Lance Armstrong, through winning seven Tour de France titles, brought the sport of cycling into the eyes of thousands of fans. When Armstrong battled and overcame testicular cancer, forming the Livestrong Foundation, he won the hearts of many. Throughout his career he denied doping accusations, and fought back against anyone who began the rumors. In a January 2013 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong finally admitted to doping during his cycling tours. He is now being attacked on all sides –  from other cyclists, fans, family and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). But Armstrong is facing another round of attacks, this time from readers.

Rob Stutzman, aide to former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with chef and amateur cyclist Jonathon Wheeler feel betrayed by the portrayal of Armstrong as an inspirational figure after he admitted to lying on Oprah’s show. The two books, It’s Not About the Bike and Every Second Counts, published by Penguin and Random House, were labeled as “true memoirs” of Armstrong’s battle with cancer as he won seven Tour de France titles. Readers claim they were misled and would not have bought the books.

According to the Daily News, the suit says “Plaintiffs and class members would not have purchased the books had they known the true facts concerning Armstrong’s misconduct and his admitted involvement in a sports doping scandal that has to his recent and ignominious public exposure and fall from glory.” It also “includes long passages from the books in which Armstrong denies doping or claims his athletic accomplishments were achieved without the use of performance-enhancing drugs.”

Stutzman, who says he is not normally a reader, even recommended the book to friends who were battling cancer. When he had the chance once to meet with Armstrong and thank him for the inspirational books, Armstrong merely thanked him.

The case is being filed in Sacramento federal court. While it is not clear how much the defendants are suing for, it will be more than the price of the book. Penguin believes the case should simply be dismissed.

This suit is only the tip of the iceberg for Lance Armstrong as more people and organizations claim they were cheated by the cyclist. Some papers, like the Sunday Times of London, plan to sue for the money lost in libel cases that Armstrong brought to them for publishing an article about Armstrong’s doping allegations, which he vehemently denied at the time. Former teammate and close friend of Armstrong’s, Floyd Landis, filed a whistle-blower lawsuit claiming that accepting the $30 million from the U.S. Postal Service as a sponsorship was fraud because the team was fueled illegal methods.

Lance Armstrong had admitted doping with the hope of resuming his cycling career once more. According to the New York Times, “Armstrong has hopes of competing in triathlons and running events, but those competitions are often sanctioned by organizations that adhere to the World Anti-Doping Code, under which Armstrong received his lifetime ban.”

Oprah Winfrey believes that this is not the end for Armstrong. “If he is willing to do the work … he can be a real hero” she told USA Today. “Everybody has the ability within them to rise again. What really matters in the world is what kind of human being he chooses to be.” As more people react to the truth about their fallen idol, fans can only hope that he can redeem his name.

Image Courtesy : jdegenhardt

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Boston, U.S.A. — On December 18, John Hancock Financial announced the return of 2012 Boston Marathon champions Sharon Cherop and Wesley Korir of Kenya for the 117th running of the race on April 15.

Wesley Korir ran the smartest race of his life in winning the 116th Boston Marathon. Deftly handling blistering heat that reached a high of 85F, Korir patiently stayed connected to the leaders of the fastest men’s field ever assembled. Heading into the Newton hills, he resisted the surges of front-runners Geoffrey Mutai and Levy Matebo, and instead ran within himself and focused on strategy. Singing out loud and staying hydrated, Korir found inspiration to pass first one heat-fatigued runner and then the next. He deliberately moved from sixth place at mile 20, to second at mile 24, to undisputed champion at the finish (2:12:40). Kenyans Levy Matebo and Bernard Kipyego and American Jason Hartmann finished second through fourth respectively.

“Winning the Boston Marathon was the biggest accomplishment of my life and the win placed me in a distinguished group of champions who are legendary,” said Korir who is a permanent U.S. resident of Louisville, Kentucky. “The entire world recognizes and respects the Boston Marathon, and I am proudly a Boston Marathon champion forever.” Korir said 2013 marks his fifth year of marathon running and his main goal for the year is to defend his Boston title. He is a two-time marathon winner in Los Angeles and was runner up in Chicago in 2011.

Boston’s 2012 women’s race was equally as strategic as Sharon Cherop’s experience on the course proved to be the deciding factor. In her 2011 Boston debut, Cherop ran in sync with country woman Caroline Kilel and American Desiree Davila until the final meters, but could not keep pace with the duo and was denied the win by six seconds and the runner-up spot by four seconds. This year, Cherop made amends and after running side by side with countrywoman Jemima Sumgong over the final miles, she put in a crushing surge at the home-stretch corner of Hereford and Boylston. Sumgong was unable to respond and Cherop reached the tape first in 2:31:50, just two seconds ahead of her rival. The close finish marked the fifth consecutive year the women’s race has been decided by three seconds or less. Kenyan Georgina Rono finished third and was followed by Ethiopian Firehiwot Dado, the 2011 New York City champion.

“I will be in Boston to try to win again and perform at my best level,” said Cherop. “I know that there are some of the best athletes in the world competing in Boston in 2013, but I’ll be ready for the big race. The course is very hard because there are a lot of hills and you are running without pacers, but I like this course because it’s also making a natural selection among the athletes.” Cherop is past marathon champion in Toronto and Hamburg, and was the bronze medalist at the IAAF World Championships Marathon in 2011.

“As John Hancock closes in on 30 years of sponsorship of the Boston Marathon, we are thrilled to have our defending champions returning for the 2013 race,” said Rob Friedman, head of Sponsorship and Event Marketing at John Hancock. “Both Wesley and Sharon held off an excellent field in 2012 and will face another one this year as we once again honor our commitment to bring the world’s top runners to the race. Marathon Monday will be here before you know it and we fully expect millions of spectators and viewers will experience yet another thrilling race on April 15.”

“It is with great pride that we welcome back Wesley Korir and Sharon Cherop to defend their titles at this year’s Boston Marathon,” said Tom Grilk, Boston Athletic Association Executive Director. “Their insightful and tactical races in challenging conditions last year will be remembered for years to come as part of Boston’s rich tradition of excellence. Thanks to John Hancock Financial Services, both of these great champions have the opportunity to add another Boston Marathon win to their distinguished careers.”

The 2013 Boston Marathon marks the 28th year of John Hancock’s landmark sponsorship of the legendary race. For additional information about the elite athlete program and sponsorship, please visit www.johnhancock.com or follow John Hancock  on Twitter @jhboston26.

Image Courtesy : BU Interactive News

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ESPN, a prominent action sports content provider and creator of the X Games, kicks off a new era with the 2013 global expansion’s six-event schedule – featuring eight sports, 26 disciplines and new iconic venues from inaugural host cities Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil; Barcelona, Spain; and Munich, Germany. Joining the existing world-class events in Aspen, Colorado.; Los Angeles, California; and Tignes, France, the three new cities will combine to offer the most wide-ranging program of sports and disciplines in X Games history, including the addition of Mountain Bike Slopestyle, Women’s Skateboard Park and the return of BMX Freestyle Dirt.

With the disciplines set, event planning and course designs underway, this expansion will be the first of its kind for the franchise in terms of size, scope and scale – setting a global stage to spotlight the world’s best action sports athletes in BMX, Skateboard, Moto X, Rally Car, Ski, Snowboard and Snowmobile – while also highlighting new and unique lifestyle, cultural and digital elements around the world.

“ESPN is giving athletes a tremendous opportunity to succeed and gain more exposure in their respective sports,” said action sports icon and 17-time X Games medalist Travis Pastrana. “It is awesome to see X Games not only take these sports to more cities globally, but I love seeing new sports added and the return of past, popular events.”

Tim Reed, senior director, X Games content strategy said, “We’re very excited to embark on this new chapter of X Games global expansion and to offer such a wide array of locations and amazing backdrops for the sport disciplines in 2013. Showcasing the world’s best action sports athletes in six world-class host cities will enable fans to experience premier competition and the unique culture synonymous with the new world of X Games.”

The full list of X Games sports disciplines for 2013 is as follows:

Image Courtesy : ARphotography / Shutterstock.com

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Kim Yu-na, 22-year-old South Korean figure skater, has won the NRW Trophy 2012 held on December 9 in Dortmund, Germany, scoring total 201.61 points. Kim’s total score, 72.27 points in the short program and 129.34 points in free skating, was the highest score by a female figure skater in this season. The second place went to Russian figure skater Makarova, with 159.01 points in total that included 99.46 points in free skating and 59.55 in the short program.

Before Kim’s performance on Sunday, Japanese figure skater Mao Asada had the best score in this season with a total of 196.80 points, winning the International Skating Union (ISU) Grand Fix in Sochi, Russia, on Saturday.

Kim, the 2010 Olympic gold medalist, also secured the required technical scores to qualify for the 2013 World Figure Skating Championships to be held in the Canadian city of London in Ontario from March 10-17.

Since Kim was sitting out the entire 2011-12 season to mull over her career options, her participation in the NRW Trophy 2012 was the first competitive skating since the 2011 world championships. Kim announced in July that she would return to competitive skating and also showed intentions of wanting to participate in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

On December 9, Kim showed up with people’s applause and started her performance to a compilation of songs from the popular musical “Les Miserables.” She finished a clean triple lutz-triple toe loop combination and then a triple flip and followed up with flawless spins and step sequences.

However, it was not a flawless performance. Midway through the program, Kim under-rotated her double axel and later fell on the second jump of a triple-double combination, losing 2.10 points.

At the end of program, it seemed that Kim was suffering from a minor stamina problem derived from her long term hibernation as a professional figure skater. However, she did not lose her pace, allowing herself to get over 200 points.

Kim Yu-na, who was born in September 5, 1990 in South Korea, started her career as a figure skater in 1996. She became a member of Korea’s national team in 2003 when she was only 14 years old.

Kim holds three world records with 78.50 points in the short program, 150.06 points in free skating and 228.56 points in total score. All three marks were set at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. In the 2009 world champion, Kim upheld a professional trait of never finishing off the podium in her senior career, which began in 2006.

Image Courtesy : Queen Yuna

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Fredericksburg, U.S.A. — The race is on. Not only for Obama and Romney, but for 500 top skydivers nationwide competing at the 2012 U.S. Parachute Association National Skydiving Championships, the world’s largest annual skydiving competition, October 25-November 3 at Skydive Arizona in Eloy.

Masked candidates “President Barack Obama” and “Governor Mitt Romney” aired things out – upside down and at 12,000 feet! USPA coordinated the stunt over Skydive Perris in California, with skydiversTravis Fienhage and Andy Malchiodi, World and U.S. Freefly Champions from team SoCal Converge, in honor of competition – for president and skydiving champion.

At Nationals, the country’s finest, fastest, most fearless aerial athletes will take the plunge and push their skydiving skills to the limit, competing in five spectacular disciplines: Formation Skydiving (4-way, 8-way, 10-way and 16-way events), Artistic Events (which include stunning Freeflying and Freestyle), Freefall Style and Accuracy Landing (also known as “the classics”), Canopy Formation and Vertical Formation Skydiving.

The U.S. Parachute Team—the country’s top aerial athletes—have their final opportunity to show what they’ve got before heading to Dubai, UAE, at the end of November for the World Parachuting Championships. Also, in the classics event, U.S. Team member Cheryl Stearns, who recently reached 19,000 jumps—a U.S. record for most jumps for a female—looks to hold onto her national champion title.

