SPORT
Wednesday, December 29, 2010 - North Shore News - A37
YOUR NORTH SHORE GUIDE to THE GAMES PEOPLE PLAY
Wins on turf, track and trail of 2010 July-December
Andy Prest aprest@nsnews.com
IN this edition of the North Shore News we look back at the 2010 sports headlines from July to December.
Look for the third in our three-part NORTH SHORE SPORT YEAR IN REVIEW series as we count down the top five stories of 2010 in Sunday’s North Shore News.
The Olympics ended but the games went on as North Shore teams and athletes found local, national and international success. Enjoy the memories and all the best for 2011. July ■ West Vancouver’s Micayla Gatto won gold in women’s downhill racing at the Mountain Bike Canadian Championships, held in July in Panorama, B.C. The 21-year-old claimed her second national title — her first came in 2007 — by scorching the dry, dusty mountain trail in a time of 3 minutes 55.13 seconds, topping the second-place rider by more than eight seconds. Gatto’s performance came while she was still battling injuries suffered in a violent crash five months earlier in an urban race in Chile. Gatto was gearing up for a 20-foot step-down drop when her chain skipped and she came up short, smashing into the landing ramp below. “I still have to watch it when people hug me and stuff. It still really hurts,” Gatto said following her national championship win. ■ West Vancouver’s Janet McLachlan was a dominant force in helping Canada’s women’s national team earn bronze at the 2010 World Wheelchair Basketball Championships held in July, in Birmingham, England. McLachlan ended up with averages of 25 points and 19 rebounds per game, each of those landing her more than five above the next highest per-game tally. McLachlan played basketball for five years at the University of Victoria after graduating from Collingwood School. A blown knee suffered while playing rugby led to her introduction to wheelchair basketball and her debut with the national team in 2008. “I loved it from the moment I got in the chair,” she said. “It was a whole new challenge but I still got to play basketball.” ■ Two North Shore track stars scored medals for Canada at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association under-23
photo submitted
WEST Van’s Janet McLachlan fires a shot in Canada’s World Championship semifinal against the United States. McLachlan led the tournament in points and rebounds and helped power Canada to a bronze medal at the World Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Birmingham, England, this July. championships held in July in Miramar, Fla. North Vancouver’s Jessica Smith claimed gold in the women’s 800-metre race, edging a pair of runners from the United States at the line to claim the title. Smith then teamed up three other runners to win bronze in the women’s 4x400-m relay, clocking a time of 3:40.09. The other North Shore medalist was West Vancouver’s
Reid Gustavson who finished third in decathlon. The former University of British Columbia Thunderbird racked up a total of 6,866 points to claim the bronze in Florida. Gustavson also won bronze two years ago at the NACAC under-23 championships. August ■ Rain wreaked havoc with the schedule at the annual Hollyburn Country Clubhosted Odlum Brown
Vancouver Open but when the clouds dispersed fans were treated to great professional tennis. Twenty-seven-year-oldand Croatian-born Jelena Dokic, now representing Australia, took the women’s final 61 and 6-4 against France’s Virginie Razzano. Dokic was ranked fourth in the world in 2002 but fell off after taking time away from the game. She came in to the Vancouver
Open ranked No. 96. Israel’s Dudi Sela defeated Lithuania’s Ricardas Berankis in the men’s final to claim his third Vancouver Open title. Sela also won the tournament in 2005 and 2008. ■ North Vancouver’s Stephanie Bell and Kolbi Roper helped the British Columbia provincial team claim gold at the girls underSee Mulder page 38