Freedom Fest 5k on Tap Soon

The 16th annual Jackson County Freedom Fest 5K Run and Walk will begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday at Manpower Park on East Main Street in Jackson.

Entry fee for the run through the business district and western residential section of Jackson is $15, with proceeds going toward sponsorship of community events by the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce.

Plaques will be awarded to the top three male and female finishers, and medals will be given to the top three finishers in all age divisions outside of those winning plaques.

No pre-registration is required, and participants may sign up the morning of the race. For more information on the run, call (740) 286-2722.

There also will be a one-mile walk starting simultaneously with the run. There is no charge to take part in the walk.

Medals, Trophies Stolen from SA Swimming Star

South African champion swimmer Cameron van der Burgh has lost half his medals and trophies to thieves who burgled his parent's Pretoria home, it was reported on Saturday.
Van der Burgh, who will represent South Africa at the London Olympics, told the Saturday Star that the medals and trophies were "irreplaceable" as they had been won in several countries.

The robbers broke into the house on Friday while Van der Burgh was at swimming practice and his mother was shopping for his 24th birthday party that evening.

The breaststroke swimmer is the current world record holder in the 25m and 50m short course events as well as the 50m long course.

"I am really glad that nobody got hurt though, because that is the most important thing," Van der Burgh told the newspaper.

Van der Burgh said he would contact the international swimming body to see if it was possible to replace stolen medals.

On Tuesday the swimmer leaves for a training camp in Europe to prepare for the Olympics.
"Before the incident I was 100 per cent focused on the upcoming games. Now I have lost some of that focus," he was quoted as saying.

Manor’s 10th Division One Crown Retires Trophy

Champions of champions! That's the Manor Building netball team. When the Torbay Netball League held their annual netball awards night at the Pavilions Restaurant in Torquay, Manor Building took centre.

The champions in the League's top division were unbeaten in all 18 games of the season. It was the tenth time in 11 years, which meant they got to keep the trophy. Manor Building also won the Paula Tournament and the Versatility Tournament. Team member Kriss Westacott also won the player of the year in the 25-40 age group.

The evening included netball trophies and medals for the top three placed teams from Division One, Two and Three. There were also two cup competition awards as well as an award for the best umpire from each division.

There were player of the year awards in each age group from under 25 to over 40 from each division, the Outstanding Contribution to Netball in Torbay and the Fairplay Award.
Other winners included Pink Panthers from Division One, who finished runners up after starting in Division Three only three years ago.

Pink Panthers came in third in the Paula Smith Tournament and finished second in the Versatility Tournament. And their player Helena Wykes-Dart also picked up the under-25 player of the year award amongst three others.

The Outstanding Contribution award went to Beryl D'Alessandro who has done so much for the sport in the area, including running her own league and many teams including the Plainmoor Gulls.

Fairplay Award, which was created this year in memory of Dawn Wotton who was ever-present in netball in Torbay whether it was on the court or off it, was won by Plainmoor Gulls C.

Hunger the Target at Charity Bowling Tournament

Competition for trophies was intense as bowling balls crashed into pins Sunday afternoon while Valley organizations and businesses competed for a good cause.
The second annual Bowling to Strike Out Hunger bowling tournament at Brunswick Zone XL in El Centro benefitted the Imperial Valley Food Bank.

A dozen teams from organizations or businesses such as Havens and Sons Trucking, Rabobank and El Centro Rotary Club competed and excitedly cheered on their teammates once games got under way. At stake were bragging rights and trophies.

The team with the most donations received a trophy that is passed on to the winners each year while another trophy was awarded for the team with the highest score.
Custom medals were given for best male and female players as well as for the team with the best bowling shirts.

Imperial Valley Food Bank board president David Takata said the event allows people to help those suffering from food insecurity while also having a good time.

Girls Make It Four Trophies for Trinity

The pupils of Trinity Catholic School (Aspley) won their fourth 5-a-side trophy of the season at Harvey Hadden. Trinity teams have already won the U12 Girls and U16 Girls' Indoor 5-a-sides and the U13 Boys' Outdoor 5-a-sides, organized by Nottingham Schools' Football Association.

Along with five other teams from City Secondary Schools, Trinity had qualified for the final of the NSFA U14 Girls' Indoor 5-a-side competition from preliminary rounds.
They dominated the league-based competition winning four of the five matches to record 13 points. Their only blemish was when they faced Djanogly in a very close game which ended as a 1-1 draw.

The battle for second place was also very close with Farnborough and Nottingham Emmanuel both finishing with nine points from three victories. However, the girls from Emmanuel had a much better goal difference and were awarded the runners-up medals.

The trophies and medals were presented by Colin Hammond, the Chairman of Nottingham Schools' Football Association.

