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North Cowichan/ Duncan Sports Wall of Fame seeking nominations Do you know a sports team or athlete in North Cowichan who deserves to be recognized? If so, the North Cowichan/Duncan Sports Wall of Fame Committee wants to hear from you. The District of North Cowichan is currently seeking nominations for its sixth annual Sports Wall of Fame installation. The North Cowichan/ Duncan Sports Wall of Fame Committee is encouraging individuals, clubs or associations to nominate an individual or team that has made a significant contribution to sport in our community. The Sports Wall of Fame nomination process is now open, and nomination forms and criteria are available in person from the North Cowichan Municipal Office, Fuller Lake Arena and the Cowichan Aquatic Centre or online at www. northcowichan.ca. The deadline for nominations is Friday, May 24. This year, the Sports Wall of Fame Committee members include Coun. Ruth Hartmann, Anneke Bruce, Don Bodger, Andy Hutchins, Larry Hopwo, Norm Jackson, Bill Keserich and Ted Webb. The induction ceremony will occur near the end of October. The Sports Wall of Fame is located at the Cowichan Aquatic Centre, and in the past five years, 31 individuals and teams have been recognized.
Marathon cycling returns to Chemainus At least 10 to 12 cyclists expected to attempt riding the entire 1,500-kilometre Eau de Hell series Nick Bekolay THE CHRONICLE
After a two-year hiatus, Eau de Hell week and its tireless 70-year-old founder return to Chemainus for a sixth time May 20. Eau de Hell — one of British Columbia’s marquee marathon cycling events — is a week-long series of “brevets,” or marathon rides, that begin and end in Chemainus. Founded in 2007 by Victoria ultra-cyclist Ken Bonner, Eau de Hell consists of 200-, 300-, 400- and 600-kilometre rides through some of Vancouver Island’s most scenic and challenging terrain. Bonner said he created the tour to showcase the Island while at the same time combining all four qualifying rides for the Paris-BrestParis series (PBP) — a 1,200-kilometre event that draws 5,000 cyclists to the French countryside every four years — into a single event. Bonner chose Chemainus as home base for riders because it’s centrally located and because he wanted to help the local economy in a “little, tiny way.” His apt choice of name for
the event stems from a combination of a play on words and the Island’s climate. “I termed it Eau de Hell week because of the time of year,” Bonner said, referring to the spring rains that typically fall on Vancouver Island during early April, when the event was first staged. “And it’s also a play on the perfume, the Eau de Hell,” Bonner said. “When you ride these things you get pretty smelly.” Bonner grew up in Cobble Hill, where he first learned to ride on his father’s steelframed racing bike from the 1930s. As “a young kid,” Bonner rode 10 to 15 miles every day while delivering newspapers in the southern Cowichan Valley, he said, but he wouldn’t embrace cycling as his sport of choice until decades later. He began running marathons in his mid 30s, he said, but his interest in the sport began to fade after two dozen races. He stumbled onto the idea of “randonneuring” — derived from the French word randonnée, meaning “excursion” — through a brochure advertising longhaul cycling he came across in the late 1980s.
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Ladysmith’s Mairi Horth of Mid-Isle FC controls the ball May 12 against West Van FC. The teams tied 1-1.
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— a gruelling 600-kilometre “very experienced ultra-marodyssey titled the “Ukee athon cyclist” from Japan Pokey” — is scheduled to who’s travelling to Canada depart Chemainus at 5 a.m. solely for Eau de Hell. Saturday, May 25. He anticipates having “10 Eau de Hell adds credibil- to 12 people” signed up to ity to the series’ name on complete the series by race days six and seven as rid- day, or “maybe more.” ers traverse the Island from Croy completed the entire Qualicum Beach to Ucluelet Eau de Hell series in 2010, and back again, grinding he said, but he’s only signed their way up and over the up to ride in this year’s lofty heights of the Port Al- Coast2Coast event. “Cherry berni Summit (425 metres) picking” specific individual and the Sutton Pass (230 events in this way is fairly metres) twice in a single day. common in marathon cyOnce back on the east cling, Croy said, and “lots of coast of the Island, rid- people” will follow suit. ers venture as far north as Thirty-six riders comCourtenay before return- pleted the 200-kilometre ing to Chemainus via Dun- event in 2011, while 14 of can. Riders who persevere 19 riders finished that year’s through the entire 605-ki- 600-kilometre-round-trip lometre Ukee Pokey event Chemainus to Gold River should begin trickling into event. Chemainus mid to late The event is sponsored by morning on Sunday, May 26. the BC Randonneurs CyConsidering how challeng- cling Club, Cray said, but ing the final leg of the series no cash prizes or lucrative can be — riders rarely com- endorsement deals await plete the journey in under riders at the finish line. 30 hours — it comes as no “You’re only doing it for surprise that so few riders your own sense of self-satisregister for all four Eau de faction,” Croy said, “and to Hell events. see if you can.” Croy has “six or seven peoFor more on Eau de Hell, ple” signed up to complete including routes and past the entire 1,500-kilometre results, visit www.randon series right now, he said, in- neurs.bc.ca/eau-de-hellcluding Yutaka Moriwaka, a week.html.
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Bonner rode his first brevet in 1988, he said, and he’s logged no fewer than 42 1,200-kilometre rides over the span of his 25year career, including five PBPs and a record-setting first-place finish in the 2007 “Rocky Mountain 1200km” at the age of 65. Bonner has ridden through Eau de Hell five times now, he said, and he expects to finish this year’s race barring illness or injury. He doesn’t seem all that concerned, though; rather than resting up for his big ride, Bonner signed on to ride a 400-kilometre event May 18, two days prior to the start of Eau de Hell week. This year’s Eau de Hell event begins Monday, May 20, series co-ordinator Mike Croy said, with the 200-kilometre “Tour of the Cowichan Valley,” followed by the 300-kilometre “Coast2Coast” event, from Chemainus to Port Renfrew and back, Tuesday, May 21. “Lost but not Forgotten,” a 400-kilometre round-trip journey from Chemainus to Buckley Bay, is scheduled for Thursday, May 23, Croy added, followed by the week’s second rest day. The final leg of the series
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Early in the spring-summer soccer season, the region’s top teams look like they’ll be right in the thick of things. The Mid-Isle FC men’s and women’s sides are both off to 1-0-1 starts in their respective Pacific Coast Soccer League tables. The club will play home games both at Ladysmith’s turf field and also at Nanaimo’s Merle Logan Field. The women’s squad tied West Van FC 1-1 on May 12 at Merle Logan. Ceilidh Glennie has scored in both her team’s games. Other key players include Krista Whittaker of UBC, Alli Bach of the University of Victoria and Ladysmith’s Mairi Horth of UBC-Okanagan, plus members of the VIU Mariners program. GAME ON … The next games in Ladysmith are June 2, when the Mid-Isle FC men host Vancouver’s Total Soccer Systems at 1:30 p.m. and the women play TSS at 4 p.m.
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