Times Colonist from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada • 59

DS Times Colonist Sundw March 26 2000 Sports Some rowers toil in shadow of stars jr J7 2 a much larger increase for Henry Hering, who was drawing $560 a month for his card but now jumps to the $1,100 for all senior national team athletes. The increase couldn't have come at a better time for the Concordia mechanical engineering graduate. Until late last month, Hering was juggling a similarly grueling three-workout day with a part-time job as computer network administrator for Hydrox-yl Systems in Sidney. But Hering had to quit the office gig when the load became too heavy. "This is a huge relief," the 32-year-old veteran of the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics says of the funding increase.

"I had to quit the job because it was taking up too much time from training and I wasn't getting enough rest. I had resigned myself to a debt load. "This makes life less stressful." Both Biesenthal and Hering know their chances of ever becoming famous through their sport are minimal. The chances of becoming wealthy, despite the increased funding, are almost nonexistent. Current high-profile Canadian stars such as Porter, Robinson and Marnie McBean, who recently raised $200 a month for each Olympic rower through her corporate contacts, are able to live and train a little more comfortably because of their fame.

For most rowers, however, life below the poverty line has been the reality. And the reward has been the intrinsic value of the "process." "You just accept the anonymity of the situation," says Hering. And you accept the fact simple extras such as $12 for a movie and popcorn aren't in the budget. "But I think as an athlete, I've chosen to do this," says Biesenthal. "There is nothing else in the world I'd rather be doing." FRANK GUNN CANADIAN PRESS FILES (1999) ByJeffRud Times Colonist sports staff VICTORIA In the time they have been serious rowers, Laryssa Biesenthal and Henry Hering have learned how to work an oar through the water with powerful grace despite numbing cold and the firm grip of fatigue.

They have learned to push themselves for another 100 metres when their legs burn and each new breath brings indescribable pain. They have learned self-discipline to the point where three workouts and a shift at their paying jobs have been considered daily routine. They have also learned to take messages. Plenty of them. Biesenthal and Hering are dedicated and decorated veterans of Canada's Olympic team, now based on Elk Lake.

They are also the roommates of two rare high-profile rowers Emma Robinson and Derek Porter, respectively. With the Sydney Olympics looming and journalists calling for stories, Biesenthal and Hering have become adept at relaying the particulars to their famous friends. While Porter is more or less the Donovan Bailey of Canadian men's rowing, Hering is practically an unknown outside the sport's inner circle. And while Robinson's story of overcoming thyroid cancer to win a third consecutive world gold last summer was an inspiration to Canadians, her roomie, Biesenthal, is in no ate danger of being over-exposed. Biesenthal, who will likely row in the eight at Sydney, and Hering, who figures to be in the pair, represent the anonymous face of rowing.

They are the norm in a sport in which hard work and sacrifice are at a maximum and in which fame, and occasionally some very modest monetary good fortune, are reserved for a select few. "The first thing is, Emma deserves everything she gets because she's worked so hard," says Biesenthal, a cheerful 28- Pride deliver a thumping to local rivals By Andrew Duffy Times Colonist sports staff Utterance that should have been overheard in James Bay's dressing room Saturday night: "Note to selves, don't annoy the Pride." That was the clear message on the field Saturday afternoon as the Pacific Pride, riled by a second-half brawl, rolled off 'five tries in 1 1 minutes on their way to a 60-17 rout of the Bays at Macdonald Park. The intimidating aura of James Bay's home field? Forget it. The playing for pride at home? Forget it. The overused rugby adage: "Any team can win on any give Forgotten.

The Pride simply handed their cross-town rivals the old-fashioned thumping many expected Saturday as the Bays fielded a team pieced together from Premier League, first and second division players in the wake of injuries and five players away with the national seven-a-side team. "That was inevitable," a still upbeat Gary Johnston said after the game. "I knew the dam was going to burst at some point." But even the Bays head coach didn't expect the visitors to put 60 points on the board. In fact the home side kept things close in the first half with two inspired late tries from Graeme Humbcr that cut a 19-0 lead down to five points at the break. Jeff Bovis, Geoff Mclntyre and Phil Murphy scored first-half tries for the Pride with Ed Fairhurst kicking the first of his five converts.

The Bays crept closer (19-17) with a Ben Charlton penalty early in the second half. And their game pattern of working the ball through the forwards they used to Pan-Am gold medal in 1 999. with Sydney approaching, Biesenthal has committed full-time to training. At a price, of course. "I should be working," says the bronze medallist at Atlanta in the quad.