The championships are free and open to the public. Sports fans and spectators can catch the action happening thousands of feet above the drop zone on video monitors, as well as view hundreds of colorful canopies filling the sky and thousands of dramatic landings.

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Tulsa, U.S.A. — The Ram Truck brand, makers of the most innovative lineup of full-size trucks on the market, has become the latest major company to sponsor Jack Link’s Major League Fishing.

Now entering its second season, Major League Fishing is a partnership between Outdoor Channel, America’s Leader In Outdoor TV, and 24 of the world’s best anglers. The league features original made-for-television bass fishing events designed to bring high-level challenges to participants and entertainment, as well as angling insight, to audiences.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to bring one of the great names in trucks on board at Major League Fishing,” said league Commissioner Don Rucks. “Ram trucks are everywhere at fishing tournaments all over the country, and we believe their brand is a natural fit for Major League Fishing.”

Major League Fishing recently concluded filming for its second event: Jack Link’s Major League Fishing, the General Tire Summit Cup. The Summit Cup, filmed on Chautauqua Lake in Western New York. The event will be televised beginning on January 3, 2013, on Outdoor Channel. The Summit Cup’s Championship Round will be broadcast on NBC on February 9. Subsequent to the Championship Round’s airing on NBC, it will re-air on Outdoor Channel the following week.

The Ram Truck brand produces a host of popular trucks, including the Ram Chassis Cab, Ram 3500, Ram 2500, Ram 1500 Tradesman and the Ram C/V.

“Ram trucks are designed to meet the towing capabilities and durability that anglers demand,” said Fred Diaz, President and CEO – Ram Truck Brand and Chrysler de Mexico. “We know anglers are passionate about their trucks and loyal to the sport’s sponsors. That is why there is a Ram truck to fit every need and lifestyle and why we are proud to sponsor Jack Link’s Major League Fishing.”

Major League Fishing is bringing the high-intensity, competitive sport of bass fishing into America’s living rooms in the form of original one-hour TV episodes. Under the league’s innovative format, anglers can weigh all the score-able bass that they catch. The bass are immediately weighed after they are caught, then released back into the water. In the Major League Fishing competition, anglers know where they rank in the standings at all times via real-time leader boards in their boats. Anglers are not allowed to practice before events. Major League Fishing – it’s a new season, showcasing a new game, with new rules and no limits!

Image Courtesy of  Major League Fishing

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Lufkin, U.S.A. — Phil Marks of Dallas, Texas, marked his spot in the FLW record books by catching a 32-pound, 12-ounce sack on the final day of competition at the Walmart FLW Tour Open on Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Mercury giving him a 16-pound, 5-ounce margin of victory, the third largest in FLW Tour Open history. EverStart pro Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., holds the current record for largest margin of victory, 23-9, which he set at the 2012 season opener on Lake Okeechobee.

Marks’ five-bass limit Sunday gave him a total weight of 82 pounds to win the tournament and $125,000. The catch gave him the win in impressive fashion over Keith Combs of Huntington, Texas, who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 65-11 and earned him $25,710.

Marks started the day with a mere 14-ounce lead over Combs, and he knew he needed a monster bag to claim victory. He believed the tournament would be won offshore and knew the early-morning bite was his most prolific all week, so he was confident all he needed was some wind and rain to turn on his fish, and Mother Nature obliged.

“The old man had a couple of tricks left,” said Marks. “I knew the wind and rain would fire up my bite, and it did. I had four or five spots in a one-mile circle, and that’s where all my fish came from today. I could see all the activity on my Lowrance unit, and this morning it was on fire.

“I was fishing a pattern all week,” Marks went on to say. “I was targeting ditches with main-lake flats, looking for subtle changes within the flats. During practice I discovered a high spot in the middle of the drain, and yesterday I caught a 5- and 7-pounder in back-to-back casts. This morning I caught four bass in 20 minutes in that same area.

“I have had a couple of dream days like this in the past, but none of this magnitude. After I caught my third fish I knew I had about 20 pounds and thought I probably had a good chance of winning and could relax a little. But then I started to think about it and realized that days like this just don’t come very often, so I kept fishing. I had what I weighed today by about 10 or 10:30 a.m.

“My key baits this week have been the Strike King 6XD and a prototype Strike King 10XD. The 10XD has the frame design of the 5XD and is designed to give off a lot of rattle and displace a lot of water. It’s a big bait designed to catch big bass. Four of my 20 bass were caught with the 10XD. Today I caught three bass on the Strike King crankbaits and two on the Strike King 1-ounce football (head) jig. My 8-pounder came on the 10XD.”

Marks referred to Sam Rayburn as a gem and said he has been fishing the lake for more than 20 years. Despite the high pressure the lake gets year after year, he said that his sack today was more typical of what Rayburn is capable of giving up on a regular basis. He also added that the 10XD is scheduled to be out in stores, including Walmart, in February.

Final top-10 pros standings:

A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Overall there were 49 bass weighing 138 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 10 pros Sunday. The catch included nine five-bass limits.

Clint Farris of Joshua, Texas, won the co-angler division and $25,000 Saturday with a three-day total of 13 bass weighing 33 pounds, 15 ounces followed by Jeff Gengler of Fort Collins, Colo., in second place with 13 bass weighing 33-14 worth $5,657.

The Tour stop on Sam Rayburn presented by Mercury was hosted by Lufkin Convention and Visitors Bureau, and was the final FLW Tour tournament of the 2012 season.

In FLW Tour Open tournaments, pros and co-anglers were competing for valuable points that ultimately helped them qualify for the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup which is being held at the Red River in Shreveport, La., August 15-18. The top five pro and co-anglers in the 2012 point standings from the four FLW Tour Open tournaments that qualified for the 2013 championship event are:

Coverage of the Sam Rayburn Reservoir tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs November 18 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow us on Facebook and on Twitter.

Image Courtesy of  FLWOutdoors.com

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New York, U.S.A. — Real estate developer Elie Hirschfeld celebrated this weekend after completing the 140.6-mile race, the 2012 Ironman U.S. Championship in New York City, in 14 hours, 22 minutes, 29 seconds (14:22:29). The race featured a 2.4-mile swim in the Hudson River; a 112-mile bike ride on the Palisades Parkway; and a 26.2-mile run beginning in New Jersey, crossing over the George Washington Bridge, and finishing in Riverside Park in Manhattan.

“Completing the NYC Ironman was one of the most amazing experiences of my life – so much energy, focus and I was so determined. I am proud, and I feel absolutely great today with nothing bothering me but a sun burn on my wrist on small gap between bike glove and my long sleeve (sun protection) bike shirt. This event will only grow, and there was nothing like competing in the inaugural Ironman American championship as a New Yorker,” said Elie Hirschfeld.

“My daughter Daniella, herself an accomplished triathlete, ran the last 9 miles with me and gave me the encouragement I needed to finish strong.”

Elie Hirschfeld, 62 years old, has completed over 75 triathlons as well as many rigorous sports activities – including the Israman Ironman Triathlon, the Mooseman N.H. Half Ironman, the NYC Marathon, the Paris France Triathlon, the Brooklyn Bridge East River Swim and the Top of Rock Center Run Up.

Elie Hirschfeld is a New Yorker with many passions and interests. As a real estate developer, his projects include the Hotel Pennsylvania, the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Park Avenue Court. He is a Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, and an avid art collector of original art scenes of New York City.

Image Courtesy of  Zdenek Krchak / Shutterstock.com

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Newark, U.S.A. — The Street League Skateboarding DC Pro Tour Fueled by Monster Energy (SLS) will cap off an amazing 2012 season with its winner-takes-all Championship. The historical event features the top eight Street League pros battling for $200,000 – the largest first place prize purse in skateboarding history, an all new 2012 Chevy Sonic, plus the highly coveted Nixon Championship watch and ring set. The Street League pros qualified into the Championship are as follows:

• Nyjah Huston
• Chaz Ortiz
• Paul Rodriguez
• Luan Oliveira
• Sean Malto
• Bastien Salabanzi
• Chris Cole
• Ryan Sheckler

2011 Street League Champion Sean Malto is back to defend his title against an all-star lineup including Paul Rodriguez, Nyjah Huston, Ryan Sheckler, Chaz Ortiz and Chris Cole. The eighteen-year-old Ortiz and the thirty-year-old Cole have multiple second place finishes between them, but each has yet to win a Street League contest. With an impressive second place finish earlier this season, European Selection winner Bastien Salabanzi is the lone Street League rookie to earn a spot in the final eight.

Ryan Shecklerand Paul Rodriguez are veteran contest skaters and fan favorites, both coming off of incredible recent performances including P-Rod’s first league win at Stop Three in Arizona last month. Come August 26th, it could be anyone’s day to take the most elite title in professional street skateboarding.

Last year’s final event left fans on the edge of their seats as Nyjah Huston was ultimately denied a season sweep by Sean Malto who put a stop to Huston’s historical win streak. The seventeen-year-old Huston has yet to win a Street League championship since the league added the winner-take-all finale as the Championship instead of a season-long point system that was in place in its inaugural year.

“We’ve had an amazing year so far and there is no better way to end it than our winner-take-all Championship” says Street League creator Rob Dyrdek. “We know each one of these 8 pros has what it takes to win. On August 26th we’ll see who can rise to the occasion when the stakes are highest to become Street League Champion.

The stage is set for our best Street League ever.” “Most of the guys that are usually in the top spots—Chris Cole, Malto, P Rod—will make it an incredible Championship,” said winner of this season’s first two stops Nyjah Huston. “P Rod has been killing it lately. Got to look out for him. All those guys…This is pretty much the top of all the dudes in skateboarding and Street League, so it’s going to be interesting.”

The 2012 season has been one for the history books, with record-breaking crowds for skateboarding, and undeniable excitement with each event ending with the top three skaters within one or two points of each other in the final attempt. Nyjah Huston and Paul Rodriguez are the only skaters to win Street League events this season, but the victories have not come easily.

Bastien Salabanzi was a single trick away from winning in Kansas City, as was Chaz Ortiz in Ontario, and Chris Cole in Arizona who suffered the same fate after missing their final attempts.Street League’s $1.6 million purse is the largest in skateboarding history and almost double the combined winnings for all other skate contests. The SLS tour culminates in a winner-takes-all Championship inNewark, NJ at the Prudential Center on August 26.

The SLS Championship will feature the Golden Ticket winners of the first three stops of the 2012 tour along with the remaining top six qualifiers who will compete for $200,000 as well as the title of Street League Champion. The Championship will air LIVE on ESPN2 on August 26 at 5pm ET. Check www.streetleague.com for the complete pre-show and Chevrolet Overdrive webcast schedule.

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Sunnyvale, U.S.A. – Ruckus Wireless announced on July 23 that The New York Racing Association (NYRA) has selected and deployed its Smart Wi-Fi products and technology at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY, the oldest horseracing track in the United States.

The new Wi-Fi network, designed to support daily crowds of up to 40,000 spectators, was installed in time for the July 20, 2012 opening of Saratoga Race Course’s 144 th horseracing season, a 40-day meet which lasts until September 3.

NYRA, operator of the 149-year-old Saratoga Race Course, sought out a high-performance, high-capacity Wi-Fi network to support, for the first time, its new mobile on-track wagering system, which allows patrons to place bets in real-time on their smartphones, right from their seats. In addition, the Ruckus-powered network will be used for operation of wireless ticket scanners at the course’s entrance, and provide wireless Internet access throughout the 350-acre race track, including indoors at the main clubhouse, restaurants, and other facilities, as well as the outdoor track, seating areas, and large picnic grounds.

