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Raging heat, human catapults and the Disneyland marathon Commentary by Joe Zavala The heat couldn't scare away all the kids. About 50 youngsters showed up Monday evening at the Ashland High track for the fourth and final day of the annual All-Comers Track Meet. The meet is organized and ran by volunteers each Monday of July and features such events as the 50-yard dash, the softball throw and the hugely-popular pole vault over a bungee cord with the help of two human catapults event. I talked to meet director Bob Julian afterward and he said that while the meet was a success, the raging heat did turn off some families. "It's not very fun with this kind of weather we're having right now," Julian said. "It's just killing our attendance. The second week we had this, it was cooler and we had three times as many people. We must have had 150 kids down here, but it's just tough on little kids out here." It's hard on adults too. But even as temperatures soared above100, events went on as scheduled. Julian said next year he may move the start time back an hour to a slightly cooler 6:30 p.m. Despite the heat, the little athletes seemed to be having a blast. Most were between ages 6 and 10, but there was a wide range. The youngest mini-trackster Monday night was a 1-year-old boy, who somehow found the strength in his 6-inch stride to complete the 50-yard dash. Times were kept, and first, second and third-place ribbons were handed out by age group, so most competitors left the track with at least one ribbon. Julian, who estimated the meet was in its 30th year, said that overall, the event went well. "We've had a lot of participation, as you see here," he said, "and we're getting more adults this year � and that's what we've been kind of pushing in the past, too, to have more adults participating in this." o o o Finally, I can relate to those macho, ironman triathletes who run more before 6 a.m. each day than I did between 1994 and 2002. I went to Disneyland recently for quote-unquote vacation. If you're wondering why I'm mentioning a theme park in a sports column you've never gone to Disneyland. Beating the crowds (you can't stop them, you can only hope to contain them) could be a sport unto itself, which is why this time I went prepared. Determined to achieve maximum Disneyland exposure - still legal in California - I brought along a book that provides a step-by-step guide, complete with maps, detailed ride information and exclusive photos of Daisy slapping Donald (Donald's response: "x@$*!&!"). We arrived at the park on day one at 7 a.m., a full hour before the park opens. In the book, arriving early was the first and most important step to conquering Disneyland, but for the most part we abandoned this strategy the rest of the week in favor of sleeping in. That decision pretty much ended any chance we had of avoiding the infamous Disneyland crowd, which is rivaled in sheer numbers only by the crowds at Disney World, Universal Studios Orlando and S�nor Sam's at lunch time. Still, we were able to ride every major attraction at both Disneyland and the new California Adventures, located right next to Disneyland, at least twice. My favorite rides at California Adventures were Maliboomer, California Screaming and Soaring Over California. On Maliboomer, you're launched 200 feet straight up via a high-powered compressed air launch system, then brought back down with virtually all major organs intact, though airborne. All in all, the trip went pretty well. We had fun, nobody got lost and, most importantly, our 7-year-old son left with memories that will last a lifetime (that's three weeks in kid years). o It's nice to see that the new Portland Trail Blazers' management is turning things around. Already, they've gotten rid of those pesky trouble-makers, Scottie Pippen and Antonio Daniels. The good news is, based on summer league play up-and-coming studs Zach Randolph and Qyntel Woods seem to give Portland a good foundation on which to build. Randolph, fresh off a breakout playoff performance, averaged 20.5 points and 8 rebounds per game at the recently completed Rocky Mountain Revue, while Woods averaged a league-high 28 points on 50 percent shooting, 6.5 rebounds and 2 assists. Oh, and it's nice to see the NBA's wrath for the Blazers isn't limited to the regular season. The Bulls' Lonny Baxter took Revue MVP honors over Woods, despite inferior averages of 18.5 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1 assist. Go figure. o Let the countdown begin. The Ashland High fall sports season begins Aug. 29 - exactly four weeks from Friday - with a football game against the Japanese all-stars. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -