Another Nazi Range Closure
R. LaCasse
27 » 2008
Range closure may mean quits for Paralympian
North Van facility only viable choice, he says
North Shore News
CREDIT: NEWS photo Paul McGrath
Paralympic shooter Chris Trifonidis and
Olympian Johan Sauer say they will be out
of luck when North Vancouver's Pacific
Shooters Association range closes in a few
months.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
A longtime Paralympian might be going to
his last summer games this fall if a North
Vancouver shooting facility closes at the end
of the year as planned.
Chris Trifonidis, a four-time Paralympic
target shooter, says he will have to drop out
of international competition if Metro
Vancouver goes through with its promise not
to renew the lease of the Pacific Shooters
Association target range in the Lower
Seymour Conservation Reserve.
Trifonidis, who has been in a wheelchair
since an accident in 1981, has participated
in every Paralympic Games since Barcelona
in 1992. The Beijing Games, which he will
arrive at on Aug. 30, will be his fifth.
"I've always finished in the top eight, but
I've never broken the top three. Hopefully Beijing will be my first time,"
Trifonidis said.
The 100-yard Pacific Shooters Association range has been at its current
location since 1989. In 2006, Metro decided not to renew its lease, leaving
it with nowhere to go.
That will leave Trifonidis with few options. The nearest comparable range is
in Chilliwack, but in the long term, it will not be a viable substitute, he
said.
"I'm 62. I'm not willing to be driving three hours a day, four hours a day
just to train and come back."
There's an indoor facility in New Westminster that Trifonidis attends once a
week, but it is only open to disabled athletes on Thursdays, and it only
allows 10-metre air rifle shooting, rather than the 50 -metre, 22-calibre
rifle practice he gets in North Vancouver.
"The other option is less training," said Trifonidis. But fewer hours on the
range will effectively put him out of contention, he said.
Already, the North Vancouver facility is only allowed to open on the
weekends.
Trifonidis trains there for four hours on Saturday and four more on Sunday,
but he doesn't think that's enough to get on the podium.
"Right now I'm holding my own in the top eight in the world, but that's it.
To succeed, James Weldon and Bethany Lindsay
CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All
rights reserved. you need more than two days a week to train."
And Trifonidis isn't the only athlete affected. He says a woman who used to
share the facility was forced to move to Saskatchewan to get more
target-practice time, and a number of biathletes will also be left out in the
cold.
"Here we are getting the Winter Olympics in 2010. We have about 14 or 15
biathlon kids training (here) for that," he said. "I don't know where they're
going to go."
Trifonidis isn't sure why Metro won't allow the facility to stay.
"(The board) has not given us a good reason why (they) want to shut us down
other than our lease is up at the end of this year."
Shooters have as much right to be there as anyone, he said.
"We (those who use the range) are the only ones paying to be there . . . We
maintain our facility plus we pay our taxes every year, plus we pay a monthly
fee."
But Metro has said that the range is a safety concern for workers at the
nearby Seymour water filtration plant construction site. Representatives have
also claimed that the club doesn't fit in with the conservation and
recreation goals of the conservation area.
The Paralympian doesn't buy the idea that shooting range is a safety issue.
The club has been in operation in various locations since 1960 and has not
had a single accident. Representatives claim that both a provincial firearms
officer and an independent safety consultant have inspected the range and
given its safety measures the thumbs-up.
In fact, closing the range might actually make things worse, said Trifonidis.
"We're trying to get it out to the public that it's safer to have a range
here than let people go out (into the woods) and shoot whatever they want to
shoot," he said.
© North Shore News 2008
Copyright © 2008 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks
Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.
27/08/2008
http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=0ad47f06-0ef4-4fcf-8e66-961c3cfe91...
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R. LaCasse
Get the *.pdf at"
(http://www.pacificshooters.com/Index%20files/NSN%20-%20Aug%202008.pdf)
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