“Saratoga Race Course is one of the premier tracks in the country, and has been a place where racing fans and spectators have enjoyed the sport for nearly a century and a half,” said Tom Thill, CIO for NYRA.

“In very recent years we’ve seen the number of smartphones and mobile devices in use increase dramatically, and we knew we needed to deliver a wireless experience of the same caliber that we’ve always been committed to at the track. Putting the Ruckus infrastructure in place was extremely easy, especially with the help of our solutions partner, Deep Blue Communications,” he said.

Smart Wi-Fi joins winner’s circle at Saratoga

Prior to implementing the Ruckus infrastructure, the wireless network at Saratoga comprised just a few legacy access points and was used only among staff for internal communications.

“With such a broad area to cover – both indoors and outdoors – as well as huge peaks in usage, it was really challenging to find the right solution that could meet all our requirements,” said Thill. “With its dynamic antenna technology, and ease of use and management, the Ruckus system performed superbly and gives us the support needed for future applications like live video simulcasting, digital signage and more.”

After evaluating several wireless LAN vendors and their integration partners, NYRA chose the Ruckus ZoneFlex system, to be installed and managed by Albany, NY-based Deep Blue Communications, a premier Ruckus BIG DOG partner.

“We’ve worked closely with Ruckus and relied on its Smart Wi-Fi portfolio to power many high-density Wi-Fi networks for clients, including several in the hospitality industry,” said Brian Epstein, president of Deep Blue. “Given what NYRA needed, we knew right away that Ruckus was the perfect solution. It turns out NYRA thought so too.”

To provide high-capacity, high-performance coverage to the entire 350-acre site, NYRA, along with Deep Blue Communications, has deployed 45 ZoneFlex dual-band, 802.11n APs, a combination of indoor and outdoor units, managed by redundant ZoneDirector 5000 wireless LAN controllers.

Integrating patented adaptive antenna technology, the Ruckus ZoneFlex system is designed to overcome the physical and technical challenges of delivering high-capacity, high-performance access to indoor and outdoor areas which are prone to interference or which pose physical barriers to signal penetration for seamless connections. By focusing and directing Wi-Fi signals over the best signal path, the ZoneFlex system is the only one on the market that automatically avoids interference to ensure consistent performance and high throughput.

Deep Blue Communications is overseeing and managing the Smart Wi-Fi network with the Ruckus ZoneDirector centralized controller. The ZoneDirector 5000 enables Deep Blue to optimize network performance through advanced and automated capabilities such as band steering, airtime fairness, per user client thresholds, dynamic (performance-based) channel assignment, and dynamic and configurable client load balancing.

“With the scalability and reliability that the Ruckus system delivers, our new mobile on-track wagering system will provide a significant revenue stream for us, while also helping the racecourse maintain its reputation as a top destination for watching state-of-the-art horseracing,” said Thill.

Image Courtesy of  Cheryl Ann Quigley / Shutterstock.com

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Ottawa, Canada – The 2012 Paralympic Games are just a few weeks away, and the Canadian Para-Cycling Team will be looking very strong as it enters its final preparations for this biggest para-cycling race in the world.

A total of 13 athletes, men and women, along with four pilots, have been nominated by Cycling Canada to the Canadian Paralympic Team that will be heading to London to compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games from August 29 to September 9, with the objective to secure medals for Canada and make our great nation proud.

“It’s very exciting to have the para-cycling athletes nominated for London, as they are expected to be one of Canada’s top medal potential sports at the Paralympics,” said Chef de Mission, Gaétan Tardif. “We’ll be looking to this team to lead the way for Canada with their chances to win medals early on in the Games.”

“Our team will be ready to compete with the World’s best, and come back home with medals to make our nation proud. We have all the items in place for strong performances, with resilient athletes, great coaches and a solid group of support staff,” said Jacques Landry, Team Leader and High Performance Director for Cycling Canada. “Our Canadian para-cyclists have proven race after race that they are a force to be reckoned with, in all disciplines and all categories.”

Canada has enjoyed a highly successful season in 2012, grabbing six UCI World Cup titles, an all-time high, and has been a strong medal contender in every para-cycling race it has entered in 2012.

The team will be headlined by the very powerful tandem of Robbi Weldon and Lyne Bessette, two athletes who have dominated the international scene over the last two years, in both the road race and the time trials. The tandem won the 2010 World Championships Road Race, and in 2011 went on win the Time Trial race at the Worlds. Over the last three years, the powerful team grabbed the coveted White Jersey, awarded to the overall World Cup Champion.

The women’s tandem of Geneviève Ouellet and Emily Roy will be looking to defend and improve on their bronze medal performance from the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing.

“I am very pleased to attend my second Paralympic Games. It is always gratifying to see that efforts Emily and I are putting in sport are recognized by Cycling Canada and the Canadian Paralympic Committee. The very good start that Emily and I had this season and distinguished career give us hope for a podium on the road in London. One thing is certain, we will work very hard in the next 40 days to achieve this objective,” commented blind athlete Geneviève Ouellet.

The Women’s tricycle race will be another great event for Canada, with three contenders for medals. Marie-Ève Croteau won back to back World Cup titles, and won the World Championships title in both road events in the last two World Championships. Shelley Gautier could also be a medal threat, and so is rookie Dominique Mainguy, who surfaced this year and has shown great potential for success at the Paralympic Games.

“Since I was little, sport has always been part of my life and the Olympics have always been for me an impossible dream after many obstacles that life has given me, but now today, my dreams come true having the honor to represent my country at the Paralympic Games in London on August 29,” said Croteau, who is a two-time World Champions and two-time World Cup Champion.

“Is this the reward for having made it through all these challenges, having kept my head high, to have kept my positivism but also never giving up despite my many obstacles? Who knows! But one thing is certain is that I will have even bigger smile and my heart beating to get a medal even if I have to compete with men.”

Gauthier is thrilled about her nomination to the team: “Before my accident my goal was to go to the Olympic or Paralympic Games as a physiotherapist. Now it is to go as a para-cyclist. I am almost there, going as an athlete.”

Handcyclist Mark Ledo is making his cycling debut at Paralympic Games, but is no rookie to the environment. Ledo is a convert from Athletics, and represented Canada at the 2008 Games in the wheelchair marathon and the 5000m races.

“It’s an honor to be nominated and selected to represent Canada, the country I love. I look forward to the Paralympic experience once again. I would like to thank my family, friends, coaches, trainers, sponsors and staff for making this all possible!,” said Ledo.

Mark Beggs, which became the first Canadian hand cyclist to race at Paralympic Games as the discipline was introduced in 2004 in Athens, will be making his third trip to Paralympic Games. “These games will be my third and I’m still as motivated as my first. This was my most difficult selection because I really worked hard to get there and it did not come easy.

With my experience of two other great games I am able to anticipate a little how it will happen, even though there are always unexpected challenges. The two other Games that I attended are undoubtedly the most beautiful experience I have lived as an athlete and those who come in this summer will be equally as beautiful, and even more because I will not repeat the mistakes I’ve already done. I’m more prepared than ever.”

“I will always be the first athlete in hand bike has represented Canada at the Paralympics and I’d even be the first athlete in hand bike has to earn a medal at the Paralympics.”

Also noteworthy is Alexandre Cloutier’s fourth appearance at Paralympic Games. Cloutier, who has piloted blind cyclists to many Paralympic medals, will be looking to secure a podium performance along with Daniel Chalifour.

Canada will field seven rookies to the Paralympic Games: Marie-Ève Croteau, 2012 World Cup Champion Robert Labbé, Dominique Mainguy, pilot and Olympian Lyne Bessette, Jaye Milley, 2012 World Cup Champion and world record holder in the individual pursuit Marie-Claude Molnar, as well as World Champion and World Cup Champion Shelly Gautier.

Molnar is seeing her selection as trust from her coaches: “Each must prove that he/she belongs on the team to represent Canada in cycling at the Paralympic Games in London. I see a selection for the Games as trust from my coaches. Not only it is the confidence of a coach, but the confidence of all people involved directly or indirectly in the story of an athlete. The athlete is chosen because he/she accomplished something that is not easy for everyone, because otherwise everyone would do cycling and high-performance would not be as well. To be selected is not only an honor but an invisible contract that the athlete signs with the whole country, with an athlete promising to be at its best when it comes time to race day.

Image Courtesy of   CHEN WS / Shutterstock.com

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Edinburgh, United Kingdom — Olympic soccer games in the men’s and women’s tournaments will feature teams such as France and the USA and take place at Scotland’s national soccer stadium, Hampden Park from 25 July to 3 August. Scotland’s Olympic showpiece will also see Men’s World and European Champions, Spain play Japan on 26 July.

Beyond soccer fever, this exciting and creative city has many surprises in store for those looking for an Olympic city break that combines culture and style with the sporting event of the summer. 2012 is the Year of Creative Scotland and Glasgow, a UNESCO City of Music, is the perfect place to visit with its internationally-acclaimed museums and galleries, stunning architecture, fabulous shopping and wonderful dining.

On July 18th, Glasgow celebrated welcoming the games to the city with American piper Megan Canning and French Drummer Iona Sicard-Cras from Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival and The World Pipe Band Championships. Supporting their respective countries, who will be playing each other at the first game at Hampden, Iona and Megan are two of the 8000 musicians who will be playing as part of the world’s biggest week of piping in Glasgow from 6-12 August as the two events take place. Like the Olympics, the events bring thousands of musicians and competitors from across the globe to Glasgow, and are enjoyed by audiences in excess of 30,000.

Piping Live! will see over 150 events take place in Glasgow over the week and showcases the experimental energy of today’s newest talent such as Niteworks and Rura, as well as the accomplishment of established musicians from around the world. This year the festival will host performances from bands and musicians from 10 European countries including, Rotoro (Estonia), Lyra (Bulgaria), Dram (Sweden) and Franco Calanca (Italy). The event programme also includes everything from workshops to masterclasses, ceilidhs to concerts and street performances, there are almost 150 free and ticketed events taking place morning, noon and night.

The World Pipe Band Championships or ‘The Worlds’ have been held in Glasgow for almost 70 years and is known as ‘The Olympics of the piping world’ as pipe bands from across the globe compete for the coveted title of Champion on 11th August at Glasgow Green.

Glasgow, itself, has a great pedigree of sporting links, from hosting the UEFA Champions League Final in 2002 and the UEFA Cup Final in 2007, while the city will also host the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said:

“The Olympic Games is the biggest sporting event on the planet and, as the host of 8 Olympic football matches, Glasgow is set to make the most of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of a global audience. It will be incredible for Glasgow to showcase the best young football stars of tomorrow and the buzz surrounding the Olympic presence in the city is sure to contribute to the excitement building for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

“In addition to being internationally renowned as one of the top 10 sporting cities in the world, Glasgow is also firmly established as one of Europe’s most exciting destinations. The city has so much to offer tourists and locals alike, from its wealth of cultural attractions and year-round programme of events and festivals, to its world-class architecture and fantastic shopping.”

Mike Cantlay, VisitScotland Chairman, added:

“This is an excellent opportunity to showcase Glasgow and Scotland to a massive global audience and will undoubtedly create a buzz and raise the excitement of what is to come during the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

“We’re in a great position to change the face of tourism with a plethora of events all highlighting Scotland. The Olympics, The Ryder Cup, Disney Pixar’s Brave and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games will provide an ideal platform to bring economic growth and to grow the tourism industry, these really are the Winning Years.”