"Basically the credit cards are getting pretty bulked up right now." Last Monday's federal government announcement of a 60 per cent boost in funding to Canadian athletes will help ease Biesenthal's financial concerns, but it won't eliminate them. As an A-carded athlete, she had been receiving $8 10 per month tax-free from Sport Canada. That jumps to $1,100 effective May 1 which will help cover such things as proper food and physiotherapy sessions. "It'll help," Biesenthal says. "Things are still going to be tight, but it takes a little bit of the pressure off, I guess." The pre-Olympic funding boost means SEAN WHITE TIMES COLONIST down a Pacific Pride ball carrier.

the B.C. Masters Cup champion Athletics soccer team. (The masters category is open to both individuals and teams). In the team of the year category, the question was: Was it JBAA or Team Canada? It was hard to tell the difference the rugby factory won the B.C. club championship and produced nine players for Canada's roster at the World Cup to the nod as Victoria's team of the year.

Gary Johnston's Bays beat out a couple of other powerhouses for the team award. The 1999 Victoria Shamrocks, the Mann Cup national champions coached Nirmal Dillon and Chris Hall, were considered one of the greatest Senior A lacrosse teams ever assembled while Brent Fougner's UVic Vikes women's cross-country team won the C1AU national title by the widest margin in the history of the event. Linda Henderson, a groundbreaking female who coaches males, was named Sportsperson of the year for guiding (he Camosun Chargers men's volleyball team the 1999 B.C. colleges title and tearing down gender barriers in sport. Alice Kubek, Anne Lansdell and Val Fgan, longtime volunteers at Centennial Stadium who have handled elementary school mccis as well as the Commonwealth Games, were jointly named the winners of the annual Distinguished Service Award.

and Laryssa Biesenthal of Toronto row tights, light vests and without gloves. They cover 18 kilometres in this early voyage, pulling their red-and-white tipped oars through the frigid waters with an easy precision. But their workout day is just beginning. The morning session is followed by a team meeting, which is followed by a second, hour-long, row at 1 1:15 a.m., and yet another water session or some weight training at 4:15 p.m. Biesenthal doesn't currently work outside the sport but since relocating from Burnaby to Victoria in 1994 to be part of the national program, she has usually worked full-time.

Last year, besides training, she held down two jobs nannying six hours a day for three children under the age of four and pulling a retail shift at Haute Cuisine Cookware on weekends. That grind became too much and now, James Bay's tackier Chris May hauls Anderson of the UVic Vikes women's basketball learn, and the Canadian junior men's beach volleyball champions Domingo Miguel and Darren (loss. Deb Taylor from the resuscitated historic JUAA rowing club, winner of two golds and a silver at the Canadian masters championships, was picked as Victoria masters athlcic of the year over star senior women's golfer Diane Phillips and ft 1 L' as by to Jennifer Browett (left) ofVictoria year-old from Walkerton, Ont. "But it is hard sometimes. Emma goes through the same training routines as the rest of us.

"I wouldn't be human if I didn't think: 'Why can't I have some of that, Human? Superhuman might better describe the routine Biesenthal and the rest of the 45-rower Olympic contingent endure. Six days a week, the willowy 5-foot-8 brunette arrives at the Elk Lake boathouse at 7:15 a.m., when the frost still leaves the grass crunchy underfoot and the dock a slippery hazard. Out on the water, the wind is bone-chilling. Eagles soar overhead and the cars stream by on adjacent Pat Bay Highway, their occupants oblivious to the toil on the lake. Biesenthal and her fellow heavyweight women spend 1 hours on the water, dressed only in bodysuits, long sleeves, backs Chal Smyth and Andrew Lauchlan as pseudo-forwards to keep the attack up front and add some pace was effective at gaining ground, but just couldn't put points on the board.

Still, the Pride looked in control with crisp passing and strong running, and always looked to be one broken tackle away from scoring. All they needed was a little fire to get them going. Ten minutes into the second half they got their spark as a full-out brawl blew out of a ruck. And though at least 20 players were involved the officials chose to send off only the loose-head props of both teams. With the teams playing 14-a-side the Pride kicked it up a notch, and reeled off four tries with the players in the 10-minute sin bin.

Fairhurst, Mike Andrews, Jamie Collins and Charles Keenan all scored in that span, and Mclntyre scored a minute after the penalized players stepped onto the field to make it 48-17. "(The brawl) got them incensed, and after it they played with a lot more fire," Johnston said of the Pride. Indeed, James Bay never looked dangerous after the melee, and their defence fell to pieces in the face of some searching runs by the Pride's Chris Dykstra, Collins and Murphy. "We started today to do the things that we've wanted to do all season," said Pride head coach David Qark, noting the angle of attack and support of his players was excellent. Drew Graham and Fairhurst added late tries for the Pride.

