NED HICKSON , SPORTS EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3523 ❘
SPORTS @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ JULY 20, 2016 ❘
SECTION B
Siuslaw News
Sports & Recreation
S ANDS
S PORTS
OF TIME
Calendar
U PCOMING
EVENTS
Aug. 5-8
• SIUSLAW FOOTBALL
CAMP
3
TO
5 P . M .
SHS
AT
Aug. 6
• COOL AT COAST
R OTARY G OLF
10 A . M .
O CEAN D UNES
Aug. 19
• SHS HALL OF FAME
I NDUCTION
CEREMONY
5:30 P . M .
T HREE R IVERS
C ASINO R ESORT
AT
PHOTOS BY NED HICKSON/SIUSLAW NEWS
T IDE T ABLE
Clockwise from far left: Sandboarders watch for the signal to begin racing runs; Jackson Cruz sets a new Honeyman State Park course speed record
in the sand drag to win the event at 33.5 mph; Sand Master Park owner Lon Beale uses a radar gun to record sand drag speed; competitors (back
to front) Gabe Cruz, Matt Carter and Rolland Cox survey the slalom course. Cox won the event with a new course record of 5.19 seconds.
Entrance Siuslaw River
High Tide
July 20
12:24am / 7.5
1:50pm / 6.1
Low Tide
7:21am / -1.2
7:17pm / 2.1
R ECORD
B Y N ED H ICKSON
Siuslaw News
July 21
1:05am/ 7.5
2:27pm/ 6.4
7:21am/ -1.3
8:01pm/ 1.9
July 22
1:48am / 7.4
3:05pm / 6.6
8:36am / -1.2
8:48pm / 1.7
July 23
2:34am/ 7.0
3:45pm/ 6.7
9:15am/ -0.9
9:40pm/ 1.5
July 24
3:24pm / 6.6
4:27pm/ 6.9
9:56am / -0.4
10:36pm/ 1.3
July 25
4:21am / 6.0
5:13pm/ 7.0
10:41am / 0.2
11:40am/ 1.1
July 26
5:28am / 5.5
6:04pm/ 7.2
Despite light rains the night before
that can slow down sandboarding
times, the 20th annual Sand Master
Jam saw record-breaking times in
both events during Saturday’s compe-
tition at Honeyman State Park.
“The blistering speed run by
Jackson Cruz in the sand drag
dropped our jaws,” said Lon Beale,
owner of Sand Master Park and cre-
ator of the Sand Master Jam, the
longest-running sandboarding compe-
tition in the world. “All the sand-
boarders were riding well, so the
competition was very close across the
board.”
A total of 11 competitors climbed
BREAKING ON THE DUNES
Florence resident Abby Watkins
races toward the radar gun in her
first round of amateur competition.
the dunes Saturday in both pro and
amateur division events for sand drag
and slalom. Both are speed events,
with sand draggers timed by radar
and slalom competitors clocked with
a stop watch.
“We had a few less riders this year,
but the action more than made up for
it,” said Beale.
In the sand drags, riders begin at
the top of the dune and race to the
bottom in an attempt to capture the
fastest speed. They get three runs
each and Gabe Cruz had the fastest
time at 31 mph, until his younger
brother, Jackson, showed up a few
minutes late and clocked the day’s
best time with a new record at 33.5
mph.
“Jackson is generally on the slower
end of the spectrum,” said Beale. “So
our eyes opened wide when we saw
his time.”
The competition then moved on to
the slalom event, with riders once
again climbing the dune face and rac-
ing down slalom-style to reach the
bottom in the least amount of time.
Again, the sand proved to be per-
fect for a record-setting performance,
this time by 31-year-old Rolland
Cox. His time of 5.19 seconds is the
fastest time for that event at the
Honeyman course.
See
Cyclists leave for next leg of 4,000-mile journey
11:31am / 0.9
S IUSLAW
N EWS
148 Maple St.
Florence
541-997-3441
Students from the University of
Texas make an annual ride of 4,000
miles from Austin, Texas, to
Anchorage, Alaska, to raise money for
cancer treatment and research. It is the
longest charity bike ride in the world.
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in
Florence has hosted, fed and arranged
overnight housing for the group for the
past 10 years.
Many of the riders have experienced
personal, excruciating, cancer events in
their lives, as some revealed during
emotional dinner July 15 at St.
Andrew’s.
Dozens of Florence residents opened
their homes and hearts to provide
overnight lodging.
St. Andrew’s provided a large turkey
dinner the night of the group’s arrival,
as well as a filling breakfast before the
Cyclists of the “Texas 4000”
depart Florence July 16 on their
way north.
morning of July 16.
“No, we are not doing this for them,
they are doing this great adventure for
us, and for the world,” said organizer
Terri Pennington, in her 10th year of
managing this event at St. Andrew’s.
So far, this year’s riders have raised
$485,000 in the fight against cancer.
The rider unit that visited Florence has
been meandering back and forth, going
through Arizona, Utah and Nevada,
climbing to as high as 9,000 feet on
their bikes into Lake Tahoe, through
fabled Yosemite, and finally to the
Coast Highway into Oregon.
After their night in Florence, the
group continued along the coast to
!!!
g
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Cell: 541.999.0786
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On the
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WEEKLY
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MID COAST LAKES:
COURTESY PHOTO
Newport, with a stop at Sea Lion Caves
— Then on to Alaska.
See
Rainbow trout stocking
is complete along the mid
coast. Holdover trout will
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CYCLISTS 4B
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FISHING 4B
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