Image Courtesy of  Maxisport / Shutterstock.com

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Toronto, Canada — Mayor Rob Ford and City of Toronto staff congratulated 12 youth selected for the CIMA Mayor’s Cricket Team that will participate in the fifth annual Cricket Across the Pond program.”Congratulations to the members of the team selected to represent Toronto in England,” said Mayor Rob Ford. “You have trained hard and are promoting good sportsmanship through the sport of cricket. I hope to someday see many of you playing in the Mayor’s Trophy tournament here in Toronto.”

Also in attendance at City Hall today were Gulzari Babber, President of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA); Amal Ratnayake, Chair of CIMA Canada; Zanita DiSalle, Regional Vice President, RBC Royal Bank; Tom Mihalik, owner of Tom’s Place, and Jonathan Dart, United Kingdom Consul General. The City of Toronto is CIMA’s partner in promoting the Cricket Across the Pond (CAP) scholarship program. CAP uses cricket as a vehicle to reach out to youth from Toronto’s diverse neighbourhoods, by giving them a sense of hope, increased self esteem and opportunities to become positive role models in their communities.

“Now in its fifth year, Cricket Across the Pond scholarships have touched the lives of over 60 young Torontonians, leading them toward positive pursuits in life” said Ratnayake of CIMA Canada. “We are truly appreciative of the support from our partners RBC Royal Bank, Tom’s Place and the City of Toronto in this unique Toronto youth initiative.” Working in partnership with the British Consulate General in Toronto and the Borough of Kingston upon Thames in the United Kingdom, CAP provides young Toronto cricketers with the opportunity to travel to the UK, represent Toronto and learn leadership skills as ambassadors. The aim of the annual UK tour of the CIMA Mayor’s Team is to help these young Toronto ambassadors develop into positive role models in their communities.

“We’re proud to be part of helping send these young cricketers to the birthplace of the sport,” said RBC’s DiSalle. “It’s part of our commitment to build healthy and vibrant communities, where we can pass along cherished traditions to our children.”

The 2012 tour itinerary includes the inaugural Toronto Mayor’s Team versus London Mayor’s Team cricket match, scheduled to take place in London on July 17. The Royal Bank of Canada leads a group of corporate and media partners brought together by CIMA in this unique public-private community initiative. CIMA has been successful in arranging a partnership between the City of Toronto and the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, UK, in supporting the scholarship program.

The lead organizer, CIMA, offers an internationally recognized professional qualification in management accountancy with over 183,000 students and members in 168 countries. CIMA members and students the world over are involved in community activities. A significant majority of CIMA members in Toronto have roots in cricket playing nations around the world.

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Laynes concept of Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training has been hugely successful, breaking through the ‘normal’ barriers that constrict those who train to working each muscle group once a week. This system of training incorporates two working days for each muscle, one focusing on larger weights with fewer reps and the other using higher reps alongside the notion of hypertrophy. Part two of Dr Layne Norton’s interview also looks at steroid use, his love for power-lifting and what’s next for Layne and his wife Isabel.

Toonari Post (TP): When did you come up with the concept of PHAT training?

Layne Norton (LN): Well, when I was in College, I played Rugby for a few years for my school and I herniated two discs in my neck making a tackle, so I had to go light for a few months in terms of training. As I was doing that, I was thinking about how to reorganize my training and I was talking to a guy, Doctor Eugene Sanik, to give credit where credit is due, we were posting on the same message boards and he asked if I’d ever considered training everything twice a week. I said, well that’s surely overtraining [laughs] but he said, how actually, research shows this, this and this, he sent me all this interesting stuff and we discussed non-linear periodization and how you should use different rep schemes and rep ranges. So I decided to give it a shot, starting with a four day week program, with two upper body days and two lower body days, one day focusing on lower rep, heavier weight and the other day was higher rep stuff. That kind of formed the basis of what would become Power Hypertrophy Adaptive Training.

I saw more gains doing that routine for a year than I had in the previous four years. I remember the next time I competed and people said that in comparison to the last time I competed, it was a difference between a boy and a man, my physique completely changed. I don’t claim to be a creator of something that has never been done before; it’s just basically non-linear periodization system that’s easier to understand. Most people don’t do periodized training because when they read about how to program it, it becomes complicated and convoluted. At the end of the day, non-linear periodization works, it’s been shown to be one of the most effective ways to train.

I never put it out there as, ‘this is my routine that I have come up with and it’s the end all, be all of everything’ [laughs]. I just wrote down what I was doing, In my journals and the first time we filmed the video series [for Bodybuilding.com], the guy who was filming asked me what routine I followed. So I knew I had to come up with a name and I wanted to come up with something unique, Power Hypertrophy Training, which you have to Adapt – P.H.A.T.

TP: Some people online accuse you of being unnatural and a steroid user. They continue to do so, despite the fact that you have openly admitted to never gaining more than 10lbs of muscle in a calendar year; do you consider the accusations to be offensive or even a compliment?

LN: I guess it’s kind of a compliment, but I want to help people, I genuinely do; I’m not so much offended by people accusing me, I’m more offended by people thinking that way. I’m more offended by that fact that some people are so weak minded. It’s not just Bodybuilding; anybody who’s ever had success or made any money or done anything, they must have cheated to get there, or had help. They think that anybody who’s ever been successful must have had everything handed to them and the reality is, that’s not true; the majority of successful people have a lot of integrity and just work really hard. So I guess it’s the mentality that bothers me more than anything else.

I just want to help people, but they can be so ignorant. I used to argue with people a lot more about it, I used to put a lot more effort in to trying to convince them but I realized, you can’t convince somebody who already has their mind made up and is ignorant about certain things, it’s just not going to happen. I don’t waste too much time on those people anymore.

I’ve had people say “I buy steroids from the same dealer that supplies Layne”, but I’m not going to allow those people to make up lies about me. I mean, if someone wants to say “I think Layne Norton is on steroids” or “It’s my opinion he’s on steroids”, then they’re welcome to their opinion, they’re wrong, but their welcome to it [Laughs].  When I was younger and had more energy, I used to get more riled up about that kind of stuff, I guess now that I’m older, I realize it’s just words. That’s all jealous, ignorant people have, they’re never going to meet me on stage, they’re never going to get to a power lift meet, they’re going to sit behind a computer and yap and talk, before eventually going away. It’s been 13 years and those people who used to say hateful things, I don’t hear anything from them anymore and they’re gone. I’m still here though and I’m going to be here in another 13 years.

TP: What’s your view on those people who use steroids and go down the unnatural route?

LN: I have friends who use steroids, one of my closest friends does actually. It’s one of those things that I look at it like cigarettes; if somebody wants to smoke, that’s their business, as long as they’re not forcing me to endure it. I’m one of these people that, my belief is that you should be allowed to do what you want as long as you’re not hurting somebody else. My biggest thing is that if you’re going to use steroids, be educated and understand the risks.

Another thing, don’t compete in a tested organization. If you take steroids you have the option to compete in a non-tested organization, but if you compete in a natural organization and you’re taking steroids, then you really are a piece of ****. I say that without hesitation about anybody. Their excuse is that everybody’s doing it, no, in your mind everybody’s doing it, because you’re weak. But in my opinion, those people are going to need those steroids, they’re going to need to cheat because of their weak mentality, which is the same reason that they’re going to cheat on their diet, their training and I’m going to beat them anyway. If someone takes steroids and competes in the NPC or the IFBB, that’s their decision and I don’t look down on people who choose to do that, but I do think that there are health aspects that they should be conscious of. But at the same time, smoking isn’t illegal, yet we let people kill themselves with cigarettes, so if they’re educated, they know the risks and decide to that that that’s their business.

TP: Does the unnatural IFBB scene, which attracts a lot more popularity than the natural circuit bother you in any way?

LN: It’s a media thing, I mean, they’re more interesting to look at, a natural bodybuilder looks like a regular person with clothes on. It’s like in Baseball; we want to watch the 500 ft home run, we want to see two football players run at blistering speeds and concuss the hell out of each other [laughs]. So, I think it’s the same sort of thing in Bodybuilding; people want to see the big massive dudes, it’s more impressive to them and that’s fine but there is also a certain amount of people that want to see natural physiques and that’s fine too.

I’m not one of these guys who is like “we’ve got to get the IFBB out of the media and we’ve got to take over”; I think there’s a market for both sports and they can and should co-exist, it gives people options. I watch both, natural bodybuilding is my first love but I go to the Olympia every year and enjoy watching. People have to get over the mentality that it’s us or them, it’s us and them and it should be.

TP: You’re well known for your power-lifting prowess as well as your Bodybuilding work, which one have you been more focused on in recent months?

LN: Over the past 12 months I’ve definitely been more power-lifting orientated because I haven’t done any Bodybuilding shows and I’ve done two power-lifting meets. During my off-season I really like power-lifting, because it gives me a goal to shoot for that’s more tangible. As opposed to just gaining muscle which is a slow, very arduous process; if I have something to shoot for in-between, such as specific weights, lifts and events it keeps me more motivated. I’ll probably do another power-lifting meet before I start competing again in Bodybuilding, because I still have goals I want to hit. I want to total 1,700lbs raw for my three lifts, I want too squat over 600lbs, bench over 400lbs and deadlift over 7oolbs in the same meet.

TP: Which of the two sports do you find more rewarding?

LN: Each is rewarding in their own way. I’d say the sacrifice for Bodybuilding is more rewarding, it affects you every single day whereas for power-lifting, I head into the gym and lift hard for three hours and I’m done. Bodybuilding on the other hand is in your training, it’s in your eating, and it follows you around every single day. For me, Bodybuilding is probably a little bit more rewarding, just because it’s more challenging. Power-lifting though is extremely rewarding, I love the fact that it isn’t as subjective as Bodybuilding, it’s just me and this weight, no judges with split opinions, there’s no aesthetics. It’s either I lift it or I don’t and I love that black and white outcome, it’s like I control my own destiny in that sense.

TP: What does the future hold for Layne Norton?

LN: I plan to go back to Bodybuilding in a year or so, but the biggest thing, my wife and I are going to start a family, so that will be a whole new challenge and a whole new area of my life. I’m sure with that, everything will change but other than that I’ve really enjoyed coaching people and I’m focused on becoming one of the best coaches in the industry. I already have plenty of clients, but I want people to walk away after working with me, with one of the best experiences they will receive.

Overall, I love to inspire people; I don’t understand some of the e-mails I get thanking me for changing their lives, I don’t get it. But If I can have a positive effect on someone’s life, I live for that. I’ve put myself out there, I want to show people that you don’t have to be born with this, you can work hard and make things happen for yourself and I guess that’s the biggest thing.

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Montreal, Canada — Dairy Farmers of Canada announced June 21 the return of one of Canada’s most exciting and unique sporting events. The Canadian Cheese Rolling Festival will be held on August 18, beginning at noon in Whistler, British Columbia. The afternoon will feature cheese rolling races, costume contests and other fun activities for the whole family. This one of a kind activity in Canada will be celebrating its fifth anniversary on Blackcomb Mountain.

A large wheel of cheese is rolled down a hill and daring Canadians chase after it. The first contestant to make it down the hill wins. British Columbia cheese maker Natural Pastures will once again produce the special 11-pound wheels of Cracked Pepper Verdelait cheese for the Canadian Cheese Rolling Festival. The winners get to take home the giant, coveted wheel of delicious Canadian cheese and a Whistler season ski pass for two. Whistler village will be promoting the Canadian Cheese Rolling Festival with activities, restaurant promotions and much more a few days before the event.

