For the first week of the Games, I was a roving photographer at the cycling events. This was fun, with full freedom to wander most anywhere, taking photos. If you want to see more than I've presented here, click on photos on the left tabs at www.cpei.ca and select Canada Games.
On Thursday last week I arrived at the cycling venue late. It was my own fault. I had been scraping the outside of the house in preparation for painting. After scraping, I decided to stick around and caulk the gaps, so the latex could dry before I began painting on another day. I don't really like scraping, but by the time I had the ladders, sand paper, scrapers, caulking, etc., assembled and ready for action, I got into a groove and wanted to finish a serious portion of the house trim. We had not had enough dry days in the entire summer prior to last week to consider painting wood. As a result, I arrived in Summerside about five minutes after the barriers had been put up, closing the main street for five hours of racing. I had to hop a barrier and walk the route for the last kilometer or so. I was annoyed with myself.
David Sims, on assignmentAs I walked along, I spotted a roofing nail sticking up. I picked this up, thinking I probably saved some hapless rider a mishap. Continuing on, I found some shards of glass, then some metal fragments pounded by countless tires into sharp edges. By the time I had completed the kilometer walk, my left hand held nails, tacks, glass and metal shards, and one bent finishing nail that was sharpened at both ends by the exposure to car tires. I'm not big on destiny-type beliefs but I was not so annoyed with myself anymore. I was ready for duty with half an hour to go until race time.
The highlight of the photography assignment was riding on the backs of motorcycles, taking photos at about 46 kph. The cyclists were amazing. About a dozen young Canadians are within the top 100 world-class amateur cyclists, one rung down from Tour de France, Giro, etc. The field of talent was highly variable. Athletes from Yukon, N&L and PEI didn't really have a chance next to the highly organized teams from BC, Ontario and Quebec. Overall, Quebec cleaned up in cycling, with Nova Scotia and Ontario claiming individual gold medals. The Nova Scotian was one of those rare talents that rose to the top despite inadequate coaching and team work to help him along.
The second week of Canada Games is ongoing. I'm signed up for four 4-hour shifts as a security person at the athletes' villages. I sit at a doorway, and make certain anyone getting in has a pass. This job has its potential for helping people out with the challenges of finding venues and contacts on campus, but compared to last week, this is dull work.
