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Team Type 1: cycling for a
cure in the Tour of California
For the first time last month, Team Type 1
competed in Amgen’s Tour of California. This
groundbreaking team included two members,
Phil Southerland and Fabio Calabria, with
Type 1 diabetes.
The event known as “America’s largest and
most prestigious cycling event,” is a 750-mile
cycling road race that began on 14 February
in Sacramento, California and ended on 22
February in Rancho Bernardo.
Both men were able to compete thanks to
a device which wirelessly and automatically
monitors blood glucose levels and administers
insulin when needed.
“Our goal is to show the world that people
with diabetes can do everything those
without diabetes can.” said Calabria.
Team Type 1 was created in 2004 by Phil
Southerland and Joe Eldridge, a pair of avid
cyclists with Type 1 diabetes. In 2006 and
2007, the pair captained Team Type 1 to
back-to-back victories in the eight-person
team division of the Race Across America
(RAAM). In 2008, the team grew to become
a 15-rider Continental team that included
four riders with Type 1 diabetes. In their
inaugural pro season, Team Type 1 (pictured
below) compiled 45 victories.
Ice hockey fights down
for the count
Feature
Fighting in the sport of ice hockey is
back under the microscope following
a tragic death in Canada.
Don Sanderson, a 21-year-old,
player in Canada’s Ontario Hockey
Association (OHA) died as a result of
his unprotected head hitting the ice
after a fight.
In a similar incident, an American
Hockey League player suffered a
seizure.
In both cases, the players’ helmets
had been dislodged in the course
fights.
The OHA has responded by adopting
a helmet/chinstrap policy for next
season. Any player who removes his
helmet or detaches his chinstrap will
receive a two-game suspension as
well as a game misconduct. Repeat
offenders will find that each offense
will mean a longer suspension.
Officials in the National Hockey
League (NHL) are also reviewing
all aspects of the issue. NHL
commissioner Gary Bettman told a
group of reporters prior to this year’s
All-Star Game that the NHL will
“have to take a good, hard look at
is what I described to the board is,
for lack of a better term, the rules
of engagement, how a fight gets
initiated, what happens with chin
straps and helmets, what happens
with takedowns.”
The equipment, particularly helmets,
is also under scrutiny.
Head coach Kevin McClelland, always
known as an enforcer during his days
in the NHL, didn’t seem to have a
problem with keeping his helmet on
— at least not during the opening
stages of a fight.
“When I played, we didn’t have the
(facial) visors, so when I went in I
didn’t have to take the helmet off,”
he said. “Most of the times at the end
my helmet was off … but we kept the
buckets on.”
Unfortunately, with many players
using visors, fighting with the
helmet on has become all the more
uncommon.
Despite
changes
to
rules,
punishments and equipment, there
will always members of the wider
hockey community who believe
fighting is essential to the game.
These people feel the sport will lose
a wide fan base if fighting were
abolished.
Weightlifting with a difference
A bizarre new way to motivate yourself to
improve your fitness has been introduced
by a gym in London which has replaced its
dumbbells with human weights - including
dwarves who shout encouragement to
motivate exercise.
Gymbox at Bank - in the centre of the
capital’s financial district – has introduced
a fitness regime using human weights
ranging from 155kg to a 30kg female. The
human dumbbells wear black leotards with
their weights printed across their chests
and sit on adapted machines to let the
weightlifter visualise what they are lifting.
Gymbox owner Richard Hilton said it
wasn’t a gimmick but rather about having a
human weightlifting device as the “ultimate
embodiment of visualisation theory”.
“Creating a mental image or intention of
what you want to happen or feel is proven
to improve physical and psychological
performance,” Mr Hilton said.
“We’re optimistic our members will
see better results with our new human
weight machine.”
The gym boss said the troupe would also
shout encouragement.
The gym has also been offering classes
called “’chav fighting” and “WAG
workouts” designed to make women
more attractive to footballers.
Insurance Fraud “more
acceptable” to Brits
More than 1.4 million Britons think
committing insurance fraud is more
acceptable now than 12 months ago
because of the global economic crisis,
according to a survey by RSA. The survey
indicated that 4.7 million Britons do not
consider that making a false claim is
wrong.
2008 2009
4.7 million
3.3 million
Insurance Fraud Acceptable?
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