Midget B girls are finalists at Cornwall tournament

If spring alone wasn’t enough of a reason for a bicycle tune-up, the Children’s Treatment Centre’s major annual fundraiser should provide some extra motivation.

The Bike-A-Thon Plus will be back for a sixth year in Dundas county on May 23, with activities in both townships that will raise money for the agency that depends solely on community donations to provide its essential services.

Though headquartered in Cornwall, the Children’s Treatment Centre provides counselling for abused children throughout the United Counties as well as Akwesasne. 

The Centre offers assessment and ongoing treatment to families who have been impacted by sexual, emotional or physical abuse, and also works to prevent these traumas in the first place.

Since its launch in 1996, nearly 2,300 children from over 1,900 families have been cared for by professional psychologist, psychiatrist and counsellors at the Children’s Treatment Centre.

Dundas county alone has made over 215 referrals to the Centre, and for the last few years has also made direct financial contributions to keep its doors open. 

“The Dundas chapter of the Bike-A-Thon Plus – which began in Cornwall three decades ago and has since become the second largest fundraiser for the Centre – has raised between $5,000 and $9,000 for the Centre each year” said Doug Grenkie, a Coordinator of the event.

Both North and South Dundas townships will have events on Saturday, May 23, including a bike and walk.

Participants can begin registering at 10 a.m. at the Lions Pavilion, Winchester Arena or North Dundas High School. Walkers will head out from the high school around noon, with both cyclists and walkers heading to the Chesterville Fairgrounds for a barbecue at 1 p.m.

Those participating in the southern township will start and finish at the Morrisburg Docksyde, which will also be the place for refreshments in the afternoon.

Pledge forms are available in Morrisburg at the law office of Gorrell, Grenkie & Remillard, in Chesterville at the law office of Cass, Grenkie & Remillard and at the Children’s Treatment Centre in Cornwall. Those who raise $30 or more will receive a t-shirt or magnet, as well as draw tickets for every $10 in donations to win various prizes including cash. 

For additional information, contact event coordinators Doug Grenkie in South Dundas at 613-543-2922, or Natasha Hodge in North Dundas at 613-774-3978.

[…]

Wellness, and community involvement are both important issues for SDS Kerr/Beaver Dental and that’s why the early-summer purchase of a Stand Up Paddleboard for the South Dundas Sports Lending Library was a perfect fit.

The week of September 29 to October 3, the plant hosted a week-long Wellness Initiative where employees were given the opportunity to participate in and learn of a variety of activities that promote a healthy, active lifestyle.

To take advantage of the opportunity and make public the Paddleboard donation to the Library, South Dundas Recreation Program Coordinator Ben Macpherson, loaded up the board and transported it to the plant.

MacPherson explained the use of the board. “It is currently one of the fastest growing sports. You can take it out and just lay on it to relax, or you can use it for a good core workout. You can work your legs, core and arms. The river provides a really good workout.”

“We’ve had kids use it as young as 6-7 years, and the paddleboard was borrowed every weekend from the time we got it in mid-June to September. The same as the kayaks. With the success of the paddle board, we are going to purchase a second board.”

“We wanted to do something for the lending library,” said Isabella Farlinger. “I was aware of the stand up paddleboard and thought it would make a good addition to the lending library. We raised some money at a barbecue we held at our open house, and the company topped it up.”

Macpherson explained that the current board, at a cost of just under $800, is “middle of the road to high end in design. There are cheaper paddleboards and more expensive boards. This board is designed to be user friendly because it is wider.”

Stand up paddleboarding originated in Hawaii as an off-shoot of surfing. The paddles used to propel the board are similar to the traditional canoe paddles and used while the paddle boarder is standing on the board.

As part of the Wellness Initiative at the plant a two-day trade fair provided vendors the opportunity to display their products and service.

Attending were Great West Life, Encon, Canadian Cancer Society, Lakeshore Massage, Bayshore Workplace Health and Safety, South Dundas Recreation, Heart and Stroke and Natunola.