Clark, whose Pride have played very well and very poorly at times this season, yesterday shunned the suggestion his team has been inconsistent this season in favour of the more biting "we've been consistently bad" characterization. Aiohhiim Grimes, whose towering play led the UVie Vikes to the national championship game and Canada to the bronze medal al the 1999 Pan-Am Games. Malt Pcltinger, who played strongly for Canada at the 1999 woi Id junior hockey championships and who's headed to the IL with a bullet, was named Victoria junior aihleic of the year. The otlicn tuialisls were the stoic bul lethal Lindsay' SEfZRZ IlM.PnuiPuAAlliU.lMj Sampras impresses in match KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) The Ericsson Open showcased most of the top talent in tennis Saturday, and no one looked more impressive than Pete Sampras.

For his opening match, Sampras drew a tough opponent but still won easily, beating former No. 1 Carlos Moya 6-1, 6-4. 'The game I played today was about as good as it gets," Sampras said. "I really don't mind playing anyone if my game is there." Seeded second, Sampras showed no effects from the back strain that sidelined him briefly earlier this month. He dominated with a serve peaking at 135 m.p.h., never faced a break point and won in just 52 minutes.

Promoters touted the day's schedule as the best the sport offers in terms of talent volume, with the top 13 players in the men's rankings and seven of the top 14 women in action. Thanks to the parade of big names, the day session drew 17,626, a tournament record. Winners on the men's side included No. 3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 5 Magnus Norman, No.

6 Gustavo Kuerten, No. 7 Thomas Enqvist, No. 8 Marcelo Rios, No. 9 Nicolas Lapentti and No. 10 Tim Henman.

Enqvist rallied to beat 1991 champion Jim Courier 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4. Rios, who won the tournament in 1998 when it was known as the Lipton Championships, beat 1992 winner Michael Chang 64, 6-4. In women's play, No. 2 seed Lindsay Davenport began the bid for her first Key Biscayne title by sweeping Anne Kremer Davenport beat Martina Hingis to win the Indian Wells final last week. "If you look at the last few months, Martina and I arc the only two that have been in there week-in and week-out, concentrating, trying to win titles," Davenport said.

"You have to take advantage of opportunities like this when maybe other players aren't playing their best or aren't interested or whatever." Fifth-seeded Serena Williams, last year's Lipton runner-up, struggled with her serve but siill beat Magdalenu Malecva 6-4, 6-2. Upset victims included No. 3 Mary Pierce and, on the men's side, No. 4 Nicolas Kicfer. Pierce came down with food poisoning and retired trailing Llcna Dementicva 6-3, 2-1.

Kicfer lost to Richard Frombcrg 6-4, 6- 4. It was a tough day for Spain, with Moya. No. 12 seed Alex Corretja and No. 13 Albert Costa all eliminated.

No. 10 Aranixa Sanchez Vicario advanced to the third round. Corretja, coming oil his first title since 1998 last week ul Indian Wells, faded against Jiri Novak 6-7 (4), 6-1, 61. Despite the st.ir-sluddcd schedule, two qualifiers advanced in the men's draw. Italian Gianluca Poi, at 34 the tournament's oldest player, bc.it Stefan Kotibck 7- 6 (6), 6-1, and Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland upsc Cosla 3-6, 7-6 (2.

63. Rees, Bowden honoured as city athletes of the year By Cleve Dheensaw Timet Colonist sports staff Giireth Recs, strapping yet highly mobile, capped a memorable international rugby career last year by becoming the first player ever to appear in four World Cups. Rocs' hometown rewarded him for captaining Team Canada and being the only player in the World Cup not to miss a penalty-goal kick or convert as he was named Victoria male athlete of the year for 1999 at the 33rd annual city sports awards banquet Saturday night at the Princess Mary. Rccs bail out fellow finalists Peter Rcid, the enduro machine who was second in last year's Ironman I lawaii, and Paul and Gary Gait, the superstar twins who revolutionized lacrosse and were named 1999 Maim Cup co-MVls in leading the Victoria Shamrocks to the national title. Rcid's wife, Lori Bowden.

credits her move five years ago to Victoria for her planetary ascendancy in the triathlon, It's a mutual love affair as the 999 women's Inmm.m Hawaii world champion was named Victoria female athlete of the year in media ballot ing. Bowden was chosen over fellow finalists Alison Sydor, the mountain biking lrgrfJ who again won the women's World Cup title, and field hotkey star pnwuM ol AlhlnlniL.