mel, donated the boat in memory of their son, Stephen, who had died in a car crash four years earlier. The boat is a BuK, which is built in Germany and is a crème-de-la-crème craft of the sort that has been used in many international competitions.

But, the Dragonflies boat is even more than that, Saunders says. The boat has been enhanced by the talents of local artist Robert Lundquist, who endeavored—after listening to the Greenwoods’ story of their son—to bring his spirit to life as represented by the boat.  Appropriately, the boat is called Stephen’s Spirit.

Team solidarity is of course everything, and aside from having the boat that they cherish so greatly, the Dragonflies deck themselves out in T-shirts that follow the design of the boat.

“With our team we knew we needed a good blend of personalities, and that’s what we have,” Saunders says. “We have 20 people plus a drummer.  Once we join up we make a definite commitment, but we know that we all have other things going on in our lives, and that has to be respected.”

During the season they practice twice a week for an hour and a quarter, and in the winter, come rain or come shine, or sleet and virtually everything but heavy winds, they practice once a week.

There is a definite process that must be learned and a participant’s skill can only improve with practice, she says.  The paddlers in a dragon boat face forward (unlike aft-facing seated rowers) and use a specific type of paddle, which is not connected to the craft in any way.  They paddle canoe-style with a very distinctive paddle type.  The leading paddlers set the pace for the team and it’s essential that all paddlers be synchronized.  Each paddler, Saunders says, should synchronize with the stroke or pacer on the opposite side of the boat.  That is, if you paddle starboard side, you take your pace from the paddler on the port side.  Meanwhile, the two pacers in the bow set the pace for the rest of the paddlers.

“We truly have to be a team,” Saunders says.  “There are no star performers, just a group of people literally pulling together.”

Currently their team quotient is good, Saunders says.  A number of new members have come out, which is good since five or six members left within the past year.  And, as always, they are seeking more male participation.  As far as age is concerned, there is no upper or lower limit, though participants should be physically mature due to the strength demands.

“Right now I believe we range in age from about 30 to 70 years,” she says.

This fastest growing of water sports on the globe is seconded only by outrigger paddling, which uses the same strokes, and the teams are often mutually supportive, says Saunders.

“The primary difference would be that outriggers are suited for long distances, whereas our greatest distance in competition is 500 metres,” she says.  “CORA (Canadian Outrigger Canoe Association) held a competition in Comox Lake last year, and our team supported theirs in that competition.”

What appeals to Saunders and many others in the sport is that it’s not encumbered by regulations limiting the involvement of its members.  As an example, she will shortly be going to Victoria to race with another team and she observes that the teams change from one race to the next.  At the same time, competition, such as the BC Seniors Games (Comox Valley and Campbell River, September 15-18) and festivals like Nautical Days in Comox bring out the apex of team spirit.

For the Seniors Games, Saunders says, she’ll be on a mixed team, along with seven other members of the Dragonflies.  She further notes that for competitions in other centres they do not, due to difficulty of transport, take their boat with them.  Which, she admits, is too bad in one respect, but the logistics have to be respected.

“It all truly stirs the spirit,” she says.  “I’m looking forward to Nautical Days and the Seniors Games in the early fall.  We’ll be there and loving it.”

For more information on the Comox Valley Dragonflies visit www.cvdragonflies.ca.

For breast cancer survivors who would like to be connected with Hope Afloat, go to www.hopeafloatcanada.ca.

Junior racers Amanda Wakeling and Jordan Duncan get in some practice time on the streets of the Comox Valley.

Photo by Boomer Jerritt

While out and about on the roads and trails around the Comox Valley, you might want to take special note of some of the two-wheeled blurs that flash past—there just might be some champions in that pack of cyclists.

And some of those blurs may very well be members of the Comox Valley Cycle Club (CVCC).  “The Comox Valley Cycle Club is excited to be able to offer programs and support to the cyclists of the Comox Valley,” says CVCC Time Trials Coordinator Andrew Brown, “but we are especially excited about a few of our junior members who are already showing amazing promise.”

“Although Amanda Wakeling, Jordan Duncan and Nigel Ellsay have only been racing for a year, all are regularly competing at the provincial level and winning.  Amanda and Jordan are both are currently the Provincial Time Trial Champions in their age group.”