The employees sat in on retirement planning sessions, and lunch n’ learn sessions on topics such as healthy eating, how to quit smoking and online education programs offered through St. Lawrence College.

There was also a work day walking challenge.

The South Dundas Recreation display highlighted the many recreational activities available in South Dundas, including the Sports Lending Library.

With the summer now gone, Macpherson explained those seasonal items will now move to the back of the Library shelves and demand will be for snowshoes, cross-country skis and skates. 

All of the equipment needed for each, in addition to helmets, are available in assorted sizes.

[…]

Six games of basketball ushered in the boys basketball season at Seaway last Wednesday, and when the final basket dropped it was the Spartans coming out on top of their four matches.

At the senior level, the Spartans posted victories over Tagwi Warriors, 46-42 and Rothwell-Osnabruck (RO) Lancers, 29-25. 

The Junior Spartans ran away with both of their games, 34-17 over Tagwi and 43-15 over Rothwell-Osnabruck.

The two Seaway teams are coached by Mark Lewis who was pleased with the day’s results considering the Spartans had gone 1-3 in an exhibition tournament a week earlier.

“We do have a lot of work to do, but the guys seem very committed to improving so that is promising,” says Lewis.

In other action, Tagwi picked up wins at the Senior level over RO, 51-46 and at the Junior level over RO, 30-24.

Under this year’s format, the SD&G boys basketball schedules are set up as tri-meets with three schools, at both the senior and junior levels, competing in the one day, six-game events. Each school will compete in three tri-meets, giving each team six game seasons.

Wednesday, the Junior Spartans got it rolling with a 34-17 win over the Tagwi Warriors.

Dillan Sullivan had a big game as he dropped 17 of the Spartans points.  Backing him was Clay Dumoulin with 11 points. Travis Barkley added two baskets and Randy Keller dropped a single.

H. Legue was the top Tagwi shooter with six points.

In their second game, the Spartans turned it up a notch to nab the Lancers for a 43-15 victory.

Again, Dillan Sullivan led the Spartan attack, this time accounting for 18 of their points, before retiring to the bench for the third quarter.

Travis Barkley was good for eight points and Randy Keller added seven. Casey Dean, Cal Bilmer and Griffin Patterson all added to the point total.

C. Bazinet was the top Lancers shooter.

“We are starting three grade 9 students in Griffin Patterson, Randy Keller and Travis Barkley,” says Lewis. “Clay Dumoulin and Dillan Sullivan round out the starting five. We are raw and have lots to learn, but we have been practicing three mornings a week at 6 a.m. and they all seem to make it, so I know their desire to improve is there.”

The Senior Spartans got rolling with a 46-42 win over Tagwi.

AJ Jarvis and Zack Frawley led the Spartans with nine points apiece and Tanner Hummel contributed eight. Answering for Tagwi were Andrew Brambilla and Brett Ouderkirk each with none points.

In game two against Rothwell-Osnabruck, Tanner Hummel put together a 10 point effort in the 29-25 win. AJ Jarvis and Luke Strader added six points each and Devon Miller pocketed four.

Casey Winters answered with eight for the Lancers, Kale Wall had six, and Logan Kennedy five.

“The senior boys are doing extraordinarily well considering only two of them played last year. AJ Jarvis and Zack Frawley played last year in the very shortened season we had and none of the others have played for two years.”

“Again they are working hard and being very keen to improve. It will certainly be a process, but one that hopefully will end up with them developing into solid players and citizens in our community.”

Lewis says the two teams have been working on improving their defensive skills and he was pleased with what he saw Wednesday. “They were able to hold the other teams down and in spite of our offensive struggles, they kept the other teams from scoring too much. The offense will come, but will take a bit longer to gel. We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball as we had far too many turnovers. Better teams will take advantage of this and will hurt us down the road.”

[…]