“The Canadian Cheese Rolling Festival is back in Whistler for an exciting fifth year,” says Solange Heiss, assistant director, marketing and nutrition communications, Dairy Farmers of Canada. “We are thrilled to celebrate this milestone with cheese-loving Canadians and visitors from all over the world. It’s a great activity for the entire family and a fantastic way to showcase the amazing cheeses this country has to offer.”

The race course will be set up in Whistler’s Upper Village on Blackcomb Mountain. Free round trip transportation to Blackcomb Mountain Base 2 parking lot via Excalibur Gondola in Whistler village is available for everyone. Anyone over 19 years of age can participate and contestants can register on site on August 18 at 11:00 a.m. The downhill event will consist of seven men’s and four women’s races. The winner from each round will compete in the finals. For the kids, there will be six uphill races in two heats, depending on their age.

New this year is the addition of a costume contest. Contestants are invited to wear costumes for the chance to win a $500 gift voucher to a local Whistler restaurant. Prior to each race heat, the official cheese roller will award costumed contestants a ribbon. After all the race heats, the Emcee will gather all ribbon-awarded costumed contestants at the base of the course, where a panel of judges will select their top five favorite costumes. Team costumes will be judged as one participating unit, not individually. The top five costumed contestants will be judged by the crowd. The contestant or team that receives the most applause will be selected as the costume contest winner.

Contestants, families and spectators can take in a host of other fun things at the festival, including activities for children, free cheese seminars, and a Cheese Market full of delicious samples of Canadian cheese made from 100% Canadian milk. Visitors will also be able to buy cheeses from different Canadian provinces. Well-known Canadian comic and award-winning host, Roman Danylo, will be hosting the day’s festivities again.

Image Courtesy of  Martino Pizzol

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Harrisburg, U.S.A. - Pennsylvania student participants and the Pennsylvania Game Commission came away from the recent National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) tournament with some awards and high honors. The event, which took place May 11 and 12, in Louisville, Kentucky, was recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest archery tournament with 7,804 competitors from 38 states.

“More than 70 students from Pennsylvania made the trek to compete in the tournament, including teams from New Castle Christian Academy, Williams Valley High School and Halifax High School,” said Samantha Pedder, Game Commission outreach coordinator, who oversees NASP in Pennsylvania.”Two students placed in the top 10 in their respective divisions, and almost all shooters posted higher scores at the nationals than at the state tournament!”

Among those who finished in the top ten were Garrett Richardson, from New Castle Christian Academy, who placed third in the fourth grade male division with a score of 279 out of a possible 300. Richardson placed first in this division at the Pennsylvania state tournament with a score of 255.

Katelyn Donely, a tenth grader from Williams Valley High School, placed sixth in the High School Female Division with a score of 289 out of a possible 300. Donely tied for fifth, but finished second in a shoot-off round.  She was first in the same division in the Pennsylvania state tournament, with a score of 279.

The Game Commission received recognition at the NASP Coordinator’s Conference, which occurred before the tournament, for reaching the milestone of having 100 schools enrolled in NASP. The Game Commission also was recognized for achieving the greatest percentage increase in school enrollments over the past year from among 47 states and five Canadian provinces that offer NASP.

The World NASP Tournament will occur on Oct. 4-6, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports, and any NASP participating school in Pennsylvania is invited to send a team.

In 2010, the Game Commission began coordinating Pennsylvania’s NASP, which helps school districts inPennsylvania meet physical education curriculum requirements of the state Department of Education, while at the same time introducing them to the world of competitive archery. In 2011, about 350 students from nearly a dozen school districts participated in the state competition, which was volunteer-run at the time.

Earlier this year, on March 9, nearly 500 students from 23 schools competed at the NASP State Tournament held by the Pennsylvania Game Commission at the Penn State Multi-Sport Facility inUniversity Park, Centre County.
Studies conducted by the national NASP organization demonstrate that NASP is a great introduction to the sport of archery, and that many students choose to pursue the sport outside of school.

“NASP fosters an interest in archery for these students, and we hope that the excitement that competitions build will cause students to want to continue to shoot and expand their archery experience,” Pedder said. “We want to encourage them to keep shooting and to consider taking the next steps toward 3-D archery tournaments and, eventually, bow hunting, which are natural avenues for archers to hone and maintain their skills.”

Started in Kentucky, in 2002, NASP has spread throughout the United States, and now is reaching around the world. At the end of the 2011-12 school year, nine million students had gone through NASP lessons in 9,000 schools throughout 47 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, Australia, New Zealand  and South Africa. Tournaments are held at the state, national and international levels.

NASP is a joint venture that partners with state education and wildlife management agencies and archery equipment manufacturers and organizations to promote student education, physical education and participation in the lifelong sport of archery. The program’s focus is to provide international-style archery training in physical education classes in grades four through 12.

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Not only is Layne Norton a professional bodybuilder with the IFPA and NGA, but he has also successfully obtained his PHD in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois. Layne has also won competitions in power-lifting, a passion of his which compliments his first love, bodybuilding.

An advocate of his ‘outwork’ mentality, Layne has developed his PHAT training system, broken down into ‘Power and Hyper-Trophy Training’. This regime has inspired people worldwide, combining notions of power-lifting with hypertrophy training, encouraging more sets and reps of chosen exercises.

After gaining his Pro card in 2006, Layne went on to win his first competition in 2010, recording the whole event before publishing it in his DVD ‘Reloaded’. Layne found time in his busy schedule to catch up with Toonari Post and give us an insight into his life, the struggles he has faced along the way and the rewards he has achieved as a result of his extremely inspiring worth ethic.

Toonari Post (TP): Afternoon Layne, first things first, what initially got you into Bodybuilding? What age did you get into the sport properly?

Layne Norton (LN): I started Bodybuilding, because when I was younger, in High School; even in Grade School I got picked on a lot, people really treated me shabbily at school and my Dad had always had a set of weights, these really crappy weights in the basement and I thought, well I’m not like the Karate Kid, I don’t have access to Karate lessons or anything like that, so I thought, maybe if I start lifting weights, get a bit bigger, they’ll stop picking on me and maybe I’ll get some attentions from girls [laughs]. So I started, nothing real noble, I just really started lifting because I was insecure and did that on and off for a few years.

When I was 16, I got my first girlfriend and totally stopped lifting for six months [laughs], then she broke up with me and I decided to start lifting again. I picked it up again [at] age 17 and I never really stopped after that. Over the years, after about five or six years, it stopped being my lifting to achieve an ideal physique, it was more because, I just loved challenging myself and I loved the journey and the work part of it. A lot of people ask me, ‘What would you do if a supplement came out that was like anabolic steroids but basically safe, would you take it?’ and one of the things for me is, I’d actually hate that, just because, I like the work, I like having to struggle against something because it makes the reward that much better.

TP: How old were you before you started thinking about competitions and competing as a bodybuilder?

LN: I never really started thinking about doing competitions for Bodybuilding. I remember, I was 18 years old, a senior in High School and the guy who was known as basically, the most muscular guy in school, his name was Josh, very nice guy, and he used to bring in these muscle magazines and we used to look at them during class whilst we were supposed to be doing work. I remember reading an article talking about teen nationals and I thought, wow, that looks so cool, which kind of sparked my interest in competing.

When I got to College, my roommate was really into Bodybuilding too, so we kind of got into it together. Somewhere after my freshman year I decided to do my first show,  aged 19. It was funny because my roommate Josh was doing the same show as me and I remember the whole High School asking, ‘Why are you doing this show? Josh is going to destroy you, because he was known as the biggest guy in school. People in general doubted me, ever since I got started, but I actually ended up winning that show, which was an unbelievable experience. Even after all my shows, I would still say, that the teen class was my most satisfying win I have ever had, the most important thing I had ever done, up to that point. Once I had done that particular show, I got bit by the bug and loved competing.

TP: You’re well known for your extreme work ethic, where did the notion of ‘outwork’ come from?

LN: I’ll break it down into two parts for you. I’ve always been animated in the gym; I guess it might be because when I first started, I was in my basement and I could do whatever I wanted and, well, go crazy [laughs]. But when I first got into the gym, I had a lot of rage in terms of those people who had picked on me and I’m definitely an extrovert, so when I’m fired up it tends to come out when I lift. It’s always how I’ve had fun in the gym, people will look at me weird but I realized, I’m actually having fun, getting all fired up and going in for a big squat, that’s fun.

As far as Outwork goes, I remember when I was playing Baseball in my first year at high school I barely made the team, I wanted to play second base and with six guys trying out, my coach came up to me and he said, you’re not going to make the team trying out here, there are guys that are more athletic than you, faster than you, stronger than you but  we need someone at first base, there are only two guys trying out for first base, and neither are that good.  So I thought okay, whatever I’ll try out for first base and If you know anything about Baseball, first baseman are typically tall and left handed but I was right handed and not really tall [laughs].

It was one of those things where I had to learn a completely different position and I remember going home, every night, for two hours after practice was over and drilling the footwork and all these different things I needed to do to learn to play first base. Not only did I make the team, I ended up being the start all year at first base and even started at Varsity next year. My coach told me, at a banquet for the team after the season was over, that I had the least talent out of everyone on the team but I would pick you first because of your leadership and your work ethic and that instilled in me the fact that I was the least talented person trying out for the team, but I worked so hard that I was able to overcome that.

It got in my head, in terms of other stuff, people think I’m inherently smart after I got my PHD, but I’m not. In High School I had to study five/six hours a night sometimes, just to make it by and get B’s on tests. The same thing in College. I had to study for weeks before a test, but I thought, If I don’t have the talent to succeed, then I’m going to make up for it with work and that’s how I approached Bodybuilding. Twelve years ago when I got into Bodybuilding, a lot of people told me I shouldn’t do this, that I didn’t have the genetics for it, I had tiny legs and ten years later after I won my class at my first pro show, people were telling me how great my genetics were and even accused me of being on drugs. My genetics hadn’t changed in ten years, I just worked really hard. I never stopped; some people, even competitors, take six months off which I think is a joke, I’ve never taken more than a few days off, even when I tore my pectoral.

In the video series with Bodybuilding.com, is how ‘outwork’ really got started. In the first episode, they asked me what my mentality was going into the gym and I said, ‘I’m never going to be able to win every show, there’s always somebody out there that’s better than you, I’m never going to be a Doug Miller or a Cleveland Thomas. If those guys come in shape, I just don’t have the structure for it. But I’m fine with that, because if they’re off, I can give them hell. I’m going to come in as shredded as I possibly can and I know that if they’re off, I can give them hell.

My goal is to leave everything on the table, if someone beats me it’s not because they outworked me. It’s just because they’re better structurally or genetically, but I’m not going to leave anything to question whether or not I left anything in the tank. I think what people like is the idea that you can be an average person, you don’t have to be the smartest, the most talented or even the best structure, but you can still be really successful and you don’t have to be a genetic freak, you just have to work harder.

TP: You have released two DVD’s now, one mainly providing information on your PHAT training principles and the other, Reloaded, taking the viewers on the road to your first pro show in 2010, which one did you prefer making?

