In his wildest dreams, nine-year-old Liam Underwood couldn’t see where rugby would land him: a sold-out stadium in Cardiff, Wales roaring with 74,000 fans. A field where Ireland, the back-to-back Six Nations rugby champions, gather on the other side. That was the scene Liam stepped into Sept. 19, when the 24-year-old Beach native took the […]
Tag: Olympics
Big water rowers race at Balmy Beach
Most rowers like their water flat, but not Samuel Lavoie. Watching half-metre waves plow up Balmy Beach after the opening heat of Ontario’s first coastal rowing regatta, Lavoie was all smiles. Steady wind promised even bigger surf for the 6 km final. “I came today because they said it would be really windy this afternoon, […]
Windsurfer hooked since day one
At 16, Beacher Max Robinson was by far the youngest windsurfer to race the Olympic-class regatta in Miami, Florida. The next youngest, David Hayes, his mentor from Toronto Windsurfing Club, had three years on him. “Everything felt so surreal still,” says Robinson, now 21. “The speed, especially because you’ve got barely anything under you, it’s […]
Beacher won hockey gold – in 1924
Writing about hockey a while back, I mentioned one of the all-time greats who was raised in the Beach – Reginald Joseph “Hooley” Smith. Hooley was one of the sports legends known throughout the Beach area. He was a hockey superstar of the games later designated as the first Winter Olympics, which took place in […]
Ashbridges hosts Olympic beach volleyball qualifier
On Saturday, July 7 at Ashbridges Bay, four beach volleyball teams battled for two spots representing Canada at the Olympic Games in London. All four teams qualified for the Olympics in Mazatlan, Mexico, at the end of June, but failed to place in the top 16 in the world to automatically qualify for the games. […]
