Into the wild blue yonder… – The Journal

Medina Journal-Register — ALBION — Almost 50 planes descended upon Orleans County over the weekend, and every one of them could have fit in the trunk of almost any car.

The first-ever Pine Hill Jet Rally, hosted by the Pine Hill Raiders at Pine Hill Airport brought in model airplane enthusiasts from Canada, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, and other out-of-state places. 

While small when compared to other rallies, the event put its 2,700-foot runway to use often on Saturday and Sunday. Had the wind not been as strong as it was there might had been even more flying, but the spectators appeared impressed, nonetheless.

One of the event coordinators, Bob Engle of Rochester, said the Pine Hill Raiders all jumped on board with the idea of having a rally when he and another member suggested it.

“We’re right in a corridor here between Buffalo and Rochester,” he explained, noting how the next-closest rally takes place in Albany. “This is a great facility, with a long runway. Some jets really need that.”

Engle said any model airplane rally must be at least a few miles away from commercial airspace. He also said the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) and the FAA, among other agencies, sanctioned the event. In addition to that, Engle said, “We’re also using real jet fuel, and ever since 9-11 the paperwork to acquire that is tripled.” 

Engle said flying for most model airplane hobbyists is “an addiction” that in the summer can be fed seven days a week.

“Most of us, if we’re not working, we either building a plane or a helicopter and flying it,” he said.

For Engle, finding a hobby was truly a labor of love.

“I was eight years old and I asked my mom for a plane and was told no,” he said. “So at eight I mowed enough lawns, shoveled enough driveways, and made my $120 to buy a model airplane.

“It took all summer,” he recalled.

This past weekend’s event featured about 20 pilots. Many of them, according to Engle, spend anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 a year on their planes, with the most serious among them spending possibly over $100,000.

Plane prices can range anywhere from a couple hundred dollar to over $20,000, he said. As for model jet rallies, some in Florida can bring 10s of 1,000s of spectators. The model planes do many of the same tricks and stunts as life-size planes in other air shows, and thanks to the jet fuel they sound strikingly similar (if not as loud).

“Really, these are just miniature versions of the real thing,” Engle said.

Ann Laforte, who was taking pictures for the rally, said she knew Engle from Rochester and grew to share in his obsession. She also noted the model air community was an extremely close-knit bunch.

Mike Bank, a founding member of the Pine Hill Raiders and a local resident, said creating the club originally was done to bring activity to the airport. He said 16 members are currently part of the group, but there is room for a couple more.

He said flying a model airplane “is more fun than you think because it’s a challenge” since a remote pilot is on his or her own, a bit like golf. He said he learned to fly with a “buddy box” which involves one student flying the plane and an instructor holding a remote also tuned to the plane, just in case, sort of like a Driver’s Education car with an instructor’s brake pedal.

Bank said next Sunday’s 50th Annual Pine Hill Pancake Breakfast will also feature flying, but of the real thing housed in the airport hangar. Pancakes are all-you-can-eat. Admission for adults is $7 and children under 12 are $4. 

The breakfast is a full-fledged event, with plane rides, a bake sale, parachuting, and more model airplaning.

For more information, call 589-7758.

6th annual Michigan Pond Hockey Classic tournament kicks off

WHITMORE LAKE, Mich. –

The 6th annual Michigan Pond Hockey Classic officially kicked on Friday and will feature a weekend of nonstop 4-on-4 hockey action.

Taking place in Whitmore Lake at Mac’s Marina, the games, taking place on manicured 75′ by 150′ rinks, will be 30 minutes long, with no off-sides, no icing calls and no goalies. The tournament consists of six divisions for all skill levels.

According to event coordinators, this tournament is the largest 4-on-4 pond hockey tournament in Lower Michigan and continues to grow.

Thousands of players and spectators are expected to attend the games and the festival-like atmosphere. The competition began Friday night with the semi-finals and finals Sunday afternoon.

The weekend will feature fireworks, heated entertainment tents, a live band, concessions, raffles, family activities and a skills competition on Saturday.

New to the tournament this year, the MPHC said it has forged a partnership with Red Bull to host the only U.S. qualifier for the Red Bull Open Ice International World Pond Hockey tournament.

MPHC says the winner of the Red Bull division will receive a trip to Helsinki, Finland, courtesy of Red Bull, to compete against the European champion for the title.

Additionally, MPHC is the primary fundraising event for the Michigan Pond Hockey Sports Charities, a non-profit organization that supports families in need of financial assistance for their children to participate in youth athletic programs.

Click here to learn more about the event.

Almost-Annual New York State Crappie Derby postponed on Whitney Point …

The following is a press release:

The 2013 running of the Almost-Annual New York State Crappie Derby is being postponed to February 9, 2013 due to the mild winter experienced so far. The event was originally scheduled for January 26, 2013.