LN: Reloaded is the series to my first natural pro shows in 2010 and I took a long time off before, I got married, I tore my pec and then I wanted to finish my PHD and so I took a prolonged off season. It was kind of my journey back, having to deal with my own doubts, my own demons. It was four years since I actually competed. I got to the point of thinking, can I actually do this again. I got to the point of thinking am I going to remember how to do this, with diet and everything. Personally, I loved filming Reloaded and I loved watching it, it was way better for me than the first one (Unleashed), just because it was so emotionally invested.

The first DVD was all information and I knew it would sell and the second DVD, has a lot of information too, but it’s mostly a documentary about me and I thought, are people really going to want to spend their money on a DVD that’s, well, about me. I’ve really been overwhelmed with the response and how much people have liked the DVD. For me, my wife and I share a favorite part, when I come off stage and we both start crying [laughs] and I remember how that happened, I was actually talking to Brian Whittaker, a light-weight world champion and he came backstage after the show and said how I’d looked really good and we continued to discuss how things went and then out the corner of my eye, I see my camera guy start walking up, with Isabelle behind him and when she stepped out to the side her eyes were filled with tears, so I went to ask her, how she thought it went, but as soon as I went to ask her and saw that she was crying, right in the middle of me asking her, you hear me break down [laughs]. But I thought that was one of the coolest parts of the DVD because it wasn’t planned, it was definitely very genuine and spur of the moment.

Image Courtesy of  Layne Norton

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Ottawa, Canada- A strong team of five archers has been nominated by Archery Canada to the Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC) for entry into the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The Canadian contingent will be led by 2008 Paralympian and 2011 Parapan American Games gold medalist, Kevin Evans (Jaffray, BC). Evans is also a two-time defending world champion, having struck gold in 2007 and 2009 in the Men’s Open Compound Bow category.

“I’m really pleased and excited about returning to the Paralympic Games,” said Evans. “Last season was a bit rough with some untimely injuries, but things are definitely looking up this season and for the Paralympics.”

Joining Evans will be first-time Paralympian Bob Hudson (Leoville, SK). Hudson captured the silver medal in his category at the 2011 Parapan American Games. Both Hudson and Evans will compete in the men’s Compound Bow, Open category.
Lyne Tremblay (Magog, QC), a 2008 Paralympian, will compete in her second Paralympic Games. Tremblay will compete in the women’s Recurve Bow, ARW2 category.

Karen Van Nest (Wiarton, ON) will be competing in her fourth Paralympic Games. She competed in the 2000 Sydney, 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games in pistol shooting. The London 2012 Paralympic Games will mark the first time she competes as an archery athlete. Van Nest will compete in the women’s Compound Bow, Open category.

Rounding-out the strong Canadian contingent is international veteran Norbert Murphy (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC). Murphy will be competing in his third Paralympic Games. He competed at the 2000 Sydney and 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games. Murphy captured the bronze medal at the 2009 World Para-Archery Championship and finished fifth at the 2011 World Para-Archery Championship (in the men’s Compound Bow, ARW1 category).

The five archers nominated to the Canadian Paralympic Team for London is an increase from the three who competed at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games four years ago.

“I am really happy to see the fantastic growth in Paralympic archery with a record number of athletes being nominated to the London 2012 team with real chances of medals,” said Gaétan Tardif, Chef de mission for Team Canada.
Vladimir Kopecky (Kimberley, BC) is Archery’s Team Leader for the Games.

“I believe we have a very strong team and that we have a real chance to be on the podium,” Kopecky said. “We are going to the Games to do Canada proud.

Athletes and staff nominated to the Canadian Paralympic Committee for the London 2012 Paralympic Games in archery are Kevin Evans (Jaffray, BC) – Compound Bow, Men’s Open category, Bob Hudson (Leoville, SK) – Compound Bow, Men’s Open category, Karen Van Nest (Wiarton, ON) – Compound Bow, Women’s Open category, Lyne Tremblay (Magog, QC) – Recurve Bow, Women’s ARW2 category, Norbert Murphy (Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC) – Compound Bow, Men’s ARW1 category, Rob Cox (Winnipeg, MB) – Alternate in Compound Bow, Men’s Open category, Vladimir Kopecky (Kimberley, BC) – Team Leader, and Linda Gagnon (Magog, QC) – Team Support Staff

The archery competition for the London 2012 Paralympic Games will take place at the Royal Artillery venue in London from August 30 to September 5.

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For most people in the Unites States, February is when slightly warmer days begin to appear in place of fading winter. But for the best bass pros on the planet February means a hot bite, big bass and the beginning of another exciting FLW Tour season.

The Walmart FLW Tour on Lake Okeechobee presented by Evinrude will visit Clewiston, Fla., Feb. 9-12for the first tournament of its 17th season. Hosted by Roland & Mary Ann Martins Marina & Resort, the tournament will feature a full field of the world’s best bass pros and co-anglers casting for top awards up to$125,000 cash in the Pro Division and up to $25,000 cash in the Co-angler Division.

FLW Tour anglers haven’t competed on Lake Okeechobee since the February 2011 season opener, and National Guard pro Scott Martin is eagerly anticipating this year’s kickoff. The Clewiston resident has fished these waters for years and knows them like the back of his hand. Martin also has some tournament momentum behind him, as well. He won the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup and $600,000 in August on Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs, Ark.

“The fishing has been phenomenal since the day we left (last year),” said Martin, who owns five top-10 finishes and one victory on Lake Okeechobee. “The fishing got better. And it stayed better all throughout the spring and the summer time, and it never slowed down, and now we’re back into the springtime again and the fish are just bigger. There seems to be more of them and more 30-pound bags weighed in at local events right now than I’ve ever seen. The potential for having some of the records fall is very likely.

“I’m in shorts and a T-shirt as we speak,” Martin added. “The water temperatures have been very consistent. We haven’t had a big cold front at all, so these fish are really going to start spawning and really be active this week.”

Martin said he expects the tournament to focus on spawning bass and flipping baits, however, he added that anglers will be presented with opportunities to use a variety of techniques and baits. When asked about the Alabama rig, the hot-topic controversial bait system that took the tournament world by storm at last year’s Lake Guntersville Tour event, Martin offered his opinion with no hesitation.

“I don’t think the Alabama rig will be a factor,” Martin said.

As the reigning Forrest Wood Cup champion, one might think that he has a target on his back and every angler in the field will be looking to dethrone him, but Martin doesn’t think that’s the case.

“This is Lake Okeechobee,” Martin said. “There’s so many good places to fish right now on this lake and so many different ways to catch them that I’m going to really have to put my thinking cap on and buckle down and find the winning pattern and the winning fish. There’s going to be lots of guys catch them.

“Tournaments are tournaments,” Martin added. “These guys aren’t focusing on beating me. Fishing is fishing. You’ve got to beat the fish. That’s what it always boils down to. I don’t think I have a target on my back to say the least. Everybody’s going to be going against the fish. The guys who fish against the fish are the guys that are going to do well. The guys that fish to try to beat some other angler … that’s the wrong attitude.”

In FLW Tour competition, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup, the world championship of bass fishing. This year’s Cup will be in Duluth/Gainesville, Ga., Aug. 9-12 on Lake Lanier and anglers could win as much as $500,000 – the sport’s biggest award. Anglers are also vying for the prestigious 2012 Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s title that will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors.

Anglers will take off from Roland & Mary Ann Martins Marina & Resort located at 109 Central Ave. in Clewiston at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and Friday morning and from the Clewiston Boat Basin at 7:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday morning. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at Roland & Mary Ann Martins Marina & Resort located beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-ins will be held at the Walmart located at 1005 West Sugarland Hwy. in Clewiston beginning at 4 p.m.

Fans will be treated to the FLW Outdoors Expo at the Walmart on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. prior to the final weigh-ins. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, the opportunity to interact with professional anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors, and fans can learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.

As part of the FLW Tour’s community outreach initiative, select FLW Tour anglers will be speaking to third-grade students at Eastside Elementary School located at 201 West Arroyo Ave. in Clewiston from 9-10 a.m. Feb. 8. The anglers’ wrapped boats and tow vehicles also will be on display at the school.

Coverage of the Lake Okeechobee tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs March 18 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

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The U.S. Parachute Association reports that the breathtaking sport of skydiving continued to grow in 2011 and is poised to thrill even more jumpers throughout Leap Year 2012.

Last year, more than a half million people took the leap for the first time at some 200 USPA-affiliated skydiving centers across the country. Whether to cross an item off their bucket lists or discover a new hobby and passion, first-timers took the life-changing leap and experienced the thrill of a lifetime.

In addition to first-jumpers, USPA also reports an upsurge in experienced skydivers of all ages. First-timers and licensed skydivers together made more than 3.1 million jumps in 2011. At year’s end, USPA boasted membership of 33,515 – its highest since January 2002, shortly after the 9-11 attacks wreaked havoc on the aviation industry.

Even with skydiving clearly on the rise, accident numbers continue to remain low. In 2011, 25 people died skydiving in the U.S. – one out of every 125,000 jumps. Additionally, the five-year average of skydiving fatalities shows a steady decline, with an average of 22 per year over the last five years compared to 25 per year from 2002 to 2006 and 35 per year from 1997 to 2001.

Skydiving continues to improve its safety record due largely to safer equipment and better training. Student accidents are a small percentage of the total; most injuries and fatalities involve experienced skydivers attempting advanced maneuvers. USPA continues to make the sport safer by developing additional training programs and conducting its annual Safety Day - scheduled for March 10 this year – where drop zones across the country hold safety seminars and refresher training.

“We’re constantly striving to reduce the risk and increase the level of safety, especially for students,” said USPA Executive Director Ed Scott. “The sport’s continued growth attests to this improved safety and the indescribable life-altering experience of jumping out of a plane. With Leap Year upon us, what better time to take that leap?”

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Patrick Makau, 26 years old and from Kenya won the Berlin Marathon last week with an astonishing time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 38 seconds, thus setting a new world record previously held by Haile Gebrselassie since 2008 and obtained in that same city.

Gebrselassie is always a potential winner since he has won Berlin´s Marathon four times consecutively in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, but this time he had to pull out during kilometer 35 which was almost at the end of the race, owing to exercise-induced asthma problems when he was running within the leading group.

Makau has had his own hardships in the past as well; he was the winner at the previous year race with the eleventh best time in history despite the fact that every day the participants had downpour and weather conditions were not the best. This year the leading group ran half the race under the time that  the world record was previously settled and metrological conditions were favorable.

All of the signs were good for a new record. Once the halfway mark has been reached, the competition always becomes more demanding. Exhaustion has settled over all of the runners and just a few can keep the pace. This time only Makau and Gebrselassie were able to make it through and run a two-man race almost the whole time.

They were both within a new world record speed but after ten kilometers Gebrselassie started to suffer from physical pain, which caused him to follow behind Makau, who reached the finishing line of Brandenburg alone. The Berlin Marathon has been a saucepan for cooking continuous world records since out of the top ten running records, five men and two women had broken a previous record in the Berlin Marathon in the last decade.

This has created the expectancy for a new record. This expectation is not out of the question when one of  these fast Kenyan or Ethiopian runners manage to continuously break records. But it seems they only receive the recognition they deserve after an epic like the record broken this year.

This year Gebrselassie will be awarded with the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports known as the second most important award after the Nobel Peace Prize. This acknowledgement has come after his 2 Olympic gold medals and his 4 victories in the World Championships in Athletics.

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/memarte/

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The coveted Quicksilver Pro New York came to Long Beach, Long Island for its first ever stop on the East Coast. With a large fan base of surfers on coastal communities up and down the East Coast, the world tour came to New York with much anticipation. The two week event showcased the talents of professional surfers from around the world, with the likes of ten time world champion Kelly Slater.

