I met the Good Samaritan on Christmas Eve

Image via Wikipedia

Twas the night before Christmas and I’m locked out of my Jeep in a tee shirt at Coby … Merry f@&*ing Christmas!

By Terrance Gavan  

Twas the night before Christmas

And to Lindsay I’m fled

Thoughts of a car wash

Scream through my head

My blue Jeep is spattered

With tinges of grey

OCD says to smite

All that salt, sand and clay

I stop at Old Coby

Big garage on the hill

In tee shirt and jeans

I egress to the shrill

Noise of the hoses

At work in the bays

My dog Bille Jean

Jumps into the fray

She loves to chase water

As it spurts from the tip

And inside the car

She prances and trips

And I’m not even worried

I left keys in ignition

I know that Jeep knows

By mere intuition

Never to allow me

To lock keys inside

It balks when I push the

lock and load slide

A Focus on NHLs Haliburton connection – Duchene and Hodgson redux

Hodgson sent to Moose and Duchene scores in home opener

Matt Duchene seems to be answering some questions re the sophomore jinx.
The Haliburton Hurricane scored a goal in a 3-2 win over the Black-NOTS
in the season opener. 

Terrance Gavan - Managing Editor PTE.com

Two players seeking solace from the NHLs much too vaunted exhibition season.

   Two players trying to put proper perspective on a preseason laced with challenge and questions.

   Two players who cut their teeth in Haliburton’s solid, celebrated and skill-inducing minor hockey system.

   Two players intertwined and connected through Stan Butler’s highly successful, NHL-churning Brampton Battalion major junior franchise.

   One of those players - Haliburton’s Hurricane Matt Duchene - will be centering the number two line of the Colorado Avalanche in his second NHL season.

   And the other - Haliburton cottager Cody Hodgson - will be attempting to disengage himself from a logistical morass created by nagging back problems and some equally bedeviling public relation hassles with his parent club, the Vancouver Canucks. A little more on Cody later.

Riders dip and dive during Crank the Shield at Sir Sam’s

By Terrance Gavan

Photo by terrance Gavan - PTE - great day for racing at sir sam's 

Shake, rattle and roll baby.

   Elvis has left the building.

   On a full-smush Trek Enduro.

   Don’t step on those Blue Suede Shoes y’all.

   Make no mistake, the Haliburton Highlands is rapidly becoming a first class destination for mountain bikers, weekend warriors and stellar sanctioned mountain bike races.

   Last Sunday morning some 290 colorfully clad riders revved up for the final stage of the now famous, infamous and unanimously transcendent Crank the Shield mountain bike race.

   Three days of Hell. Heaven. And for some … Limbo.

   The racers left Sir Sam’s parking lot at 9:30 am sharp and headed for the top o’ the hill; a challenging dipsy doodle up bunched up an old logging trail; and then down  the back side of the front side of the intricate system of trails laid out all over the ski runs at Sir Sam’s Ski and Summer Resort.

The 17th Annual Trail Run in Haliburton Forest - great photo finish

Annual Haliburton Forest Trail Run only for the brave

By Terrance Gavan  -at Haliburton Forest Preserve

Gailanne Joachim was a tiny speck in the distance as the clock ticked inexorably to noon.

   High noon.

   Important spot on the clock for the gritty Mississauga runner, who after 29 hours and 55 minutes on the trail was still minutes away from the finish line of the 17^th Annual Haliburton Forest Trail Race.

   Two yellow clad volunteers were pacing Joachim, urging her through the triple threat of seeping hypothermia, aching legs, and burning lungs.

   She was the final person on the trail last Sunday, and the last runner in the 100 mile challenge race, which began at 6 am on Saturday morning in the Haliburton Forest Preserve.

   The final participant still on the course was struggling.

   Word trickled through the woods and camping area at the Haliburton Forest welcome center, the finish line for this incredibly grueling run.

   Suddenly like ghosts, other racers appeared from the woods, and began to line the road.

   Over 100 of Gailanne’s fellow competitors and friends started to clap and yell encouragement.

   Joachim was obviously spent, but hearing the crowd, even in the distance, about 500 meters away, the shouts seemed to inspire her to pick up that grueling pace.

   As race organizer Helen Malmberg watched Joachim’s progress still far off down that dirt road, she glanced quickly at the watch.

   The look on her face said it all.

   “I don’t think she’s going to make it,” said Malmberg.

   By make it, she was referring to the time restriction posted in the pre-race guidelines.

   All runners who came in after 30 hours – 12 noon – were subject to a no time.