There’s always more to the story

As reported in last Wednesday’s edition of the Fort Frances Times, Len Noonan was the top marksman in the annual skeet shoot at the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club, capturing the prestigious Hiram Walker Trophy in the process.
But in talking with Ted Brockie over the past few days, I was reminded of the saying the late great radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey, used during his newscasts when he talked about “The rest of the story.”
Obviously, a big thing from the event was that of the 75-year-old Noonan, who is well-known throughout Fort Frances for taking time to volunteer with hockey during the winter and umpiring during the summer months at the local ball diamonds, who some could say might be improving with age as he took home another title.
In fact, the Hiram Walker Trophy itself has been around for a very long time—first being awarded in 1958 when Les Busby came away with the honours.
Although some may think skeet shooting simply involves a little bit of aiming and firing a gun to knock down a target, I can tell you from my experience at the club earlier this summer that it is anything but easy. One of the biggest things I noticed during my quite unsuccessful attempts at the club was the amount of kick-back from the shotgun when it fired.
It felt at times like the gun was trying to punch me right in the chest.
So I can’t even begin to imagine what defending champ Brad Houghton was going through during the event as he was competing through an injury.
Although he gutted his way through the afternoon, earning much respect from those taking part, Brockie said just watching Houghton go through the kick-back from the gun that “it looked like it darn near killed him.”
While Brockie, himself a three-time champion back in the 1960s, had a pretty solid third-place showing, he also talked about how the other performers did, not just during the championship but all year.
He spoke of how former winner Jeremy McGuire, who finished fourth this time around, had the most rounds of 24s and 25s during the year to earn the Dave Forrester Memorial Trophy for 2011, and about the progression of young Kevin Bone, who earned his first perfect 25 score prior to the championship and also won the R.J. “Bob” Kennedy award for advancement in skeet shooting.
While the sportsmen’s club shooting events may not necessarily have the same number of participants or supporters as hockey games, fishing tournament weigh-ins, or high school sports, the passion those taking part in it have for what they do is easy to come across.
And that’s really the beauty about those who take part in those recreation activities. They do it because they love it.
• • •
A number of area runners made the trek to Thunder Bay on Sunday to participate in the “Miles with the Giant” event, which featured a full marathon, a half-marathon, and a 10K run.
Here is how our local trotters made out:
•Jennifer Cooper (Fort Frances)—397th-Half Marathon-2:37:58;
•Brenda Ferris-Hyatt (Mine Centre)—315th-Half Marathon-2:12:55;
•Donna Hyatt (Devlin)—118th-10K-1:05:32;
•Tarra Malyk (Fort Frances)—158th-10K-1:26:10;
•Cindy McKinnon (Fort Frances)—51st-Marathon-4:34:10;
•Dennis Ogilvie (Emo)—16th-Half Marathon-1:29:23;
•Natasha Shack (Fort Frances)—281st-Half Marathon-2:07:31;
•Norina Sopotiuck (Pinewood)—285th-Half Marathon-2:07:41;
•Jayne Wyder (Fort Frances)—55th-Marathon-4:40:54; and
•John Young (Fort Frances)—62nd-10K-58:11

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