Dan Gossmann

To most, swimming in ice-cold water for nearly two kilometres, biking a 93-kilometre course littered with steep climbs and finishing off with a more than 21-kilometre run in the blazing heat is not the ideal way to spend a Sunday.

For Cochrane’s Wade Hardiman, this endurance test represented a change of lifestyle, and one he intends to
continue.

“I used to smoke a pack a day,” recalls the 44-year-old, who has resided in Cochrane the past 26 years.

“Then one day I decided I was going to quit. I started running . . . then one thing led to another. Eventually, they started the Ironman and I told my wife ‘Sign me up for that and I’m going to do it.’ ”

Wade Hardiman braves the cold water at Ghost Lake to fine tune his swimming stroke before the 2010 Ironman Calgary 70.3. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

That was roughly one year ago, as Hardiman battled through nearly seven hours of pain and fatigue to complete the 2009 Viterra Ironman Calgary 70.3.

The gruelling race begins in Ghost Lake, 20 kilometres west of Cochrane, moves onto a long bike trail around much of the local area and concludes with a run in southern Calgary.

“I absolutely loved it,” Hardiman said. “It was great coming through Cochrane and seeing your friends. I even had family come up from back east. I really enjoyed it.”

This year, Hardiman’s back for more, as he has been busy working through a rigorous training regimen in preparation for the 2010 Viterra Ironman Calgary 70.3, which will be held Aug. 1.

Hardiman said his physical attributes aren’t the only important asset to bring to an endurance race, as he must also prepare mentally.

“You just push through the pain,” said Hardiman, who developed blisters on his feet during last year’s race after bringing the wrong shoes to the event.

“At the end of a race, if someone stopped me and said ‘I will give you $1 million if you don’t cross that finish line,’ I would tell them ‘You can keep the money.’

“When you cross that finish line, there is no amount of money that can compare, it’s amazing what it does to you.”

After the Calgary race, Hardiman has little thought of slowing down his rigourous training schedule, as he plans to compete in more endurance races this year, including the notoriously difficult Ironman Arizona.

Dan and Pamela Gossmann, seen here running, say training together is their biggest advantage as they prepare for the big race. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

Fellow local resident Pamela Gossmann would likely be able to provide Hardiman with plenty of advice about competing away from home.

The 48-year-old has already competed  eight times at The Great White North Triathlon in Stony Plain, Alberta, twice at the Ironman Canada in Penticton, British Columbia, as well as a number of other endurance races.

As she prepares for this year’s local Ironman, Gossmann said her biggest advantage is being able to compete alongside husband Dan and other local athletes.

“We find it fun,” she said. “Honestly, living in Cochrane, we have the advantage of having a lot of people to train with.”

Dan added, “When you go out swimming in Ghost Lake, it’s nice to have someone freezing out there with you.”

Richelle Love will rely on her biking abilities after recently nabbing a medal at the 2010 Canadian Mountain Bike Championships. Photo submitted

Veteran Cochrane athlete Richelle Love is no stranger to the trails in and around town either.

For the 32-year-old, this year’s Ironman Calgary will represent her third race in as many weekends and comes on the heels of a silver-medal performance in her sport-ability race class at the 2010 Canadian Mountain Bike Championships in Canmore.

Love, who coaches triathlon through Cochrane’s Team Tri Life, said putting in consistent training time is the only way to truly prepare for Ironman 70.3.

She completed last year’s race and hopes to do much of the same this time around.

“I am not as run fit as I was last year, as I have put so much focus and hours into my mountain biking, but I don’t regret it,” Love said.

Joining Love, the Gossmanns and Hardiman at the start line of the Ironman will be fellow Cochrane athletes Donovan Bender, John Bosma, Stephanie O’Brien, Jim Rooney and  Paul Vaillancourt.

Jill and Robert Allen of Redwood Meadows, as well as Water Valley resident Donna See, are also scheduled to compete.

Erik Nusl

Like many of his fellow athletes, Erik Nusl ventured to the Alberta Summer Games with the hope of performing his best and maybe coming away with a medal.

However, after three days of competing in the Peace Region during the province-wide event held July 19-25, the Cochrane swimmer blew his expectations out of the water, so to speak.

Nusl, who trains with the Cochrane Piranhas swim club, earned gold in the ages 11-12 50-metre freestyle — fighting to an exact tie atop the podium with a rival from Sherwood Park — and bronze in five disciplines, the 50-metre butterfly, 200- and 400-metre freestyle races, as well as the 200- and 400-metre medley relays.

“I was racing against a lot of fast people and it really pushed me to go faster,” Nusl modestly explained.

The 12-year-old wasn’t the only local swimmer to storm the Summer Games podium.

In fact, his total was nearly matched by Cochrane’s Connor Matthezing.

Matthezing captured gold in the 200-metre freestyle, silver in the 100-metre butterfly, 200-metre individual medley and 400-metre freestyle, as well as bronze in the 200-metre butterfly.

Local athletes’ success in the water wasn’t limited to the swimming pool either, as Bragg Creek brothers Lukas and Jakob Vollmerhaus proved they were gifted competitors in the canoe/kayak events.