Singapore Athletes Score Well in ASEAN Para Games

Singapore athletes continued their winning form at the 6th ASEAN Para Games in Solo, Indonesia. They clinched three more gold medals on Sunday.

Swimmer Benson Tan, delivered his second gold, and set yet another ASEAN Para Games record. The 20-year-old shaved four seconds in the 50 meters butterfly ID event, with his time of 30.82 seconds.

Another gold came from veteran athlete Theresa Goh, in the S5 100 meters freestyle event, in a time of one minute, 42.84 seconds.

Bowlers Thomas Yong and Mohamed Ismail B. Hussain teamed up in the Doubles TPB1+TPB2/B3 - Mixed event, to capture the third gold medal. The Singapore duo had an average score of 130.6 points, and finished with a total of 1567 pin falls.

Sunday's medals brings Singapore's tally to seven gold, three silver and seven bronze medals at the Games so far.

Medal Dreams Live On for Sam

Sascoc president Gideon Sam says he has not given up on his dream of 12 medals in the 2012 Olympic Games. "The truth of the matter is we've been very strict in terms of ensuring that those who get onto that plane would have worked hard and by April (2012) we will look at what we've got," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

"I have to put my foot down and ensure that we raise the bar once we are there what happened after 1996 by allowing things to sink a little we end up with one medal."
Sam said the dream of a string of medals was still alive. "The athletes have worked hard and administrators worked hard, but there are still certain things that are missing that we need to address."

Sam said Sascoc called on the various national federations in 2009 to nominate their leading athletes. The Olympic body's high performance unit then identified the elite athletes that formed part of the Operation Excellence who were given support.
Sascoc had through the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund distributed more than R500-million to the various federations. Sam said it was unacceptable that they had not had satisfactory medals results yet. He was, however, optimistic the efforts they had put in would bear fruit next year and the years to come.

Ghana Picks Up Two More Medals

Ghana's standings on the medal table has been boosted with two more medals from the Paralympic team in the Men’s 1500 meter race at the Zimpeto National Stadium on Monday.

Patrick Obeng and Felix Acheampong won silver and bronze medals respectively in their races.
On their way to the finals, Obeng won the heats, whilst Acheampong placed fourth with Botyso Nkegbe placing third.

Ghana's best bet Botyso Nkegbe, however, failed in his attempt to win the gold medal and improve on his Africa record of 3 minutes and 24 seconds as he failed in the tracks after the second round.

Ghana's total medal haul now stands at seven, but the disabled athletes have vowed to win more laurels in the 400 meters events to make a case for themselves.

Many of the disabled athletes have expressed worry over the little attention given them by authorities and have vowed to make an impact in the competition as a way of justifying their demand for much attention and recognition to participate in future events.
GNA

Three BMX Medals for High Flying Kiwis

The three Ws of New Zealand's BMX cycling program have grabbed three medals at the world championships in Denmark. The 2009 world champion Sarah Walker and Pukekohe teenager Trent Woodcock won silver medals in the elite women and junior men while Marc Willers took out a bronze in the elite men at Copenhagen yesterday.

With Woodcock picking up a silver medal in the first time trial super final, and eight riders qualifying for the later elimination rounds, it provided a significant boost for the fledgling high performance program under national coach Ken Cools.

For Willers it proved a bitter-sweet experience to pick up his first world championships medal because he had been the dominating figure after winning all three qualifying motos, his quarterfinal and semifinal. He jumped superbly to be first into the first corner in the final, but over-jumped on the second straight to allow Frenchman Doris Daudet to slide underneath. Willers struggled to regain speed with defending champion Maris Strombergs edging him for second.

"I basically didn't make a mistake until it really counted," Willers said. "If there's ever a race not to choke in it was that one. I over-jumped a little bit on the second straight and put a panic rev and started over-jumping everything. "If I had come out third and finished third I would be satisfied. But I know I had the winning of that final. There's no blame on anyone else but myself and that's the hard thing to swallow right now."

Walker continued her remarkable consistency to win her third silver medal to go with a bronze in 2008 and victory in 2009. She also impressed out of the gate and her work on the first straightaway where she also led in all motos, and her semifinal, which proved her best effort of the day. She disposed of defending champion Shanaze Reade for the first time in a head-to-head battle. Colombia's Mariana Pajon went neck-to-neck with Walker out of the gate in the final, taking advantage of her inside draw.Walker challenged hard but had to be content with second. "Going into this weekend the focus is on London [2012 Olympics] and this is a stepping stone towards that. "I hadn't come in with the best preparation because of an injury and my expectation was to work on my gates and see how they were progressing."

