Sports highlights
Born to perform
Acme Timbermen senior B lacrosse team one win away from finals.
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PAGE 21 July 31
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TUESDAY, JULY 29, 2014
VOL. 26, NO. 23
First World War effort began 100 years ago
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NANAIMO MEN signed up en masse to join armed conflict between European powers. BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
Nanaimo’s sons were going to war. On Aug. 20, 1914 –less than three weeks after Britain declared war on Germany – 19 British Army reservists prepared for the trip to England. The Brigade band led a parade from city hall to the wharf with half the city’s population following behind to wish the men a safe return. Wives, families and friends held the men tight until the very moment they had to board the steamer. From his place on the wharf, Mayor Albert Planta gave them an official farewell. “Men of the Reserve,” he said. “In the name of the citizens of Nanaimo I bid you Godspeed. Those of you who leave wives and families behind ... feel no anxiety with regard to them for I can assure you that the city will be proud to take care of them while you are at the front.” The mayor called for three cheers for the men, which was given with great enthusiasm, according to an old Nanaimo Free Press article. The men replied with three “lusty cheers” of their own and struck up the strains of Auld Lang Syne as the steamboat pulled away from the harbour. “For all of these young men it was an adventure,” said Brian McFadden, vice-president of the Vancouver Island Military Museum. “They had no idea what they were getting into.” A hundred years ago this week, the world broke out into its first global conflict. One month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on July 28, 1914, AustriaHungary declared war on Serbia. See ‘COMMUNITY’ /4
GREG SAKAKI/THE NEWS BULLETIN
John Booker of New Zealand arrives at Departure Bay beach on Sunday at the finish line of the Great International World Championship Bathtub Race.
Tubbers tie for first place in annual Bathtub race BY GREG SAKAKI THE NEWS BULLETIN
Two men and their tubs tied for first place. Nathan Barlow and Shawn Lamoureux, both multiple-time champions, rang the bell at the same time to win the Great International World Championship Bathtub Race on Sunday afternoon at Nanaimo’s Departure Bay beach. Barlow arrived at the finish-line bell 11 seconds ahead of Lamoureux, but waited so that the two friends could ring the bell together. “He won it fair and square, but it’s kind of cool,” said Lamoureux. “We’re good friends and we’ve been going back and forth all these years.” Lamoureux won the great race in 2007 and 2009 and Barlow won in
2008 and 2011. The finish didn’t quite come down to a sprint to the bell, but it was almost that close. “Shawn and I were closer than our escort boats were to us. We had an awesome race,” Barlow said. Barlow will go into the books as the official super-modified division winner for 2014 with a time of one hour, 14 minutes, 20 seconds, exactly five minutes off record pace. Ross Elander finished third, six minutes back. John Schlitz won the modified class in 1:24:40, Cooper Rey won the stock division in 1:32:31 and Marian Stewart was first female to finish in 1:24:55. Jaime Garcia won the sportsmanship award and the heaviest tubber to finish award. Stewart was oldest tubber to finish and Trentyn Anderson was youngest tubber to finish. John Booker of New Zealand won
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the award for tubber coming from the farthest distance, Mike Reynolds won the last-place finisher award and Jaime Skipper took home the Silver Plunger award as first to sink. Bill McGuire, commodore of the Loyal Nanaimo Bathtub Society, doesn’t recall seeing a tie for first place before and said it was nice to see that sort of camaraderie. He said the society is “tickled pink” with how the Nanaimo Marine Festival went this weekend. “We’ve had a great run of weather and lots of activity downtown, lots of activity in the park,” he said. “Nanaimo’s getting to be a big city and you’ve got to do something for everybody and it’s kind of neat to see that we can all get together and it’s for the common good.” sports@nanaimobulletin.com