Sports with Andie Bennett and Douglas Gelevan

 A well known climbing gym in Pte. St. Charles is responding to the demand for more space and will be more than doubling their square footage with a move right down the street to the old Redpath Silos. The new gym will be the tallest indoor gym in Canada and is receiving a 200,000$ infusion from Tourism Quebec to help with the redesign.

The gym is owned and operated by the Richer-de la Plante family and this announcement is truly the starting point of a labor of love for the whole family.

Construction is underway and the grand opening is slated for summer 2012.

Check out what longtime members of the Allez Up gym think about the expansion as heard on CBC's Daybreak: 

And to get a look at the silo, here is the piece from CBC News:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Local_News/Montreal/Sports/1860385477/ID=2177178029

If you have clothing you could part with, stop by NDG Skate shop this weekend for their clothing drive and see some pretty amazing skating!

Wow, what a sports weekend on the way for Montreal!

The Canadiens continue their pre-season with 3 games in a row starting in Ottawa tonight. The Alouettes play in Edmonton tonight and the Impact look to clinch a playoff spot in Atlanta tomorrow.

Locally the sports schedule is even busier! Here are a few things you may want to mark on the calendar:

 What: POP vs JOCK charity basketball game

Where: McGill Sports Center 475 Pine Ave. West

When: Saturday September 24th doors open at 3:30, tip off 4:30

Who: Win Butler (Arcade Fire), Chris Tomson (Vampire Weekend), Matt Bonner (NBA Veteran) and many, many more......

www.mcgill.ca/athletics

What: Montreal Irish Rugby Club Super Ligue final

Where: 707 Rue de la Vallee, St. Julie

When: Saturday September 24th, starting at 8:30am

http://www.montrealirish.com/

What: 5th Annual Cedars Cancer Center Dragon Boat Race and Festival

Where: Waterfront at Promenade Pere-Marquette in Lachine

When: Saturday September 24th, starting at 8:00am

Who: Max 40 boats, Spokespeople Anthony and Alexia Calvillo

http://www.cedarsdragons.ca

What: Montreal Marathon

Where: departing Jacques Cartier Bridge finishing at Maisonneuve Park

When: Sunday, September 24th, starting at 8:30am 

Who: 24,000 runners from some 40 countries, as well as 40 US states and all 10 Canadian provinces.

www.marathondemontreal.com 

The 2011 Rowing World Championships are underway in Bled, Slovenia. The women's 8 is looking to qualify for London 2012 with the final race on Friday. They are also looking to beat the Americans for the first time after giving them a serious run for their money at a World Cup event last month. (Photo: Darko Bandic/Associated Press)

They only need to finish ahead of 1 boat to qualify for the upcoming Olympics. Montreal's Andreanne Morin is stroke in the women's 8 meaning she sets the pace and rhythm. After finishing a heartbreaking 4th in Beijing, Morin and her crew are hungry for a medal this time around.   

Paula O'Connor and the Montreal Shamrocks Gaelic Athletic Club want to recruit women for 2 of the oldest Irish sports. Camogie is the women's version of Hurling which if you are still confused is kind of like a cross between Field Hockey and Lacrosse. If you are still confused listen to O'Connor's description below. And if after THAT you are STILL confused head out to their demo Saturday August 5th from 12:00-2:00pm at Rutherford Park behind McGill University's downtown campus.

You are also welcome any other day of the year to check things out. Just drop Paula a line at montrealshamrocksgaa@gmail.com

photo: Wikipedia

Roger Federer made some waves in his conference call with the media yesterday when he called into question the new format for the Rogers Cup that holds the mens and womens tournament at the same time. The men are in Montreal this year while the Ladies play in Toronto. Hear the entire conferece call by clicking on the link below. Also dont miss you chance to see the top 3 players practice at Uniprix Stadium in Jarry Park. Its open to the public and it's free!

Friday practice schedule:

10:00am-12:00pm Raphael Nadal

12:00pm-2:00pm Roger Federer

2:00pm-4:00pm Novak Djokovich 

While some women may recoil at the idea of hoping on something referred to as the ass-ometer, after suffering through pain on my bike seat (saddle) for over a year I was willing to take the chance during my first ever bike fitting with BG Certified Master Fitter Andrew McGregor. If you are experiencing pain on your bike, numbness or are concerned about pressure on soft tissue (ladies) or blood flow to important appendages (hello men) you may benefit from a full bike fitting. Most bike shops worth their salt will offer some degree of bike fitting but the good folks over at Specialized recommend Bicycles Quilicot http://www.bicyclesquilicot.com/ 

It is a bit odd to roll up to a hockey rink and instead of seeing a game of ball hockey underway there are a bunch of people on bikes, weilding home made croquet mallets. If you have encountered this you just had your first run-in with bike polo.