According to the event’s coordinators: “We are hopeful this will allow sufficient time for safe ice to form. We will be monitoring weather conditions and forecasts/projects over the next couple of weeks to track ice growth progress. Should it become obvious that sufficient ice is not likely to occur, a cancellation notice with be published.”

If sufficiently cold weather returns however, the Feb. 9 date will be confirmed in a subsequent release.

The Derby is a family- oriented event. There are usually far more spectators than registered contestants. Prize categories, such as Door Prizes, exist for those not successful in catching fish.

There is something for everyone: an excellent fishing lake, prizes for fish along with Door Prizes, a midway with a number of exhibits, refreshments and port-a-johns on the ice. Some of the organizations participating will be the Ross Park Zoo (with some live animals or birds), Finch Hollow Nature Center with educational displays and the National Weather Service (with a real-time digital weather station) along with other features.

For updates, check out the event’s website.

Skiiers making splash at competition at Imperial Lakes

There was plenty of splashing and fun in the first day of the two-day world class competitive water skiing event, the Imperial Lakes Skiers Choice Record, at the Imperial Lakes on Saturday.

Competition will continue today and event coordinators are hoping to get more spectators.

“Not as many as we anticipated, however, we did have a large group of spectators,” said Jim DeVito, Imperial Lakes Home Owners Association president of Saturday’s turnout.

The event features competition in slalom, trick and jump.

“It’s been really well, possible have a couple records broken,” said Skit Wintter, 25, an Indio native and competitor in the slalom but was at Saturday’s event as a helper since he’s on the injured list.

DeVito pointed out all of the athletes’ contribution, not just competing, but by helping any way possible.

“This is a sport where the athletes also participate in the running of the tournament,” he said. “All the competitors, in some way or another, are volunteers as well, driving, keeping score, driving boats … this is all the things that this group does together.”

The weather has also been a role, allowing competition to be at its best.

“The people who are here from all over the world are loving it,” DeVito said.

The event has competitors from England, Peru, Canada and Mexico.

The competition will continue today, starting at 8 a.m. and going on for hours. Spectators are welcome to attend.

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Match of the Week: Ilfracombe beat Bideford in Devon Women’s Football League

AS THE crow flies, the London Olympics kicked off less than 50 miles from Ilfracombe.

Two days before the opening ceremony, Team GB beat New Zealand 1-0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

1. ​

   STRENGTH IN DEPTH: Bideford’s Devon League squad. Ref: BNMS20120930D-002_C

Women’s football was on the front page of national newspapers as well as the back.

Six days later, 70,000 spectators poured into Wembley to see the host nation top their group with another 1-0 win, this time over Brazil. Front-page news and pictures again.

The women’s game in Britain was enjoying unprecedented popularity and, it was said, the Olympics was sure to stimulate interest at every level.

Nearly three months later, try telling that to Ilfracombe Town.

Remarkably, Ilfracombe are top of the Westward Developments Devon Women’s League first division. Remarkably, because they are desperately short of players.

With a determination that spoke volumes for the commitment of those who turned out on Sunday, Ilfracombe defeated Bideford 2-1.

In a match between the division’s last two unbeaten teams, Ilfracombe were able to name only one substitute, while Bideford had five.

Bideford say they have enjoyed an Olympic bounce, but ask Ilfracombe manager Barbara Tarrant if the Games boosted interest in her club and her reply is an emphatic: “No, it didn’t.”

And ask winning goalscorer Keeley Coates if she thinks her team can stay top of the division, she is no less definite. “No, we need more signings,” she said.

Ilfracombe have ten points from four games – it would have been 12 had they not drawn from 3-0 up against Barnstaple FC the week before – in marked contrast to the same stage last season when they were bottom.

And here is another remarkable thing. Their manager knew nothing about football – never managed, never played, never coached, never really watched the game – until she took over midway through last season.

Yet by the end of the campaign they had climbed to a comfortable mid-table position and look at them now.

So how did Tarrant get the job? “My daughter is the goalkeeper and I know most of the girls,” she said.

She was attending a match for only the second time in her life – the first had been an earlier Ilfracombe game – when the question came.

“It wasn’t going well and they asked me if I would do it,” said Tarrant.

“I said, ‘I don’t know anything about football’. But they were so downhearted, I have just picked them up and given them positivity.

“I don’t believe in negativity and these girls are doing better now than they ever have.

“It’s partly me and it’s partly them because we all gel. We just need more players.”

Sunday’s game was five minutes old before she turned up at Marlborough Park, having started work at 7.15am with a scheduled finish time of 2.30pm.

“I work as a care assistant at Burrow House residential home and sometimes I can’t get out dead on half past two,” said Tarrant.

She was in good time for Ilfracombe’s first goal, which came on 25 minutes when Sophie Jones headed a Hannah Dibble corner into her own net.

