Posts tagged sports
Going down the road with Longboat

The superstar Onondaga runner trained hard at the Dovercourt Y in the dramatic leadup to his Boston Marathon victory.

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The Greatest West End Athlete

We asked sports aficionados to name their favourite of all time. Here, we present their winning pick and what they had to say about 24 notable runners-up.

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Punching Tomorrow

At a boxing gym in the Junction Triangle, a free program is teaching young people from underserved communities how to cope with the challenges life throws at them.

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Shooting Three

This year, the Toronto Raptors teamed up with Room Up Front, a grassroots group that connects early-career BIPOC photojournalists with mentors. They gave WEP a sneak peek at the work Norma Ibarra, Lucy Lu and Adetona Omokanye have been producing at Raptors and Raptors 905 games, documenting the action.

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THE CURLING WARS

A backyard battle has been brewing between the High Park Club and Algonquin Avenue residents who claim the private curling facility needs to be a better neighbour – raising questions about how much we’re owed by the businesses who operate among us.

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HOME ICE

Dave Bidini writes about his favourite rink, McCormick Arena, a place that glows with life, wonder and city history, its lobby lights swishing out to the street.

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WINGING IT: PLAYING BASEBALL WITH PAUL & LINDA

The next day, I showed up ready to play ball. It was a lazy, fun game under the warm California sun. Bands and their crews were on each team. and it felt like family, everyone cheering each other on.

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BIGGIN' UP THE BLACK JAYS

Perry King talks to WEP photo director Jalani Morgan about a series that’s close to his heart: celebrating “Black folks participating in a sport that I love”.

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IT'S OKAY TO TAKE UP SPACE AT THE SKATE PARK

Once a stronghold for straight dudes, the skateboarding scene is finally opening up to queer riders. Four skaters talk about how they made inroads and found a loving community along the way.

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THE YEAR I QUIT BASEBALL

It was 1995. A sheep was born in a petri dish. A bright comet was streaking through the sky. And, in pre-internet Toronto, something even more remarkable was happening: The High Park Little League team was headed to the World Series. Poet David James Brock remembers what the world felt like in that moment.

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16 STORIES FOR 16 SWEATERS

Charles Molgat – everyone calls him Chuck – is the sartorial MVP of rec hockey, known across the city for his remarkable sweater designs. Here, he takes us through some of the favourite sweaters he’s made and acquired during a lifetime spent appreciating what we wear when we skate.

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LIVE, TONIGHT: GEORGE CHUVALO!

Once a week, Mitch Chuvalo takes his dad, the five-time Canadian heavyweight champ, to the Pegasus, an unassuming Junction bar in a strip mall, to sing the oldies he loves and to take their best stab at remembering when.

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SQUAD GOALS

In 1985, three women started a lesbian soccer league, called Pink Turf, to have a safe place to play. Over the years, the league and the community that grew around it became about a lot more than the game. Here, they talk about the difference a queer club makes.

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Top 27 West End Athletes of All Time

Over the past hundred years, our catchment has produced athletes luminous in our imagination. There are skaters, runners, swimmers, grapplers. There are scullers, scrappers and riders. You could debate this list and its order forever. But, more than a ranking, we hope it’s a discovery, a reminder of the great athletes who walked – and swam, fought and jumped – among us.

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MAD HOCKEY LOVE

The 2017/18 Maple Leafs possess the most gifted collection of young players in the club’s 100-plus-year history. Whether they can kick at the darkness and turn their promise into a long-awaited Stanley Cup is something only the spring gods can know.

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GOOD SPORTS: JODI MCCUTCHEON, CURLING CHAMP

Burrowing into a quiet residential street just a few hundreds yards north of the Gardiner Expressway, and insulated from the din of rush hour by trees older than the city sits one of the West End’s crown jewels, the High Park Club. Here I catch up with the skip from High Park, who has just returned from leading her rink to bronze at the Travelers Nationals.

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GOOD SPORTS: NANCY WELLS, WORLD-RANKED MARATHONER

One of the world’s top septuagenarian marathon runners has lived on Brunswick Avenue for 30 years, though she had to leave Toronto to find her place.

That’s because, in her age category, at 71, Nancy Wells must race internationally to find a peer.

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GOOD SPORTS: AMANDA FENECH, ZAMBONI OPERATOR

Amanda Fenech knows the sight of a woman driving a Zamboni still draws attention. The 33-year-old single mother of two has fielded her fair share of questioning looks and outspoken concerns. But, as one of four full-time maintenance workers at George Bell Arena, she’s learned to take the skepticism in stride.

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