The Comox Valley Cycle Club is active in road racing and recreation, holding regular group rides, time trials, and an annual series of road races.  Road races are for riders of all ages—the current membership ranges from 10 to 70.  Formal time trials are conducted weekly.  The club also hosts the BC Masters Cycling Association, regional play-downs for the BC Seniors Games, and special events for province-wide junior racers.

Former and current club members include provincial, national and world champions, regular competitors on the international circuit, and Olympians.

The club has been involved formally in competitive cycling since 1986.  “The CVCC has a long history of supporting cycling and bike racing in the Comox Valley,” says Brown.  “Olympians and former National Champions Kiara Bisaro and Geoff Kabush are both past members.”

One of the long standing senior members of the Club, John Bernard, describes the success of the junior training program.  “A couple of years ago John van der Vliet started organizing a training program for juniors—mainly because his son wanted to learn how to race, and his son had some friends who wanted to learn to race.  Amanda Wakeling,  Jordan Duncan and Nigel Ellsay are involved in that—all are about the same age. Altogether there are about six junior riders.”

While the young cyclists are relatively modest about their achievements to date, Bernard says, “John took them to some provincial level races last year, specifically the time trials, and they walked all over everybody else!  They were really impressive.”

Junior members have always been a focus of CVCC, says Bernard, depending on who is organizing the riders, and last year was a particularly good year.  “We did have talent, but not just that—the talent that started it out encouraged other talent to come along too!  And it built on itself.  It was attracting other people, other kids into it.

“We have about 50 members,” adds Bernard, who is also in charge of membership for the CVCC.  “At one point we had more—when we were involved in mountain biking as well, which was a success at that time mainly because we had the parents involved and the grade schools involved.  But when the kids grow older and drop out, the parents drop out, and without the parents it’s extremely difficult to keep going.  Our club is not strictly involved in mountain biking any more—it has started up again under a different organization in Cumberland—though a lot of our riders do mountain biking.”

The CVCC, he says, is basically a road racing club.  “This year we’re doing four race weekends locally—three of those are one-day events, and one is a two-day event with three races in it. The first one is mid-May, then one a month after that ending up in August.”

Bernard considers himself a recreational cyclist.  “I don’t race!” he says, “I can’t keep up with them! Their speed averages in the low 30s I think, for 1-1/2 to 2 hrs.  Right now they are doing a group ride Sundays, and eventually probably three or four organized group rides every week, depending on how keen people are.  They don’t care what the weather is like—they’ll even go out in snow!  Those are basically training rides.”

Most racing in the Valley is on Sunday mornings when the roads are fairly quiet.  “Routes are chosen partly because the traffic is light.  We try to be as careful as we can about the way people race.”

They also offer a “good time trial series,” once a week starting in August. “We have a course that starts at Piercy and Condensory, goes up to the highway, up the highway to Dove Creek Road and back,” says Bernard.  “They do that once or twice around—that’s very popular.”  Bernard notes that some improvements such as road shoulders or smoother pavement would be welcomed by the cycling community.

That community includes the junior members and their families.  “I’ve always liked to ride a bike,” says 15-year-old Jordan Duncan, whose father Kent is vice president of the CVCC.  “But when I first met John van der Vliet, he really got me into cycling as more of a sport rather than just something fun to do.  I was in Grade 6 at the time, about four years ago.  John is the dad of one of my best friends from elementary school, Jake. Jake introduced me to his dad, who grew up here, moved to Australia and turned pro, then raced in Holland, moved back to Australia, married there and then moved back here to the Valley.”

Amanda Wakeling, also 15, got into cycling as a kid to keep up with her brother.  “We ride to school pretty much every morning with my dad,” she says.  “Then a few years ago I got a cyclo-cross bike from Jeff at Trail Bikes, and that just started me road cycling, which got me into the club meeting different people, and got me into racing more.”

Adds Duncan:  “She’s the mountain biker and I’m the road cyclist.”

“But we both do cyclo-cross,” says Wakeling.  “We do all three.”

Cyclo-cross, as a diversion from their other competitive racing, includes all trail surfaces such as pavement, wooded trails, and grass—but notably features steep hills and obstacles, requiring the rider to quickly dismount and carry the bike while navigating the obstruction, then quickly remount.

“Cyclo-cross is kind of crazy,” says Wakeling with a big grin.  “It’s kind of in-between mountain biking—you get up and run over barriers, run up stairs, crazy stuff!”