Woodcock, who has been racing professionally in the United States this year, showed the benefit of that competition with a consistently strong effort throughout. After winning his qualifying group, Woodcock was second behind Ecuador's Alfredo Campo in the quarter-final and semifinal, with the same finishing order in the final. "I am happy with that. I wanted to stay relaxed and all the training I've done in the past was building up to this," Woodcock said. "I was just trying to treat the final like every race back home on club night. I am just so rapt right now. It's an another step towards that bigger goal of the Olympics." Woodcock's podium effort has seen him added to the elite team who head into camp in the Netherlands next week to prepare for next month's Olympic test event in London.

Incoming Tracksters Win Three Medals at Pan Am Games

Two incoming Iowa freshmen helped the United States earn 59 custom medals at the Pan American Junior Championships from July 22 through Sunday, according to a release.

Kayla Beattie won gold medals in both the 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters at the championships, which were held in Miramar, Fla. She won the 3K with a time of 9:30.63 on July 23 and dominated the competition in the 5K with a 16:48.44 time on Sunday — a full six seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Gabe Hull took home the silver medal in the discus with a toss of 189-7, and he was only beaten by a Pan Am Junior meet-record 218-5 mark from a Jamaican thrower. Hull was an Indiana state champion in the event while in high school, and he told USA Track & Field his previous successes served as motivation during the Pan Am games.

"At the beginning, I was just thinking I would settle for whatever I could get," he said after his medal-winning throw in the final round. "Then I [remembered] I had done well before, so I could do well again. I almost reproduced the good things I had done before, so it ended up well."

Spence Edged Out in Medal Bid

Mhairi Spence narrowly missed out on the medals at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in London on Sunday after finishing fifth. Spence, of Farr, and team-mate Heather Fell went into the run/shoot at Greenwich Park in third and fourth places respectively. The 25-year-old briefly worked her way into the lead, but was ultimately overpowered by Olympic champion Lena Schoneborn, of Germany, and Lithuania’s Laura Asadauskaite, who took silver.

Despite this setback, Spence showed a real determination to secure fifth place in front of a home crowd. “I was a bit up and down,” she said. “I set myself a goal of finishing in the top six and I’ve achieved that, but I wanted to win a medal for the home crowd.

“When you start the combined event, even in a podium position, you want to keep it, but my last run/shoot was just a little bit slow. “When you’ve had a taste of the medals you just want more. Hopefully I’m working my way towards the Olympic qualification that I’m trying to achieve. “Being here has made the whole idea of the Olympic Games in London seem very real. “It’s so exciting. I want to get back in training and make sure I’m here next year enjoying it all again, hopefully with a medal.”

Spence started the day well, winning her first seven fencing bouts. She went on to end the session with 23 wins from her 35 contests to finish fourth. In the swimming, Spence won heat four in a time of 2 minutes 14.56 seconds, taking almost two seconds off her personal best. Her time was the eighth fastest time of the day, which meant she climbed up the field into second place overall behind France’s Elodie Clouvel.

It was mixed fortunes, however, for Spence in the riding arena. She had four fences down and accumulated eight time penalties to add 1112 to her total and go into the run/shoot in third. Clouvel led the field in this event with Russia’s Elena Rublevska a second behind, while Spence was 10 seconds off the top — a gap which proved too much to make up.

The action now moves on to the European Championships at Medway Park in Kent, which takes place from 28th July to 1st August.

Nick Symmonds Has Medals on His Mind

Rich Kenah was the last man from the U.S. to medal in the 800 in the IAAF World Track & Field Championship. Kenah came home from Athens with a bronze medal in 1997. Nick Symmonds was 13. Now, Symmonds is fresh from his fourth straight U.S. 800 title and ready to break Team USA 14-year streak of futility in the 800 at the world level.

The Oregon Track Club Elite/Eugene star beat a good field Sunday in the USA Championships in trademark fashion, blowing the doors off in the final 100 meters to win in 1 minute 44.17 seconds. That puts him fourth in the world this season. Now we'll see if he can mix it up with the likes of David Rudisha, Abubaker Kaki and David Mutua. Rudisha and Kaki have both run faster this year than Symmonds' personal record, 1:43.83.

But anybody who saw how far Symmonds came in the three weeks between the Prefontaine Classic and Sunday's tour de force, will have to at least acknowledge he has a chance to reach the medals podium at the August world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

"I've been telling everybody I'd trade a U.S. title for a medal in Daegu, but I'd like to have both," Symmonds said. "I've got the first out of the way. I'm on the team. But, really, we're just going to go back up to altitude and start training again. A U.S. title feels phenomenal. But it's going to a feel bitter sweet if I make it to the worlds don't come home with a medal.

"It's about time for people in the Oregon Track Club to start bringing medals home."