This July 21 until August 9 2011, Former Canadiens tough guy Georges Laraque and a group of a dozen people will undertake the ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. This expedition will be used to support the mission of the Foundation Lani whose mandate is prevention of suicide among young people aged 12 to 25 years.

http://www.fondationlani.ca/

Montrealer Xavier Desharnais is preparing to swim 25 kilometres at Jinshan City Beach at the World Aquatic Championships in Shanghai, China. The course has been criticized for being too hot  - 30 degrees -  and for having a 90 degree turn just 200 metres into the race. Here is a look at the course.

Bring canned goods to Benny Park tomorrow in NDG and you will have a chance to see some great skateboarding, hear some music, have a BBQ and mybe even take home a REALLY swanky gift bag. They will move to NDG SkatePark at the corner of Oxford and DeMaisonneuve if it rains.

Here is organizer Stephen Hughes on why he decided to support this cause. 

Andie

It was a wet, soggy day at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve for the Canadian Grand Prix. The race began behind the safety car much to the dismay of the F1 fans.
One the pace car bailed out, fans were treated to a race that was filled with place changes, crashes, a steward falling getting on and off the track narrowly escaping becoming another bump on the Circuit and of course a 2 hour wait while the rain came down. The end of the race made it all worth it. Sebastian Vettel had led all day but made one fatefull mistake and Jenson Button saw the opening and took it to win the race.

Jenson Button moments after winning the Canadian Grand Prix 

Sebastian Vettel laments about the 1 mistake that cost him the race

Andie

Shaquille O'Neil anounced his retirement yesterday after 19 years in the NBA. Shaq anounced it on twitter before even telling his current team the Celtics.

You may have some great memories of the 7'1, 350 pound centerman but this is my favorite. The big man can move!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWTpwcHYq18

Andie

This poor kid. That can not be a good feeling. Watch what happens when a ball boy jumps the gun and runs out in front of Viktor Troicki just as he is about to put away an easy overhand smash on Andy Murray. Murray went on to win the match and move on to the quarter-finals where he will face Juan Ignacio Chela today.

http://opensource.si.com/2011/05/31/ball-boy-blunder-frustrates-troicki/?sct=hp_t2_a16&eref=sihp

Andie Bennett

If your interest was piqued today you can watch live streaming Lacrosse on the WILC website. Canada was undefeated through the round-robin portion of the tournament and is being talked about as one of the finest Box Lacrosse teams ever assembled.

http://www.wilcprague2011.com/

Andie Bennett 

Everyone from the Olympic Team to your average Top Gun fan will be out on the sand this summer!

check it out http://www.365volleyball.ca/ 

 Andie Bennett

Cycling has become near and dear to my heart. I started just last year when I was approached to do an endurance ride from Toronto to Montreal and I was hooked. I will be telling you all about this ride which I am doing again this year but TONIGHT there are a group of young men preparing to bike accross Canada to generate awareness about child soldiers with a goal of raising $150 000 for the Child Soldiers Initiative. The CSI is an organization founded by Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire (Ret'd), working towards eradicating the use of children as soldiers worldwide. They will be hosting an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner and a free benefit concert featuring local artists The Ray, Stephanie Parnell, White Mariah, The Neon Cavalry and Jailbait Lucy. The concert is set to begin at 6pm with doors to the spaghetti dinner opening at 5pm. Tickets to the dinner and event can be purchased from the Legion for $8, or at the door for $10.

For more information about the event , the Zero Force Cycling Team and the Child Soldiers Initiative, visit their website at http://www.cyclingwithzeroforce.com

Andie Bennett

Dare Andie,

Welcome to the new segment for sports on Daybreak. As a fun add-on for the summer listeners can 'dare' me to go out and take on new sports challenges that will be chronicled through the miracle of blogs, photos and videos. First challenge will be this weekend's Spartan Race!

http://www.spartanrace.com/

The 5 km obstacle race was was designed by seven insane ultra athletes and a Royal Marine. It includes spear throwing, jumping through fire and crawling through the mud under barbed wire. And I could not be more excited to run it! I will be joining experienced Spartan Racer CBC's own Michel Godbout at Mount Tremblant for the race next Sunday May 29th. Check back for pictures and videos!

