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Tuesday, June 08, 2010
Valemount bikers win fourth at Whistler Dave Salayka Special to The Goat
The Valemount Timberwolves mountain bike team kicked up a lot of mud recently, placing fourth in the annual B.C. High School Mountain Biking Provincial Championships in Whistler. Cyclists from 44 teams raced through an 8.3 km course with a variety of technical root, rock, boardwalk and downhill and some good climbs complemented by rolling single and double track. After heavy spring training with coach Les van der Roest, the 10 members of the Valemount team performed well on a cool and drizzly day May 29th. Top 15 individual results are as follows: Bantam Girls 1st place, Hannah van der Roest. Juvenile Girls 6th
place, Jessica Shalla. Senior Girls 3rd place, Angie McKirdy. Juvenile Boys 4th place, Linden Ladouceur. Senior Boys 7th place, Logan Ladouceur. Senior Boys 13th place, William van der Zwan. The 10 members on the Valemount team who participated in the championship are Trent Cuddeback, Raphael Jamin, Linden Ladouceur, Logan Ladouceur, Liam Mastre, Angie McKirdy, Harmony Nelson, Jessica Shalla, Hannah van der Roest, and William van der Zwan. Coach Les knows how to make the best of a road trip, so the day after the race the team did downhill biking at Whistler Mountain with the Schools on Dirt program. Whistler has some of
the best downhill biking trails in the world, with tabletop jumps, step-ups, drops, technical mud, root, rock, wall rides and boardwalk. Riding rented downhill bikes with plenty of suspension, full-face helmets and body armour, the team hit the slopes for another great day. On the return trip, the team did some cross-country riding in Kamloops. This was a mix of rolling single track and a moderate climb to the top of Signal Mountain followed by a descent made more challenging due to passing rain squalls. The team had a rewarding and memorable time. Congratulations to the team and coach for a very successful race!
Right: Raphael Jamin just after the finish. He flatted, crashed at high speed, but finished the race. Below: left to right back row: coach Les van der Roest, Logan Ladouceur, Raphael Jamin, William van der Zwan, Harmony Nelson, Linden Ladouceur, Angie McKirdy, Jessica Shalla. Front row: Duncan van der Roest, Hannah van der Roest, Liam Mastre, and Trent Cuddeback. Photos courtesy of Dave Salayka.
Compliance and enforcement widens its scope as boundaries are shifted Laura Keil lkeil@therockymountaingoat.com A recent change to the areas patrolled by provincial compliance and enforcement officers is changing how they do their jobs. Since March 1st, compliance and enforcement officers from the Ministry of Forests and Range find themselves in eight new districts province-wide that align with other ministry boundaries. The change will help officers deal with inspection issues, and allow them to collaborate with other enforcement officers, says Dave Banham, who manages the Omenica compliance
region, encompassing the Prince George and the Robson Valley. Banham says forestry officers are being trained how to enforce other domains under the Ministry of Environment such as mining, water, agriculture and energy. Similarly, other enforcement officers are being trained in forestry. If a compliance official from the Ministry of Forests and Range goes out to inspect a harvesting block and passes a gravel pit that also requires an inspection, Banham says the forest official will now have the ability to
do both inspections. “Here’s a perfect opportunity for the staff member with the training to be able to stop in and do an inspection on that site.” In the past the forests officer would have had
with a quick phone call, two enforcement officers from forests trained in bear traps were able to respond. “It’s right here in the community ... It’s a better, more effective use of our resources.”
“It’s right here in the community ... It’s a better, more effective use of our resources.” Dave Banham, compliance and enforcement manager. to call someone from the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to do the inspection. Last year conservation officers in Vanderhoof were tied up when a bear trap was needed. Banham says
Other enforcement officers are receiving training in forestry. The Ministry of Environment divisions who will be collaborating include the Conservation Officer Service, Protection Division, Water Steward-
ship division, Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum, Ministry of Agriculture for land issue enforcement, Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of Sports and the Arts. The province is now split into eight different sub-regions for compliance and enforcement. The office in McBride now reports to Prince George instead of the Clearwater Forest District. The office in Clearwater is now in the ThompsonOkanagan sub-region, which is headquartered in Kamloops. The Robson Valley and McBride office
are now part of the 15.5 million hectare Omenica sub-region which runs west to Endako on Highway 16, east to the provincial park boundary at Mount Robson, south to Albreda Creek, and north to Pine Pass. It includes the Mackenzie Forest District and Fort St. James. Compliance and Enforcement staff no longer report to a district manager. Instead they report to the subregion manager, who reports directly to the ministry in Victoria. Officer training is ongoing in Prince George.