INT’l // Scary Stats >> World facts that will scare anyone; Pg. 9 Volume 144 · Issue 8 • October 27, 2010
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Neville/Jones pushes for $12,300
Wrestlers bring home Bronze Jennifer Bishop The Brunswickan Two members of the UNB Black Bears wrestling team have returned from the 2010 Commonwealth Games with bronze medals around their necks. Promise Mwenga and Eric Feunekes are back in Fredericton after winning their hard fought matches in New Delhi. Both athletes and Coach Don Ryan went to the games with the expectation of winning medals. “Before the competition started, I was expecting the gold medal,” Mwenga said. “I knew that if I had a pretty good draw that I would make it to the gold medal relatively easily.” Mwenga said the he didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to win the matches he fought while at the games. “When I realized I had a chance at placing, I just had to remember that I had to stick to the plan and not to try to do anything flamboyant or out of the original strategic plan,” he said. “My coach reinforced it all the way up while I was warming up, when I was in the hallway waiting, when I was walking towards the mat, just before I stepped onto the mat he said remember the plan, stick to it, stick to it and when I got onto the mat, that’s all I did and it came out really well.” Although Mwenga had his eye set on gold, he is just as happy to have walked away with the bronze medal. “I was just as excited,” he said. “You can only win the gold medal and then they kind of give you the silver as the runner up. I’d rather win the medal so bronze kind of let me do that.” Feunekes said that being focused on his wrestling played a major part in his success at the games. “My motivation for wrestling is just that I love to do it, so I just go into every match ready to wrestle and I try not to focus on outside things,” he said. “There’s always stuff that gets in, but it’s better to just try to focus on each match as they come whether you lost or won the previous one.” Although Feunekes came home with a medal, he almost didn’t reach his goal. “I went to medal. It was close,” he
SEE WRESTLERS PAGE 16
Neville/Jones House, though closed this year, pulled through with a successful Bed Push and raised funds for Women in Transition House. Campus community members pulled together and raised for a great cause. Mike Erb / The Brunswickan
Alex Kress News Reporter The air at the W. W. Boyce Farmer’s Market was bitterly cold at 10 a.m. Saturday morning, but the Neville/ Jones bed-pushers seemed as warm as ever. The 18th annual fundraiser for Women in Transition House went ahead as usual in spite of a couple of obstacles and raised $12,300. The Neville/Jones residence was closed this year due to a lack of interest from students and for renovations to improve the building. As a result of the residence being closed, House President John Bailey said it was a different experience to raise money outside the house. “It’s a little more difficult because we don’t all live in the same house and can’t just walk around the halls and get people to go out,” Bailey explained. “But all the residences helped out a lot and it all came together somehow
and went really well.” For the past 17 years of Neville/ Jones Bed Pushes there has been an RCMP escort on the highway route from Saint John to Fredericton. This year however, the RCMP felt they could not agree to accompany the fundraisers anymore because of the dangers involved. Up until shortly before the Bed Push, an alternative route from Woodstock to Fredericton was planned. Ultimately, the RCMP could not agree to it either. Chapman Field was decided upon as a venue, where the bed-pushers did laps with the bed instead of the straight highway route. Andrew Holland, Communications Director for the Department of Transportation, said there is absolutely a safety concern and it is the highest priority. “Safety has to come first and if the RCMP are no longer [escorting], it’s important they’re done in a safe manner so tragedy can be avoided,” Holland said.
Bailey agreed and had no ill feelings toward the police. “The RCMP was very clear,” he said. “I would have liked to do the highway route but this was cool, it was on campus and got a lot more people out, more runners.” Bailey said there were tents and food on site and music playing to keep everyone’s spirits up. He isn’t sure what next year holds for him and the fundraiser quite yet, but hopes there will be students in Neville/Jones who want to take on the challenge. “It’s a great charity and I didn’t want to take a year off this year,” he said. “It’s a lot of money that goes to a great cause. I’m amazed at our total, $12,300.” This was only $200 short of the $12,500 they raised last year. Bailey added he liked the change in location to Chapman Field because it was more contained and people were eager to stay because it was right on campus. “I lived in the house last year as a
frosh and did the push, and to do it from the other side as a coordinator is a different role but exciting nonetheless. “It’s a really cool thing to be a part of, and it’s crazy to run that distance all night. These people here are the champs. It’s awesome.” Dianne Power, Executive Director of Women in Transition House, said she is extremely proud of the fundraisers and wants to see a kind of tribute made to all the ways UNB helps out with Transition House. “The Bed Push has been the longest standing effort, but McConnell Hall organizes and stuffs all of our Christmas appeal every year and there are ties in with pro-bono law who work on family law for our residents and all the nursing students and volunteers in the house... It’s extensive.” “We’re very proud of that connection. I’m thrilled,” she said beaming. “It is a major part of our annual funding every year. We wouldn’t make it without them.”