The Athabasca Rotary Club is inviting the community to the Sportsman’s Dinner at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex on April 27.
The club has hosted a number of such dinners in recent years, each of them featuring a special guest speaker. Sporting legends like Gordie Howe, George Chuvalo and Mike “Pinball” Clemons have attended the events in the past.
The special guests for this year’s event are Mark Tewksbury and Debbie Muir. Tewksbury is a world-class swimmer who won the gold medal in the 100-metre backstroke at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, and Muir is recognized as an incredibly successful coach.
Muir was a key component in Tewksbury’s preparations for the Barcelona Games, when he shaved a second off his time in six months (a remarkable feat) to surge past his competitors for the gold.
He will bring his Olympic experience to the 2012 London Games as the chef du mission for Team Canada. But first, he and Muir will share some of their keys to success with Athabascans.
They speak as a tandem and have written a book together; ‘The Great Traits of Champions: Fundamentals for Achievers, Leaders and Legacy Leavers’.
“We’ve had some amazing speakers come into the community. They’ve all brought different things, (and) when they come they really have great stories,” said the Rotary Club’s Brad Sakowich. “From what I’ve seen we probably have the best speaker (this year) we’ve had so far.”
Club president Rob Balay is also eagerly awaiting the opportunity to hear the pair speak.
“They speak on leadership, both corporate and community, and how to be a leader in your community, in the workplace and at home,” he said. “They’re supposed to be fantastic speakers. It’s going to be awesome.”
The Club doesn’t hold the dinner every year, but when they do it is always a popular event. It is also one of the Rotary Club’s key fundraising events, which allows them to provide for many of the community’s needs. For example, they recently installed a handy lift at the Athabasca Landing Pool at a cost of $8,000.
Tickets for the event will be $100. They can be purchased from Noel Major at Servus Credit Union and Gerry Kiselyk at Sun Life Financial.