The bikes, adds Duncan, are similar to road bikes but with wider and more knobby tires for off-road riding.  “You can do it anywhere, that’s the coolest thing about it,” says Wakeling.  “It’s competitive—fast races, like a half hour or 45 minutes.”

Cyclo-cross is what they do when not competing from September to November.  “It’s kind of an off-season, fun thing to do,” says Duncan.  “Keep the fitness level up, but don’t get disappointed if you don’t do well.”

“Kids that are drawn to compete in cross-country skiing already come to me with very strong ‘Type A’ personalities,” explains Battison. “These are smart, athletic young people. Most of them are A+ students in school, and they possess a strong desire to achieve in everything they do. I actually have to make a determined effort to de-motivate them from training too fast and too long! My role, as their coach, is to teach them how to harness that energy with control and skill.”

There is no doubt that the group of more than a dozen teenaged cross-country skiers I meet at the Nordic Centre on Mount Washington one Thursday evening are full of enthusiasm. Despite the fact that the wind is blowing, it is snowing hard and it will soon be dark outside, these young men and women are eager to hit the trails with their coach and mentor.

Battison rounds up his group and heads outside, leaving me to chat with four members of his junior racing team. I am immediately captivated by their wide smiles and positive energy.

Comox Valley girls Sylvia Watkins, 17, Brett Trainor, 17 and Andrea Lee, 19, along with Campbell River resident Freya Wasteneys, 18, tell me they have all been active in cross-country skiing since they were three or four years of age. With the on-going support of their families, they have progressed through the Ski Canada Skills Development Program, advancing from “Bunny Rabbits” to “Jack Rabbits” and are now proud to be members of the Junior Racers team. Their involvement with the sport has enabled them to travel across Canada to compete in various national events, including the Canada Winter Games, the BC Winter Games, the North American Cup and the National Championships.

The girls explain that their team skis at least five times during the week and twice on weekends, logging up to 30 hours weekly on the trails at Mount Washington’s Nordic Centre. In addition to this, they work out regularly at the gym and run. When the snow melts off the mountain trails in spring, they practice on the glacier or take to roller skiing on the roads. It is a grueling schedule they stick to from May through March each year—taking only the month of April off for a well-deserved break. They do all of this while balancing schoolwork with training, travelling and competing, yet still manage to earn top grades at the same time. I am fatigued just listening to them!

In an era when many parents can’t get their kids to put down their cell phones long enough to join the family for dinner, I asked the girls what keeps them so motivated. Why are they hooked on cross-country skiing?

The girls exchange quick glances and smile at me sympathetically, as if the attraction to the sport is so blatantly obvious I shouldn’t have to ask.

“Most people think that cross-country skiing is an individual sport, but it’s not,” says Lee. “This is a team sport and, because we have been working together for so many years, our team is like family to us. When things get really tough during a practice or race, it is that connection to our team that keeps us going.”

“For me, it is about the challenge,” says Trainor. “When I am truly focused on racing, I almost go into a state of autopilot. I strive to work harder and harder to increase my speed, improve my technique and do better than I did in the last race.”

Wasteneys agrees, adding: “It is also about being physically fit and having fun,” she says. “I find that skiing and being fit makes me feel good about myself.”
Watkins loves the fact that they get to travel a lot and, because of the nature of the sport, “get to see Canada from a different perspective than the average person. There is something extraordinary and invigorating about being alone in the forest or skiing across a glacier!”

Having competed at every major Nordic facility in Canada over the past few years, the girls know they are privileged that their home training base is one of the nicest lodges in Canada—Raven Lodge on Mount Washington. And they are grateful for the amazing people who work there. The great facility, mild temperatures, ample snow and more than 55-kilometres of world-class cross-country ski trails at Mount Washington are all much appreciated. Being able to wear shorts to cycle in the morning and go skiing in the afternoon is a perk that few (if any) of their co-competitors across Canada get to experience. The coldest temperature on Mount Washington is about -7 degrees C. Skiers in other parts of Canada often have to train in temperatures well below that, and they are required to come in out of the cold when it is -20 degrees C or more.

But what really motivates these girls, the rest of the kids in the club, and their parents, is the team’s leadership. The Strathcona Nordic Ski Club (SNSC) is managed by a dedicated volunteer board of directors, all of whom depend on coach Battison to not only teach these kids to ski, but to build their confidence as well. While winning at national events is the main goal, fostering a life-long enjoyment of physical activity and the outdoors is of utmost importance, too.