Rawlins High Grad Leads Team to 20 Medals

Twenty-four medals were handed out following the shooting competition at the Wounded Warrior Games in Colorado Springs in May. Roger Withrow's fingerprints, at least metaphorically, were on 20 of them. Withrow, a 1976 graduate of Rawlins High School, coached a team of 18 injured Marines to all eight gold medals, six silver medals and six bronze medals.

For Withrow, a paraplegic with a storied shooting history - including a gold medal at the 1984 Paralympic Games - the accomplishment went beyond acquiring precious metals.
"I was dumbfounded, I was totally dumbfounded," he said. "This had to have been the best I've felt on the shooting range since I won my gold medal, anyway. Easily. It was so overwhelming I never thought I'd be a part of this."

Withrow spent part of his youth in Hanna before his family moved to Rawlins for the last five years of his schooling. While at RHS, he shot with the junior rifle club. "I ended up winning a scholarship to Murray State University," in Murray, Ky., Withrow said.
Success followed him to the Bluegrass State where the Murray State Racers shooting team won the collegiate championship and Withrow won the high-powered championship in 1978. "I was wanting to try to get on the 1979 Pan-Am Games. With me shooting real well in 1978 in high-power I decided to go for it," he said.

In the summer of 1978 he suffered an injury that caused three herniated discs in his back. He decided to leave college to move back to Rawlins where he rehabilitated his back at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in the morning and then worked the rest of the day. "(While working) in the spring of 1979, I ended up being smashed by a truckload of pipe," Withrow recalls. "The pipe was 36-inches in diameter and 20-foot long."

He was flown to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and spent the next 18 months in rehab.
"I pretty much knew at that time I was a paraplegic," he said. "It was a heartbreaker. What else can I say? I was at the top of my life at that time and all the sudden someone knocks the blocks out from underneath me."

Withrow recalled watching the 1979 Pan American Games from a hospital bed.
Through his disappointment, he decided to get back to shooting and started the Wheelchair Shooting Federation in 1980. "We did not have wheelchair shooting in the United States," he said, adding there was no Paralympic team.

He said he was the first shooter on the U.S. Paralympic team and competed in the 1984 Paralympics in the United Kingdom. "That's where I picked up the first and only gold medal USA Paralympic shooting has today," he said.

Chesterton Boys Win State Track and Field Medals

The Chesterton boys track team brought back three medals from the IHSAA State Final at Indiana University on Friday night.

“We didn’t have as many guys competing in a lot of events this year, but I really felt like everyone had a chance to place,” Chesterton coach John Snyder said. “For the most part, we either were just in the medals or just barely out.”

The Trojans’ most success came in the field events where Kody Galloway finished as the State runner-up in the high jump and was 10th in the long jump. “Kody Galloway finishing as the State runner-up and you can’t finish your senior year with a much better showing than that,” Snyder said. “It’s too bad he was still in both events and had to pass some jumps with a chance to medal in the long jump.”

In the pole vault, Justin Zosso finished seventh by clearing 15-3, while Peter Fouts was 21st clearing 13-6. “Justin Zosso matching a PR and getting seventh puts him as one of the best in the State with another year to get even better,” Snyder said.

On the track, senior Ryan Cutter finished ninth overall in the 800 and knocked out Tim Bagby’s school record by .3 by finishing in 1:55.07. “Ryan Cutter breaking a school record and getting ninth for a medal is a great finish to his career,” Snyder said.
Cutter also teamed with Austin Palombizio, Manny Orlich and Tyler Rusboldt to finish 10th in the 4x800 Relay.

“I was really excited with the 4x8 running the second fastest time in school history,” Snyder said. “Unfortunately they just missed a State medal. Overall, it was a pretty good day. “They gave everything they had all year and you can’t ask for more than that.”

　

Volta Region Going for Medals

The Volta Region is targeting medals in the long distance race, Taekwan-do and Judo in this year’s National Unity Games scheduled for next month.

“These are our strong areas and we hope to excel in them” Mr Gabriel Missodey, Regional Sports Development Officer said in an interview with GNA Sports at Ho on Monday.

He said the Region was likely to win a number of medals as well in other events at the Games with a little push and commitment.

Mr Missodey said currently, the various Districts were preparing their contingents for the Regional Unity Games scheduled for August 10 to August 14 at Anloga and assured that “best materials” would be selected at the Regional Games to represent the Region at the national event.

He said the Region already has some of the best athletes in the country and only needed some brushing up to do.

“Volta Region is noted for her exploits in athletes and surely, we will be the toast for all at the Games,” Mr Missodey added.

He said the Region needed about 20,345 Ghana citizens to prepare all contingents for the Games and called for support from individuals and corporate institutions to finance the team.

Mr Missodey also appealed to Members of Parliament from the Region to support the contingents with sports equipment and other facilities to improve on their performance.
GNA