If you have suggestions for Dare Andie please email them to andrea.bennett@cbc.ca of send them to my twitter @andiecbc.

It has been about 2 months since I joined the Daybreak crew at CBC. I recently was able to speak with a Pakistani Squash player brought to Canada to train by Canadian squash legend Jonathan Power. 20 year old Maria Toor Pakay grew up in the tribal area near the Afghanistan border where it is frowned upon, (putting it lightly) to educate girls and most certainly playing sports is out of the question. 

I am incredibly grateful for the chance to speak with Pakay and the interview certainly made its mark on me. Tucked inside a CBC recording studio I reached Pakay by phone just after practice in Toronto.  Her clear confident voice came down the line and she proceeded to tell me about growing up pretending to be a boy for the first 11 years so she could go out and play rough and tumble without fear of repercussions. In an effort to make his rambunctious daughter happy and burn off some of her seemingly endless energy her father put her in weightlifting under a boys name. She won a boys weightlifting competition then began to pick up squash. Her family eventually moved out of the war torn region and into Peshawar. Pakay continued to play squash, often training for hours by herself. Her obvious talent made it impossible to contain the secret and Pakay and her father eventually came clean that she was, in fact, a girl. International tournaments followed and within 2 years she was Pakistans number 1 female squash player.
 
The added exposure however made things difficult at home. Her family was still threatened due to her fathers support of her athletic endeavors so instead of giving up the sport she loved, Pakay began writing. From 16-19 Pakay wrote hundreds of letters to squash training centers across the globe looking for a job in exchange to train. Power was the only one to respond. 6 weeks ago Pakay arrived in Toronto and now trains at Power's new National Squash Academy in Toronto with Power giving me his personal guarantee that she would one day be world champion.

Why did this interview affect me so much? Why did I have to remind myself I was a professional as my words caught in my throat when I spoke to her? I could not shake the feeling that this could be me. Save the good fortune I had to be born in Canada. Never once growing up did I consider how lucky I was that I could throw on shorts and a t shirt and go to the park in search of a pick-up game.  Never once did I think it was unusual for a girl to play sports or be a tom-boy. I took so many things for granted and this young woman overcame so much just to do something that makes her happy and for which she is clearly gifted. Needless to say I will be following her journey and will be sure to let you know when she does close a chapter of her amazing squash career and become the World Champion.

Andie Bennett

It's funny the way life works out sometimes. Truthfully I never set out to be a sports reporter but when I look back it's almost as if the path was predestined!

The reporter side really comes as no surprise. My family used to call me scoop when I was younger; a term coined by my dad, given to me as a result of my constant inquisitions into what everyone was up to in the family. My curiosity was basically fueled by my constant feeling of being left out of everything. Not quite old enough to hang out with my sister and older cousins yet too old for the younger kids I compensated by making pretty much everything my business.

As for the sports side I was always more of a do-er than a watcher. Days were spent at the ballpark for softball practice or a game of run-down with friends and nights were spent with some serious games of outdoor hide and seek in our Kirkland neighborhood. My moms whistle out the window would send me running home like a prairie dog. 
Watching sports was more of an excuse to spend time with my dad then any real enjoyment on my part of being trapped inside on a couch instead of being out getting into mischief. I don't know when I started feeling fear, (something that often paralyses me now when I am climbing), but it was certainly not an emotion I knew as a child. Climbing trees became too easy so tried to do it in roller skates, I tried to clear a 20 stair stairway to our basement in one jump and it was hardly worth going anywhere if I could not find a route that involved hoping fences.

As I got older softball really took over  my teens and I would fantasize about being the first woman in MLB. (Yes of course I realize how crazy that is now but at the time I believed this would most definitely happen) Team sports end really abruptly for girls. One day there are just no more teams to join. Sure, a few girls I played with got scholarships to American Universities but unless you are heading to an Olympic team  it is pretty much the end of the line as you approach your late teens. Luckily I had started snowboarding and a new fantasy of being paid to ride the mountains began to take root. I had neither the skill nor the drive and eventually had to accept that being a professional snowboarder was just not in the cards.

Tons of little sports heartbreaks and missing the team atmosphere led me to joining the inaugural rowing crew at Concordia University. 3 of the best years of my life followed, studying communications at Concordia and rowing crew with a group of the most awesome ladies all coming together for 6 am training. When it comes to playing sports I guess it is fair to say I am a Jill of all trades master of none. As hard as that was for my stubborn brain to accept I see now that all these little things led me to where I am today.