Two minutes later, Coates beat the offside trap for a clinical finish from 15 yards.

Coates might have scored six but was denied by her own profligate finishing and solid goalkeeping by Louise Pontin.

However, to Coates’s great credit, most of her chances were of her own making.

Rare among women at this level, she is confident with both feet and used her strength and panache to cut through the visiting defence.

Coates, 18, scored 14 goals in a struggling Budleigh Bicton team last season but signed for Ilfracombe after moving to live with the Tarrant family.

So now four of the Ilfracombe set-up are living under one roof. Barbara’s husband, Kevin, is the team coach.

As Bideford came on strong in the second half, Tracey Cross and Bethany Ellis put chances wide but, after Pontin had pushed a shot from Amy Terry on to the bar to prevent the visitors from going further behind, Cross pulled one back.

Her 20-yard shot should have saved by goalkeeper Kizzy Tarrant, leading to a nervous last seven minutes for Ilfracombe.

If Bideford perhaps deserved an equaliser, such an outcome would have been rough for Ilfracombe’s excellent central-defensive paring of Emma Jones and Emma Millman.

While a sizeable portion of the Ilfracombe set-up lives at one address, you would need an hotel to get the Bideford squad under one roof.

For coach Mark Lewis it is the classic Premier League manager’s problem. He is spoilt for choice.

“Last year, when I took over, we had a full squad but we didn’t have two players for each position,” said Lewis.

“This year we have the luxury of players for each position and more.

“It makes selection very difficult but it keeps them on their toes.”

Sam Jenkins, the captain, said: “We have a record number of players at the moment. We have got at least 20 turning up for training every week.”

Jenkins said the club has enjoyed a post-Olympic boost, while the league’s representative on the county FA, Lee Hayward, said London 2012 has provided a qualified benefit.

“The answer would have to be yes but I am not sure it has had an immediate ringing effect,” said Hayward.

“I think it is going to be a slow burner in that now we have got into an English season we are going to see more people attached to clubs.

“Whether they are going to be of a level of skill to be of use, I don’t know, but it is always good to have more people coming through.

“We are in a rural environment and I imagine the clubs in London, Manchester, Birmingham and the big urban areas are going to do a lot better.”

Jenkins said: “I don’t know about other teams but we have got more people come back to football since the Olympics.

“Another difference is that we have three local teams in the division this year and that means more people coming to watch.”

Hot Shots Attracts Thousands Of Spectators

By

Eugene Buenaventura.

Published Monday, August 27th, 2012

Hot Shots Tournament

Thousands of people gathered in downtown Yakima this weekend for a basketball tournament that drew players from around the Northwest.

About 13,000 people attended the the Hot Shots 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament.

The event featured about 1,800 players split into teams of 3 and sorted into age brackets.

Event planners are still tallying the total amount of money made from the event, which will go towards funding future sporting events.
   

Fans gather in Great Falls for Downpour Festival

For the past seven years Great Falls churches have brought dozens of bands to the Electric City to light up fans with Christian rock.

This year’s Downpour Festival featured more widely known bands like Switchfoot and Thousand Foot Krutch, which brought even more people to Great Falls.

Event coordinators said this year’s crowd numbers have already matched last year’s biggest nights.

They said the concerts are a crowd pleaser and reach an audience that goes beyond Great Falls and even Montana limits.

“We’ve been doing this for seven years and I think there are only two states in the country that we haven’t accounted for,” said event coordinator Kevin Bray. “And we’ve accounted for five of seven provinces in Canada. And then I know we’ve had people up here from Mexico so this truly has become an international event.”

Bray said for the first year of Downpour, they were hoping to get more spectators than volunteers.

Now he said bands contact him to try and get their name on the list of performers.

Bray said the growing popularity of this event is gratifying for him and other community members who work to put on the festival and reach as many people as possible.

Montrose Music Festival ducks for cover

Montrose Music Festival ducks for cover

Kalena Scherben, left, Scott Berry and Joe Scherben of Social Behavior perform Saturday during the Montrose Musicians Festival at the Elks Lodge. (Will Hearst/Daily Press)

Posted: Sunday, July 15, 2012 3:00 am
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Updated: 8:23 pm, Sat Jul 14, 2012.

Montrose Music Festival ducks for cover

By Will Hearst

Daily Press Staff Writer

Montrose Daily Press

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0 comments

The Montrose Music Festival was scheduled Saturday for the expansive lawn behind the Elks Club on Hillcrest Drive. Event coordinators were looking forward to staging their event at the outdoor venue, which provided spectators a view of the San Juan Mountains and shade from a large tree.

But by mid-afternoon, they were also thankful the Elks Lodge was only steps away.

“We started outside, but when the second rain storm came, we decided it was time to head in,” promoter Dave Bowman said. “Thankfully, we have a great sound guy, and there is an excellent sound system inside the Elks, so it worked out.”