Australian surfer Owen Wright came out victorious after numerous rounds of surfing, winning the large prize of $300,000. The Association of Professional Surfers (ASP) is one of the most recognizable names in the surfing industry. The ASP World Championship Tour is an international surfing competition that has eleven stops on its circuit.

The surfers on the tour have been traveling the world since February, where they began the competition on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia. From there, the group of surfers have since competed in Bells Beach, Australia, Rio de Janiero, Brazil, Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, Teahupo’o, Tahiti, and now Long Island, New York.

A group of skilled surfers, including Joel Parkinson, Adriano De Souza, and Jordy Smith are among the competitors of the ASP World Championship Tour. Just half way through the competition, Kelly Slater has been a continuous favorite, but was defeated by 21 year old Owen Wright in four days of grueling wave riding.

Currently ranked number one on the 2011 ASP Mens World Title and ASP Mens World Ranking, Kelly Slater was a crowd favorite at the Quicksilver Pro New York. He scored the only 10 throughout the competition in a heat against Taj Burrow, something even winner Owen Wright did not accomplish.

Waves intensified up to six to eight feet during the finals. Offshore hurricane activity gave surfers larger than usual waves in Long Island. In the finals against Slater, Wright managed to score waves of 9.23 and 8.67. Slater was not able to catch up to his competitor as a strong wave sent his surfboard breaking in half. Wright finished the finals with a 17.9, defeating Slater who received a 14.53.

The Quicksilver Pro New York was a great opportunity for surfing fanatics to come out to Long Beach for days of surfing competitions and to be immersed in the surfing culture. Quicksilver and Roxy set up a large retail store directly on the beach that attracted shoppers, while Roxy’s Beach House had interactive activities geared towards youth, including jewelry making stands and a live DJ.

Associated with Quicksilver Pro, legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk presented Vert Jam, a free showcase that was held at Pier 54 in New York City. The ASP World Championship Tour will continue on to locations such as Trestles, California, the South West Coast of France, Peniche, Portugal, and San Francisco California.

The final and most famous stop for the tour will be in the December culmination round at Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. Often considered to be the mecca of the surfing world, Pipeline is one of the most dangerous and challenging waves in the world. The ASP World Championship Tour is only half way done and is sure to bring much excitement as it continues its way around the world.

 
Gustavo Miguel Fernandes / Shutterstock.com

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At the 11^th European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF), Trabzon finished on July 29 with a closing ceremony. After the opening ceremony competitions started on July 25 and they took 5 days. All competitions wrapped up on July 29.

Countries flags came to stadium and the closing ceremony started. Sport Minister of Turkey, Suat Kılıç; Eyof Committee Chairman, Guido De Bondt talked in closing ceremony. After the speeches, olympics flag in stadium given next host of EYOF, Utrecht a city of Holland by Guido De Bondt and Suat Kılıç. Then the olympic flame was extinguished.

Later, Mayor of Utrecht, Aleid Wolfsen talked. Lastly, dancers played traditional dances ‘horon’ and ‘kolbastı’. Turkish rock band gave a concert and volunteers, athletes and many people had fun together.

The Most Succesful Country is Russia

Handball, basketball, judo, volleyball, tenis, swim, bike, gymnastics and athleticism were nine branches of EYOF. All athletes tried to win the competitions.

In EYOF Russia was the most successful country. Russia won 21 gold, 17 silver and 16 bronze medals and in total 54 medals. Second country was Great Britain and won 17 gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze medals and in total Great Britain won 33 medals. Ukraine was the third successful country. Ukraine won 8 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze medals and in total 15 medals. Host Turkey won 2 gold and 7 bronze medals and in total Turkey won 9 medals. Turkey was the 20^th country in EYOF.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.trabzon2011.org

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11^th European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) started with a beautiful opening ceremony in Trabzon, Turkey on July 24. Olympic games start on July 25 and they take 5 days to complete. This will be the first olympic organization of  Turkey.

For the 11^th European Youth Olympic Festival, about 4000 people, who are athletes, technical teams and managers, came from 49 countries. In the Olympics there are 9 branches. They are basketball, volleyball, tennis, judo, swim, bike, gymnastics, athleticism and handball.

Opening ceremony started with an announcer’s “welcome speech” at 20.00 (Turkish Time) then countries came to the stadium and took their seats in alphabetical order. First country was Greece because the first Olympics were played in Greece. Last country was host Turkey and Turkey has a maximum participation with 140 athletes. Cultural section started after countries. In this section Turkey’s traditional dances called ‘Horon’ and other dances were played by some group of dancers and Eyof-2011’s volunteers.

Firstly Sport Minister of Turkey, Suat Kılıç; after that President of Unity of European Olympics Committee Patrick Hickey; lastly Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan talked in the opening ceremony. Patrick Hickey spoke about Norway’s terrorist attack and one minute of silence was held for dead people. When Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started to say his speech, he wanted this one minute of silence for the 20 people who died due to terrorist attacks.

After Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speech 11^th European Youth Olympic Festival was officially started. Four athletes carried Olympics torch and Olympic flame burned and Olympic flag was hung.

Finally, Turkish singer Mustafa Sandal gave a concert and opening ceremony finished with this concert. Opening ceremony took about three hours.

Pete Niesen / Shutterstock.com

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Max Bimar is a shredder in the south of France BMX scene. With a carefree attitude, Bimar brings style to himself on and off the bike. Being one of the main builders at his local trails and riding with influential style, Max brings a lot to is BMX community. I caught up with him to talk about his trails, his new signature frame, and his role in the Kill the Line contest.

Quick Facts:

Age:

I’m 24 years old.

Current location:

I live in Aix en Provence, a French city in southeast of France.

Hometown:

I’m from a village 20 minutes away from Aix. It’s called Peynier and just in front of it we can see the “Sainte Victoire” a mountain, which got famous by the painter Cezanne. It’s a typical village of Provence.

Sponsors:

I ride for Deluxe BMX, which is 3 or 4 years old. It’s English, and the label of it is simple, clean, and trail BMX. I ride also for a brand of clothes. Savakas it’s called and the label is pretty modern. D.I.Y. as time are now.

Years riding:

15 years I guess. I started pretty young, I tried every kind of bike. But my favorite is BMX especially on trail jump.

Interview:

Michael: Why do you ride?

Max: I’m looking after THE GREAT FEELING. It can be a short and intense feeling right after doing a great jump, tricks, or I can be the feeling to share a session with people on a great trail. BMX is not a team sport, but I never or almost, ride alone. It’s dangerous, and we push our limits by trying to get the same level as your session’s partners, better or different.

Michael: What’s your favorite thing about BMX?

Max: Many things are high in my brain. Maybe it would be to think of BMX. To imagine how to pass a jump in a strange way. To think of how would be this new sensation. Get a phantasme on a mouvement.

Michael: You pretty much have trails in the back yard of your parent’s house, can you tell us about how they came about?

Max: It’s a long story… It’s 20 years old. But to be simply, our trail improved as the level of the people who rode on it. At the beginning it was some racers, who get bored of the pressure and the character of racing. So they started to dig. To dig jumps and lines, and now time after time, line after line, our trail feels pretty great.

Michael: I’ve heard that the mayor of your city likes the trails. Can you tell me about that?

Max: Yeah, he let us dug into that field during a long long time without telling us to do an association. But he did, it wasn’t a big deal to make it, thanks my friends, and now the mayor doesn’t risk anything in case of trouble at the trail. He’s proud of us, and lets us do what we want.

Michael: Did you start out riding at your trails, or did you start riding somewhere else?

Max: As soon as I was able to ride a bike, I went to the field in front of my house. Where the trail has been started. I met guys, who teached me how to jump. So yeah I start to ride firstly on the trail. But it’s was like now. Then cause of my father I’ve been riding XC bikes for 6 years.

Michael: How’s the trail scene in France?

Max: It was pretty hard to answer this question few years ago, but now, internet, the video compression, and facebook, and Soul BMX magazine help myself a lot to learn of it. It improved a lot this last years. I just need to taste it. I can say that they look clean. Easy to see that. But I saw also that they’re not ridable well some of them.

If I can say something about this it would be, “no care if it look s***, just care of the feeling”.

More and more people get into BMX now, and few of them start to dig a trail. I’m glad, cause it a source of pleasure insane.

Michael: Do you have any other favorite trail spots than your own?

Max: In France, I like la source which is a trail in Toulouse. Jems Müller is one of the famous guys there. I like him. I like Elian Torniol’s trail, which is not far from mine. Few road trips pass through it, with many famous guys, as Brian Foster, Mark Mulville, Chase Hawk….

Michael: You recently moved out of your home near the Peynier trails to the near by city Aix En Provence, has this affected your riding?

Max: Yes I did to move away from my parents. It’s not far away, sure it’s longer to get to the trail, but it still short. Like 25 min…..

Michael: Tell us about the Van’s Kill the Line contest and how it came about?

Max: I’m not really involved into kill the line. I’m one of the main local of Peynier trail, but it doesn’t mean that I work for the contest. I’m glad to help as I can by digging and welcomes people into my parents house. But I don’t get involved into the merchandising, adverts……….But I like how it improved, glad that many people come. It’s always a great time. The idea is a contest of trail. A contest, not a jam. So I taking place on only one line. Judges do their job and that’s it. Also there’s a great party. I didn’t see anybody unhappy by the contest.

Michael: Do you have anything big planned for the next one?

Max: I can just tell you that the line is gonna be different. I can just tell that cause I’m involved as I said just into the trail. People might be surprised and scared by it. It improve as our level…

Michael: You have a signature frame in the works, how’s it coming and when will it be out in stores?

Max: My signature frame. haha, I’m proud to elaborate a frame. Mark Noble, the boss of Deluxe BMX gave me this opportunity. As an old rider, and as a fan of mechanical systems, I use to think of thing who’ll help my ride. I also copy a lot on many brand, haha. It’s got a long rear, to be able to pull as never before. I’m gonna call it “Sacre bleu”. I’m back from England and I heard this expression 10 times a day. It’s an old French expression, which means d***. I fortunately found something, which can be able to be understood in French and English. Fortunately English people know something in French. Sacre bleu.

Michael: Your brother has been in some notable punk rock bands and you seem to be into the punk scene, how has punk rock influenced your life and riding?

Max: Yeah it won’t be wrong if I say that my musicals beliefs gave me a label. Instead of having a real reason to wear slim pant, it gave me knowledge with I can use anywhere. Rock music is pretty famous.

Last time I was at leeds having good times with some great guys, one of them came to me and said: “that was you last year at the Murray Jam who were wearing a punk suite?” It was me. He said I was insane….

Anyway, I do care of real music, Not UNIVERSAL music. I believed in truth music, not rubbish music made by people who wants to get more money. Muse is a great example. Stroking in the direction of hair.

This is why I believed in punk music. It doesn’t mean that I listen the sex pistols all day long, But I got the feeling to check what’s good, what’s wrong. Maybe cause of how my brother teach me music. He’s got it.

Michael: How’s the punk scene in your area?

Max: Super small, we are all friends, we support each other. When I want to check a rock gigs I go to Marseille. Aix is to rap and business or rubbish, in this 2 cases you need money. So I go to Marseille, city which gonna be the capital of culture in 2012 for the Europe. Waouuu…Subway closed at 10h30, and instead of sleeping they’re few place to go out after midnight.There’re 1 million people in this city. Hard times. Fortunately we still got the club called “machine à coudre” where I feel great.

