There’s nothing quite like tennis in the Yukon — in the course of just one week the four courts at Mount Mac were greeted with rain, sunshine, extended daylight, freezing temperatures and even a sugarcoating of hail.
Despite Mother Nature playing her own games, it was all smiles at the annual Frostbite Tennis Tournament last week.
About 30 die-hard Yukoners participated in singles, doubles, mixed doubles and junior events.
The tennis community, though sparse, made a ‘racquet’ with laughter and applause.
Unlike audiences you might see on TV, this breed of spectator prefers to make noise, encouraging players with whistles, foot stomping, and the odd moose call.
Frostbite Tennis Tournament — final results:
Men’s doubles: Eric Ogris and Jerry Wald defeated Josh Robinson and Kyle Marchuk.
Women’s doubles: Marissa Johnson and Laurie Drummond defeated Iza Gomez and Tara Marchuk.
Mixed doubles: Laurie Drummond and Eric Hindson defeated Tara and Kyle Marchuk.
Senior men’s singles: Michel Gelinas won the round robin.
Juniors: Sam Bamford defeated Benjamin Gelinas.
Singles: Kyle Marchuk defeated Jerry Wald.
Frostbite Tennis is considering a junior tennis team for the 2009 Canada Summer Games in PEI, as well as tennis lessons for all levels of play — even through the winter at the Canada Games Centre.
Interested racketeers should come out Saturday, September 22, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Mount Mac courts for some fun tennis, and an orientation.
Team members are required to have been born in 1991 or later to be eligible. Contact Kyle Marchuk at 332-5433 if you have any questions.
Orienteering
The Yukon Orienteering Association hosted its last meet before the season wrap-up event on September 15-16.
Thirty-eight orienteers dodged the rain showers at an event staged behind Whitehorse General Hospital. They were offered two-, three-, four- or five-kilometre courses.
On the Novice course, Jill Pangman towed her dog around in 32:13 minutes, followed by Wendy Nixon ,who got distracted by the abundant ripe cranberries.
Third was Ev Pasichnyk in 39:04.
The short intermediate course was aced by two youngsters, both accompanied by their dads: Caelen McLean, left his dad breathless in 24:23 minutes while Leif Blake completed the course in 37:24. Just seven seconds behind was newcomer Emily Wilson in 37:31.
The long intermediate course was won by Grant Abbott in 46:57 minutes, followed by Phil Hoffmann in 54:01 and Miko Miyahara in 60:32.
On the advanced course Brent Langbakk appeared to barely have time to check in at the controls , completing the five-kilometre course in 26:53 minutes.
Colin Abbott continued his consistent performances this season with a time of 37:17. Pam James was third in 40:47. Visiting mapper and Vancouver orienteer, Louise Oram barely had time to catch her breath after landing at 7 p.m. She placed fourth in 43:39.
Check out details of the Golden Aspen weekend orienteering festival on the yukonorienteering.ca website.
Intersport Fun Run
By Athletics Yukon
With just a day to go before the 25th running of the Klondike Trail of ‘98 International Road Relay, it’s all about tapering.
Before any important race or competition, athletes “taper.” This means that they decrease the length, frequency and intensity of their training.
So, in the week before the Road Relay, most runners and walkers will have completed all their hard-core training.
Perhaps it was the tapering effect or just the cool, windy and rainy weather that explains why there were just 11 participants in this week’s Intersport 5-km Fun Run and Walk. The numbers may have been small, but there was one outstanding performance.
High wattage runner Luke Carlos led the field with a season personal best time of 16:57.
The rest of the field in the men’s category were a couple of time zones behind Carlos. Crossing the finish line over three minutes behind Carlos was masters runner Tom Ullyett (20:07).
Though he held second place at one point in the race, Don White finished in third place in a slower than usual time of 20:35.
White, who was Yukon’s track and field coach at this summer’s Western Canada Summer Games, is an expert on tapering. By running more slowly, he was probably following his own advice!
On the female side, the fastest runners were Wendy Taylor (17:48) and Tayler Mitchell (18:07) who both ran the three-kilometre course.
In the walking category, stalwarts Rick Griffiths (36:50) and Doris Dart (42:54) were the fastest.
Results: 5-kilometre run
1st Luke Carlos, 16:57
2nd Tom Ullyett, 20:07
3rd Don White, 20:35
4th Patrick Anderson, 21:07
5th Ray Tucker, 22:43
6th Brian Mottus, 25:15
7th Dustin Smith, 25:35
5-kilometre walk
1st Rick Griffiths, 36:50
2nd Doris Dart, 42:54
3-kilometre run
1st Wendy Tayler, 17:48
2nd Tayler Mitchell, 18:07
Upcoming events are:
September 7-8, Klondike Road Relay — Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse. Hosted by Sport Yukon (867) 668-4236.
September 11 (Tuesday) Intersport 5-Km Fun Run/Walk Event, Whitehorse: FH Collins School, 6:30 p.m. Every Tuesday night until mid-October.