Lukas captured gold in the ages 15-17 K-1 wildwater individual event and teamed with Jakob to win silver in the C-2 slalom and bronze in the mixed slalom team race.

“It was great,” beamed Lukas when asked about the competition.

Cochrane Swimmer Erik Nusl captured six medals, one gold and five bronze, at the Alberta Summer Games held July 19-25 in the Peace Region. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

“It was a really friendly, yet competitive atmosphere.”

Like Lukas, Cochrane’s Ashley Heavenor and beach volleyball teammate Carly Heath of Water Valley also experienced the thrill of standing atop the Alberta Summer Games podium.

The girls’ road to gold in the Peace Region was a long one after they were originally denied a spot on the team because Heath missed a portion of the tryouts to attend a funeral.

However, Heavenor said it all paid off with an eventful trip that she is unlikely to forget anytime soon.

“Me and Carly became closer as friends and we met a lot of people,” she added.

Volleyball aside, local athletes also earned medals in numerous other team events.

Cochranites Jesse Chong, Matthew Taylor, Nolan Morrison,  Ben Kilbride of Redwood Meadows and Bruen Black of Water Valley helped the Zone 2 lacrosse team, made up of athletes from High River to Olds excluding Calgary, win gold in lacrosse.

As well, Cochrane’s Gigi Joudrie was lone local member on the Zone 2 team that won gold in girls water polo, while her brother William helped the boys team to silver.

Bragg Creek’s Molly-Jane Strum helped her mountain bike relay team win gold and also took a silver in the ages 11-15 individual event.

In rugby, Cochranites Tyson Soloski and Brandon Harrison, along with a number of other athletes who play for the local Coyotes club, helped Zone 2 win silver.

Alexandra Hayvren took home silver in basketball as a member of the Zone 3 girls’ team.

Athletics would also be a particularly strong area for the local contingent, as Cochrane’s Alexis Giannelia took silver in the U-17 girls 400-metre and bronze in the U-17 300-metre hurdles, while Zach Elliot of Water Valley and Justin Kelly of Redwood Meadows both earned bronze in the U-17 shot put and U-15 long jump respectively.

Noah Maisonneuve was the lone local medal winner in BMX racing, taking bronze in the 12-year-old class.

Grant Profit

It was déjà vu all over again for Cochrane chuckwagon driver Grant Profit, as he narrowly missed the championship dash for the second-straight event at the Bonnyville Chuckwagon Championship July 22-25.

Profit’s three-day aggregate time at the World Professional Chuckwagon Association (WPCA) event left him just six-tenths of a second back of the third and final spot in the George Normand Memorial Sudden Death Championship Final Heat.

This came just one week after the veteran reinsman missed a berth in the Calgary Stampede Rangeland Derby semifinals by little more than a second.

Profit fought back on the final night of racing and finished fourth in the overall aggregate. Cremona rookie Jordie Fike also took part in the event, finishing in 25th-place.

Next up for Profit and Fike will be the WPCA Dodge Pro Tour Championship held as part of Strathmore Heritage Days July 29-Aug. 2.

Jennifer Zimmer

As the 2010 Canadian Track and Field Championships get underway July 28-31 in Toronto, a Cochrane sprinter is on the outside looking in.

Jennifer Zimmer suffered a stress fracture in her lower right shin earlier this year and is still feeling the after-effects of the injury.

Zimmer said she had high hopes for this season after placing ninth in the women’s 100-metre dash at the Canada Games last August.

“I ignored my shin splints and trained through the pain,” the 20-year-old recalled. “I wanted to improve myself but I paid a price.”

Now, Zimmer is looking ahead to the fall, when she will return to the University of Calgary Dinos track and field team for her third season.

Dinos teammate and fellow Cochrane athlete Danielle Kendall will also skip the national competition, citing a coaching issue.

Ethan Gage

After watching from the sidelines during the Vancouver Whitecaps’ first 17 games this season, Cochrane’s Ethan Gage finally saw some action July 22 against the Portland Timbers, entering the match in the 70th minute.

In what little time he had, the 19-year-old midfielder must have impressed the coaching staff, as he started for Vacnouver three days later against the NSC Minnesota Stars and played all 90 minutes. Gage’s previously frustrating year has quickly turned into one full of promise, as he also earned a captain’s armband at Canada’s U-20 national training camp in June.

Gage’s exposure should only grow if he continues to log minutes for the Whitecaps, as the team is preparing for a move from the United Soccer League to the fast-growing Major League Soccer in 2011.

The tournament was strictly for fun and thus no handicaps were used. The club is now preparing a similar tournament for Sept. 10.

Tracey Klettl

Consistent form on the archery range can take a lifetime to perfect; however, Cochrane’s Tracey Klettl has quickly become one of the sport’s top Canadian competitors after only being introduced to it by a friend three years ago.

The 45-year-old rarely goes a day without picking up the bow and firing at something, be it a paper target or a foam animal. She even has a backyard range set up at her home just outside of town and makes frequent trips to shoot at Dragon Flight Archery, located just west of Water Valley.