—

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Sunday, July 15, 2012 3:00 am.

TicketLeap Introduces Seating Chart Design Tools For Ambitious Event Planners

Sure there are services to sell tickets to arenas and event spaces (not to mention parties and the like) but thus far there hasn’t been a good way to allow customers to pick their seats. TicketLeap, a ticketing website, has solved that problem.

Wedding planners don’t get too excited yet: the system is mostly for folks who run bigger event spaces like halls and arenas. You can lay out your space using TicketLeap’s browser-based tools and add various features like bathrooms, Wi-Fi points, and handicapped access spots.

I’ve seen a few startups in this space, including one promising one that actually allows you to create seating charts for parties and smaller events, but this is an interesting start, especially in the stagnant world of event ticketing.

Seats can be color-coded according to price and all layouts are stored in the cloud for future use. Definitely handy for organizing the spectators at your next game at the old ōllamaliztli court.

Kalamazoo Marathon organizers refining event, adding ‘hoopla’ to half marathon – Kalamazoo Gazette

Gazette fileRunners head south on the Kalamazoo Mall Sunday morning. Both the half marathon and the marathon passed through downtown Kalamazoo. Marathon director Blaine Lam said refinements for this year’s event include adding excitement to half marathon.KALAMAZOO – By mid-April last year, Blaine Lam was probably sleep-deprived and noticing a few extra hairs on his head turning gray.

Lam, the Kalamazoo Marathon race director, put countless hours into planning for the first-time event that turned out to be a bigger success than he imagined.

On Tuesday, Lam sat just a bit reclined in the chair of his office on East Kalamazoo Avenue shortly after gladly signing for a shipment of heat blankets for competitors’ post-race recovery.

He said he’s much more confident heading into the May 6 event after establishing a blueprint from the first marathon last year.

However, he was quick to admit improvements are needed and added “hoopla” is a must to make the event an annual success with racers and spectators.

“We think that’s why this year is so important,” Lam said of keeping the interest high after the excitement of marathon No. 1 came and passed. “If we keep investing in runner support and excitement, that will be our calling card and we will compete very favorably with places like Bayshore (Marathon in Traverse City) where you’re running and all of a sudden you look around and you think, ‘Where is everybody.’

“On our website, next to Chicago, runners said this is where they felt the most supported. We like to have that ‘show off your town’ feel like Chicago, only this isn’t Chicago, but there is something pretty nice about here.”

Kalamazoo Marathon

When: May 4-6

Events: Marathon, Half-Marathon, 5K Run, 5K Walk, Motivational Mile (free), Fun Run (free)

Fees: Today — $85, $50, $30, $20; Sunday through May 2 — $100, $60, $35, $25; No race day registration

Contact: 269-345-1913 or info@borgessrun.com

Registration/information: www.thekalamazoomarathon.com

Three new marathons will be run in Michigan this spring. Lansing will host a marathon event on Sunday. Midland will host a qualifier marathon and half marathon on May 19-20 and Ann Arbor has a marathon event planned for June 17.

Lam said Kalamazoo’s coordinators are focused on refining their event and investing in runner support as all three new marathons are “very worthy competitors” to Kalamazoo.

In focusing on what makes the Kalamazoo marathon special, Lam said he and co-event coordinators realized their signature race was not their biggest race.

“People are learning about our half marathon,” said Lam, who noted that some participants who originally signed up for the marathon have switched to the half. “When they finished last year, I was anxious to hear what people had to say. When the marathoners came in, they said, ‘That was exciting. It was hard, but it was exciting.’

“When the half marathoners came in, they said, ‘That was hard, but it was beautiful.’ That’s part of the reason we’re putting more excitement on the back end, so the half marathoners can see more of the hoopla.”

The numbers support their thinking.

Around 2,300 people ran the half marathon last year and Lam said on Tuesday there are already over 2,000 competitors signed up for this year’s race. Over 1,100 people ran the full 26.2 miles last year and there are less than 700 signed up for this year.

Lam said there are plans to increase spectator support and entertainment from Portage Street, where half-marathoners join up with marathon runners, until the end of the race.

He said the details are still being finalized for those improvements, which should also give marathoners an extra kick when late-race fatigue sets in.

“We suspect marathon numbers will be down,” Lam said. “Three new races and a lot of people just wanting to run our first, how much they’ll be down we’re not sure.

“We expect all the other races to be up, so the net effect should be up. They talked about the glory days of this run when there were four or five thousand people running this race. I think it’s safe to say these are the glory days of this event. It wasn’t that many years ago we talked about getting this thing back up to 3,000 people. It could have only been three or four years ago we were saying, ‘Let’s try to get more than 1,000 people in the half marathon.’”

Click Here For Complete Kalamazoo Marathon Coverage

Email David Drew at ddrew1@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/Drew_on_WMU