More and more people want to cry their anger. Anger to be lock between TV and your job, if you got one… Some of them build a band. The rest dance and get drunk. Like me. I also try to get those brand new girl who agree our philosophy.

Michael: Anything else?

Max: Usual thanks, thanks to Fugazi to improve by a 1000% my knowledge in music. Thanks to the people who respect each other, who put their turn signal. Thanks my family who’s not able to read English, thanks my friends, thanks Savakas and thanks Deluxe BMX. Hope to work into that firm when it’ll be possible.

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Trey Jones was always the young rider that everyone had their eye on. As Trey grew, anyone could tell that he had what it took to ride a BMX bike. So, it was no surprise that as he grew up that he became a successful bike rider. I caught up with him to talk about what it was like to grow up riding BMX.

Quick Facts:

Age: 18

Hometown: Casselberry, FL

Sponsors: Cult Crew, The Shadow Conspiracy, Vans shoes, Fox Clothing, Mr. bike and boards bike shop

Years Riding: 14

Interview:

Michael: How’s the riding scene in Florida?

Trey: The riding scene is awesome! There’s always somebody to ride with and there’s always something to ride!

Michael: You’ve been riding since you were young, how did you get into BMX?

Trey: My dad raced when he was a kid and when I learned how to ride a bike when I was 3 and he saw I was trying to jump curbs, he figured he would take me to the race track and I immediately fell in love!

Michael: Did your family support your riding growing up?

Trey: Ya 100%! They were always super into it and did anything it took for me to have fun!

Michael: Since you grew up riding BMX, how do you think this affected your life?

Trey: It definitely gave me a different approach to life and taught to not be so cautious about the little things and just focus on having a good time.

Michael: What influences your riding?

Trey: I guess people that do there own thing and aren’t influenced by people around them because it makes me realize you don’t have to do what’s cool to have fun.

Michael: You just finished high school, how was it going to school and balancing riding bikes?

Trey: It got it hard sometimes when I would be out of school for more than a week at a time but my senior year I got to do school online which helped a ton!

Michael: Has BMX changed for you since you started riding?

Trey: Bmx is still the same concept of having fun with your friends to me. In a few ways it has gotten a little different but its still the same thing and it always will be.

Michael: Do you have any projects in the works you’d like to tell us about?

Trey: I got a few things going on with Shadow that should be out soon and I’ve been filming for the full-length cult video but other than that, nothing much

Michael: Anything else?

Trey: Thanks especially to my awesome girlfriend, Rohanna Christie and my family, also thanks to Robbie Morales and Ronnie B for helping me out so much! Also thank to Ryan Chadwick, Jerry Badders, Chad DeGroot, Everyone at 71n

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Canada’s Drew Bezanson has become one of BMX’s most talked-about bike riders. Over the last few years, Bezanson has been raising the bar in BMX. With multiple mind blowing web videos and success at countless major contests, the 22-year-old Bezanson has made his presence known in the BMX community.

In 2010, Drew came out swinging at all the major contests. The Canadian hailing from Truro, Nova Scotia went three-for-three at the first contests of 2010. Bezanson qualified first and won at Simple Session, Toronto BMX Jam, and JoMoPro. It’s a feat to win one of these contests, let alone win all three.

Along with winning some of the most prestigious contests in BMX, Drew released multiple web videos of his riding. Web videos in BMX are a dime a dozen, but Drew’s videos will stick out to many BMX riders for years to come. On top of that, Bezanson won the Ride BMX Nora Cup Award for the best ramp rider of 2010. All of this was accomplished in one year. Many riders and BMX media sources coined this year dominated by Bezanson as Drew-Thousand-and-Ten.

Unfortunately, Drew-Thousand-and-Ten was cut short due to injury but not before he left a lasting impression on BMX. I caught up with DK Bicycle’s Drew Bezanson to talk about last year, his injury, and what’s in store for him in 2011.  From what it seems, it will be Drew-Thousand-and-Eleven but through projects and some of the same successes as last year. He has already won the 2011 Simple Session and continues to hold his own in every contest he enters.

Michael: You got injured in 2010, can you elaborate on what happened and how it affected your run in contests in 2010?

Drew: The first of my year in 2010 started off incredible. I qualified 1st and won the first three contests of the year. After that I was so motivated to keep going but unfortunately I separated my right shoulder which put an end to that. Before the injury I had so much positive motivation and my shoulder injury just turned that into negative motivation. At that point of the year I didn’t really have time for it to heal and I just wanted to ride everything so bad. It was a very frustrating injury, my shoulder could still function but nowhere near the level I needed too. I kept trying to do everything I had planned even with my shoulder injury. Going from winning everything to not even making finals in any contest was a huge mental block for me. It brought me way down. I thought it was never going to heal. The middle of my 2010 was a tough one for me, I got to the point where I didn’t even want to ride my bike. Not because I didn’t like it but because I couldn’t physically ride the way I wanted too. I was only focusing on the short term rather then the whole picture. My shoulder eventually got better but by that point it was past all the contests but there is always going to be more contests. It definitely took way longer to heal than it should have due to my stubbornness.

Michael: Do you intend on hitting the contest circuit for the rest of 2011?

Drew: I plan on doing most of the contests in 2011 but a long with that I have other stuff going on. I’m working on my first full-length video part, which should be out towards the end of the year. As well as working on some signature stuff with a few of the companies I ride for.

Michael: Have you done any preparation for 2011?

Drew: I’ve been working a bunch with a bike park in Markham, Ontario called Joyride 150. The bike part is 90,000 square feet and is already incredible. I made a deal with the owners of the park that if I could get the funding that I could change what I wanted in the park. As soon as I got the OK from the park owners I got the ball rolling. Red Bull gave me some money to build new ramps, which are the same size as most of the contest ramps. I don’t know if I would call it preparation but I’m definitely going to try to be more comfortable riding big ramps this year before contests.

Michael: In 2010 you dropped some of the most talked about web edits and you have already made a few this year. Do you plan on making anymore?

Drew: I made a few web videos this year but they were a little more low key than last year. This year I’m working on my first full video part with Props. The project is called ”Owned” and 6 riders get full video part sections. I have been holding back on the web videos and putting my focus on the video parts. I still plan on putting out a few more web videos as well this year.

Photography by Kurt Hohberger.

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In BMX, many professional riders come and go. Few stay in the spot light for an extended period of time. Chris Doyle is one of the exceptions to this. Doyle has been a professional bike rider for fourteen years. With great style and some of the best-executed tricks in BMX, it doesn’t seem like Doyle will be leaving the spot light anytime soon.  I caught up with Doyle to talk him about what it’s like to be a tenured professional BMX rider.

Quick Facts:

Age: 30

Hometown: Plum Borough, PA (a little suburb outside Pittsburgh)

Sponsors: Kink Bicycles, DC Shoes and Apparel, Demolition Parts, and Duo

Years riding: I started riding bicycles at the typical age that most kids learn to ride on two wheels (3 or 4 years old).  I started jumping jumps and racing around the age of 12 and turned pro 4 years later.  So, we’ll chalk it up to 18 years of “serious” riding.

Interview:

Michael: What influences your riding?

Chris: When we were younger, growing up in North Carolina, my friends and I were influenced by the riders and trail spots in Pennsylvania.  Modest as it was, we tried our best to model our riding and the things we built from what we saw in the videos and magazines that showcased all that PA had to offer. As a guy growing older within the sport of BMX, I’m heavily influenced by the younger generation of up and comers and already established young pros.  Their lack of fear and the amount of skill that some of these young pros have is great to witness and is easy to draw inspiration from. I do my best to match their fearlessness and their lack of hesitation.

Michael: What’s your favorite thing about BMX?

Chris: The fact that BMX is my only real creative outlet.  I can’t paint, write, play music, etc…but through riding I get the same feelings of creativity and originality that comes with the more accepted forms of art.

Michael: You’re an all around rider, but most would say you are known for riding trails and dirt contests. Do you enjoy this aspect of the sport more than the others?

Chris: Trails are by far my favorite form of riding.  I like parks and street too but if the trails are running then it’s a no-brainer as to where I’ll be riding that day. I like dirt contests and I like to think that I play a good role in them. Most contests are pretty one-sided with the tricks and the attitude that so many contest riders possess.  I don’t do the same tricks that most would attribute to winning and I like to think that my attitude toward contests is a little more light hearted.  I think it’s important for kids to see something different at contests; you can still be successful by doing the tricks that you want to do, you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, and if you use your head and your style you can still achieve success.  Also, nice guys don’t always finish last.

Michael: It seems you’ve moved a couple times to be around trail spots. Can you tell us about it?

Chris: Like I said before, I was heavily influenced by the trail scene in Pennsylvania so at the age of 19 I packed a u-haul and headed north to Erie, PA to ride the trails that I had seen in so many videos and magazines.  I lived in Erie for almost a year and then moved to Pittsburgh for the summer of 2002.  Pittsburgh has a rich history in trail riding and I wasn’t let down.  I was so impressed that I decided to stay permanently.

Michael: When summer hits, you’re always on the road. What does this summer have in store for you?

Chris: Lots and lots of traveling.  On this trip that I’m currently on I’ve already been to London, England, Portland, OR, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, CA, San Diego, Las Vegas, Cedar City, UT.  I still have two more weeks on the road.  I’ll be in Salt Lake City and Denver and then headed to France for the FISE contest followed by a trail trip through southern France. That’s only this month.  The rest of this summer looks to be a busy one as well.

Michael: Do you have any current projects going on that you would like to tell us about?

Chris: No long standing projects right now.  It actually feels pretty good to NOT have something to film for at the moment.  Last year I completed two different video parts and a couple web videos… the break is well appreciated.

Michael: How long have you been a professional rider?

Chris: About 14 years.

Michael: How did you get into riding? When you started riding, did you ever imagine it would ever turn out the way it did?

Chris: It was something that was simply always there and always available. As a kid, I was naturally drawn to the freedom and excitement that a bicycle provided.  I had a lot of friends who were into BMX and it was easy to be into it as well.  I never imagined that my bike would provide this kind of lifestyle.  Even when I turned pro I never thought I would have taken it this far.

Michael: You’ve seen the sport evolve over time, how do you feel about the direction of the sport?

Chris: Our sport lacks direction.  The riding continues to progress and it always will, the tricks will get harder and styles will become more refined. However, there’s a certain level of maturity that we have yet to reach.  Our industry is very selfish and they feed off the pros who will risk life and limb for a $300.00 paycheck.

Michael: Is there somewhere you’d like to see the sport go?

Chris: Obviously, I’d like to see the sport grow and succeed but a lot has to change within the BMX industry first.  There are a lot of brands on the market today that undercut everybody to sell more bikes and accessories and get a better profit.  If the brands within the BMX industry all worked together it would yield positive results.  We should be looking out for our sport as a whole and not just ourselves individually.

Michael: You’re not only a professional rider, but you are involved in a successful bike company. Can you tell us about it?

Chris: I’m 1/3 owner in a small grip and tire company called, ‘Duo’.  It’s nothing that’s going to change the world but it’s fun to be a part a brand with two of my friends and do things that we think are cool and creative.  We have a stellar team and the BMX community seems to really like the things that we make.

Michael: Anything else?

Chris: Ride a bike not a bandwagon.

Photography by Kurt Hohberger.

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