All of Klettl’s dedication recently paid off, as she was crowned provincial champion at the Alberta 3-D Archery Championships.

Now, she will venture to the Canadian Archery Championships July 31-Aug. 2 in Kentville, Nova Scotia.

“Being so new to the sport, I was really happy to have the results I did,” Klettl said.

In 3-D archery, competitors are required to shoot at foam animal targets that vary in size and distance.

Cochrane’s Tracey Klettl is off to nationals after taking top prize at the Alberta 3-D archery provincials competition. Above: Klettl practices on her backyard range. Photo by Jeremy Broadfield

Klettl also participates in the more traditional discipline, where competitors shoot at a paper target set at a fixed distance, but said the 3-D version offers  much more unpredictability and excitement.

“Not only do you have to execute a really good shot, you have to be able to judge the distance,” she said.

If Klettl does well at nationals, she could earn a spot at the world championships later this year in the United States.

Of course, that will be the farthest thing from her mind when she steps up to shoot in Nova Scotia.

“The funny thing about archery is the less that goes through your mind the better,” Klettl explained.

“Archery is very mental and the more you can just focus on your shot and keep everything else out the better.”

The nationals competition will play out over three days as each athlete will be required to fire at 20 targets. Kill zones are painted on the animals and archers attempt to hit them to score maximum points.

Klettl said her toughest adversaries will likely come from Alberta and British Columbia.

“I don’t really know what to expect,” she said.

“I am going in as prepared as I can be.”

J.D. Watt

Cremona’s J.D. Watt sees a changing of the guard in the Calgary Flames organization.

The 23-year-old winger hopes this will work in his favour, as he was recently re-signed to a one-year deal by the team. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“I think (Flames General Manager Darryl Sutter) has found that the younger guys are what will make his team successful nowadays,” said Watt, who spent last season with the Calgary’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat. “If you look at the Stanley Cup final this year, you had two young teams in the Philadelphia Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks.

“Hopefully the Calgary Flames get younger and give myself and other guys a shot.”

Watt will almost undoubtedly return to the Heat in the fall. Last season with the team, he accumulated 13 points and a team-leading 267 penalty minutes over the course of 70 games — a relatively fitting stat line for his style of play.

Cremona forward J.D. Watt was recently re-signed by the Calgary Flames and will likely return to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Abbotsford Heat, for his second season with the team in the fall. Photo by Jeff Bough

“I tend to be a bit of a pest,” Watt said. “I’m not going to more than a third- or more likely a fourth-line player in the NHL.
“My job is to try to get under people’s skin and be that guy no team wants to play against.”

After coming up through the minor hockey systems in Cremona and Cochrane, Watt bounced around between numerous franchises in the Western Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League before landing a job in Abbotsford.

Watt said the Heat organization is a great fit at this point in his career — after all, he has been a Flames fan his entire life and dreams of donning the flaming ‘C’ someday.

“I wish I was a lot closer than I actually am,” said Watt of his potential prospects in the professional ranks. “You have got to be an elite player in the American (Hockey) League before you can get there.”

Nevertheless, the committed forward plans to continue putting his 6’2, 90-kilogram frame through the paces in hopes of earning that life-changing phone call from the Flames someday.

“Sometimes it’s injuries that get you up there, other times it’s playing really well and sometimes it’s just being in the right spot at the right time,” Watt said.

“Basically all you do is what you can and look after the little things and they will look after you.”

Mason Raymond

The Vancouver Canucks announced July 25 that they had avoided arbitration with Cochrane winger Mason Raymond, signing the 24-year-old to a two-year deal worth $5.1 million.

Raymond played all 82 regular-season games for the Canucks last season, logging career highs in goals (25), assists (28) and points (53).

He then struggled some what in the post-season, tallying four points in 12 games.

The speedy winger was originally drafted by the Canucks in the second round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft and has never played for another professional franchise.

He first earned consistent time on the Canucks’ roster during the team’s playoff run in the 2009-10 season.

Officially, Raymond, who emerged as a star with the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Canmore Kodiaks, will make $2.5 million for the 2010-11 season and $2.6 million in 2011-12 —  more than tripling the $760,000 base salary he earned last season.

The eleventh-hour deal avoided an arbitration hearing scheduled for the next day in which Raymond’s agent was rumoured to be seeking $3-3.5 million annually.

Matt McCue

Playing under the lights at Madison Square Garden would be a pretty special way to start one’s NHL career, and now Cochrane defenceman Matt McCue will get a chance to do just that.

The Anaheim Ducks officially dealt McCue, who split time between the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the East Coast Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors last season, to the New York Rangers  earlier this month.McCue originally signed on with the Ducks as a free agent in late 2008, but struggled to find a solid lineup role on the team’s affiliate squads.

He has also previously undergone trial runs with the Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks, but has never dressed in an NHL game.

The hulking defenceman, who stands 6’5 and tips the scales at nearly 100 kilograms,   will now likely suit up for the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, joining fellow Cochrane defender Trevor Glass, who recently had his contract option picked up by the team.

McCue will likely need to develop into a more consistent talent in the AHL before any possible jump to the pros, as last season he logged just three points in 29 games.