June 22, 2009
Did you know....Riding a bicycle 20 miles at 15 miles per hour is equal to running 5.6 miles at any speed.
International Rugby Match: Ballymena RFC vs Cowichan RFC
On June 27, 2009, come down to Piggie Park to watch an International Rugby Match between Cowichan RFC versus Ballymena (Northern Ireland).
The day starts off at 1:00pm with a curtain raiser game between the Vancouver Island Crimson Tide Under 20 team vs the Fraser Valley Venom U-20 team. At 2:30pm we'll see the Senior Piggies take on a top level side from Northern Ireland, Ballymena.
Ballymena (est. 1887) last visited Cowichan some 20 odd years ago when the locals pulled off the upset and won the day. No doubt the Irish Boys will be looking to avenge that day.
The Ballymena Rugby tourists will be staying with local rugby families and in the Cowichan Valley for four full days. Much of their time will be spent seeing the sights and training at the club. Below is an itinerary of their stay in Duncan.
Wednesday, June 24th:
8:30pm: Cowichan Rugby Club bar open. 8:45pm.: Ballymena arrive via rugby bus @ Cowichan Rugby Club. Small social. Host pick up.
Thursday, June 25th:
8:30am: Host drop off @ Cowichan Rugby Club. Team training. Bus to lunch and Bunjy jumping. Bus back to club for silly buggers. Dinner to follow @ the club. Host pickup @ club
Friday, June 26th:
8:30am: Host drop off @ Cowichan Rugby Club. Team training. Bus to Transfer Beach, Ladysmith for lunch/kayaking. Bus to Brigantine Inn Neighborhood Pub, Maple Bay for 5pm social. Dinner @ pub or @ host.
Saturday, June 27th:
Game day. Junior Tide kickoff: 1pm. Ballymena vs. Cowichan: 2:30pm. Social to follow.
Sunday, June 28th:
9:00 am: Host drop off @ Cowichan Rugby Club. Bye Bye Ballymena
TRAINING
Don't forget to show up for Thursday training in preparation for the Ballymena game. 7pm at the club!
GROUNDS PROJECT
Will probably commence fairly soon. The Committee met with the contractor to discuss the plan of attack and everything looks good to move forward as soon as some small loose ends have been tied up.
We'll start with surveying the property and shooting some grades to ensure we get the maximum flow from the extensive underground infrastructure we will be either replacing or creating anew.
Then we'll move to the heavy equipment stage where a local contractor will start with the removal of all the brush from the south and east property lines. This will give us a better idea of what's in there from a planning perspective.
The next step will be to lay 400 meters of 12" pipe in the open ditches and replacement of the old, rusted out galvanized piping that runs through the parking area and in behind where the stands are now located. This will include tying all the existing open 4" field drains to the upgraded system.
While this is moving ahead we are in consultation with the Municipality to ensure proper permitting etc. is complete for the new foundation that will be constructed for the grandstands. If everything goes well, we would hope to move the stands sometime this summer which will allow us to recover and get grass growing in the large area along the west fence. The plan is to have the grass in by October which would give it 1 year to mature and grow a root system. If everything works out we could be playing on two fields by the Sept. 2010 season!
EXECUTIVE NEWS
-Sherry Spence, Michelle Moore, Kristy Martin and Carolyn Gudmundseth, all Executive members, attended a BCRU hosted workshop on Women's Rugby last Saturday in Vancouver.
-Paul Grantham and John James attended the BCRU AGM last Sunday at the Richmond Olympic Oval. The biggest contenscious issue is the length of the season. Mainland clubs wanted to have league play and finals finished near the end of May. They have now indicated that May 15th will be their target. Some VIRU clubs want to finish on May 8th. It is believed the BCRU Directors will resolve to end the season on May 15th. Cowichan RFC, although a VIRU member, has long established that the further we can play into the warm weather the better. There's been a lot of "Hair on Fire" over this issue.
-The Executive voted to purchase a "Sand Spreader" at a cost of $4500.00. This will pay dividends within 18 months as the rental costs of having an outside contractor coming to lay sand on the field has become cost prohibitive. The machine came from a golf course on the mainland, is 5 years old and would cost $35,000.00 to purchase new.
-New President of the BCRU is Blake Lewis. Blake really has no club affiliation and has a strong referee background. (He reffed the 2nd Div. BC Final game at our club in 1998. We won that and the Premiership that year) Blake is a strong advocate of Youth Rugby. The BCRU Head office now has 5 employees (Jeff Sauve is the CEO, Alex Cameron, Erin Connolly-Reed, Dave Brown and Louise Wheeler are staffers)
OTHER TIDBITS
-Matt Evans gets another start for Canada this Sunday down in Denver. He will be on the Wing this game vs Argentina.
-Aaron Carpenter starts at #8 Sunday and has been given the Captaincy of Canada for this game.
-Doug Wooldridge will come off the bench this weekend and expects he will get in the game.
-Wayne Peace Memorial Game will be hosted by Cowichan this year. It will be in this fall's pre-season agenda. Date yet to be fixed.
Website Design by connemara