Some info from the organizers of the World Wheelchair Games can be accessed from this page of their site, which will hopefully soon feature some game photos which include wheelchair rugby, now that the first day of rugby competition has been completed.  You can also get results from the first three days of competition in other sports, including athletics and table tennis.

Full results, team rosters, and the upcoming game schedule is all available for you on the CWSA web site.

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Hello Canada,

We just finished our first day of competition at the World Wheelchair Games.  Everyone is healthy and the first day was 75% successful for Team(s) Canada.

In first game action, the Canada Ice met the New Zealand Kaka (it’s a bird).  The Ice roster includes Mike Whitehead (London, ON), Fabien Lavoie (Quebec City, QC), Steven Dunn (Halifax, NS), Sue McRae (London, ON), Trevor Robinson (Winnipeg, MB), Patrice Simard (Quebec City, QC) and Daniel Paradis (Quebec City, QC).

Those of us who played the Kiwis at the New Zealand Nationals knew that we were in for a fight.  And a fight it was as Canada had to battle back from, at one point, a five-goal deficit.  If you read the Road Journal action from October 17th, you’ll get a good idea of the problems we experienced in this game.  That said, this team of predominantly younger players showed a lot of heart and skill in the second half as they tied the game at one point and kept it close to the end.  The final score was Kaka 33 – Canada Ice 32.

In the second game of the day, the Nordiques du Canada also played the Kaka.  Poor Kaka!  Back to back games are never easy, but when you have to play the Nordiques on the second side of a back to back… well, it won’t be pretty.  Garett Hickling (Vancouver, BC), Ian Chan (Vancouver, BC), David Willsie (London, ON), Allan Semeniuk (Saskatoon, SK), Allan Chartrand (Edmonton, AB), Mike Bacon (Saskatoon, SK) and Jared Funk (Winnipeg, MB) took an early lead and added to that lead throughout the game.  They finished the fourth quarter with a 33 – 26 victory over the Kiwis.

After a break for lunch, the Nordiques took on the Brits.  Again the Nordiques took an early lead with what appeared to be a dramatically weaker GB squad here in Christchurch.  However, after a few minutes of play, they unleashed their new secret weapon, a 3.5 that looks a lot like former player Jon Lilley.  In spite of the secret weapon, the Nordiques wheeled to an easy win with a score of 38 – 30.

In the final game of the day, the Ice met, for the first time, the National Team from South Africa.  After the initial 4 minutes of play, Canada did not field a full 8.0 line-up for the remainder of the game.  South Africa is experiencing teams outside the Oceania Zone for the first time at this competition and they are learning.  It was a tough lesson as Canada posted a 35-12 score in the win column.

Sue McRae, Trevor Robinson, Patrice Simard and Daniel Paradis played a good portion of the game, totaling only 6.0 points on the floor.  Speaking of Sue McRae, we had a real David and Goliath story in the making today.  Sue took on, several times, a South African who had to outweigh her by 200lbs.  Her continuous challenge of this “giant” had him commenting to Sue, on court, “you’re crazy!”  But we know Sue.  She’s not crazy, just competitive and extremely stubborn.

Sally Thomas, our Canadian Powerlifter, and her Coach and our President, Donald Royer, spent the day at the gym supporting our teams.  Sally and Donald will be off to their competition tomorrow.  Hey Canada, send your support Sally’s way as she strives to qualify for Athens.

We have four more games tomorrow.  Send us your lucky vibes!

— Cathy Cadieux —