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Great Moscow Circus

September 22, 2009

The circus has come to town.

The Great Moscow Circus has taken over Langley Park in Perth until the 11th of October.

Pauline, James and I headed along on Friday night and I must admit that it was rather spectacular.

Renowned Russian performers, together with special International Guest Acts, transport you through two hours of breathtaking entertainment from the World’s most famous Circus

Performers that will astound you with a thrilling combination of acrobatic artistry, sheer brilliance and daring… when suddenly all seriousness disappears as the hilarious clowning has the audience in stitches!

Not only does the Great Moscow Circus feature sensational death defying acts …The Wheel of Death, but wait! The Grand Finale, A Highly Tuned Spectacular of Daredevil Motorbike’s in the Splitting ‘Globe of Death’ never seen before in Australia.

Some of the illusions they performed were absolutely amazing. It’s one thing to see illusionists on television but to have them a couple of metres in front of you is something else. I’m still scratching my head trying to work out how they did what they did.

Then there were the amazing daredevils on motorbikes and a range of other apparatus. It truly is incredible what the human body can achieve with the right training and skill.

If you’re looking for some fun and quite a few gasps, the Great Moscow Circus is certainly worth a visit.

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The secret revealed

July 14, 2009

by Rodney Olsen

7 Comments

I’ve hinted at it a few times and now I’m ready to say a little more.

Back in February I told you about a sad goodbye. My wife’s sister had just passed away at the age of 41 from cancer.

In the weeks leading up to her death I was throwing an idea around for a bike ride from Perth to Albany. The ride would take my morning radio programme on the road to broadcast from a different town each day. I wanted to give people who had been touched by cancer a chance to tell their story. Whether they’d lost a loved one or survived cancer, I wanted people to have the opportunity to break the silence and let people know that they’ve been through some deep waters. I wanted others who have been touched by cancer to know they’re not alone.

Plans for that ride are now well underway.

As well as giving people opportunity to tell their story we’ll be raising funds for Cancer Council Western Australia.

I have a number of cyclists ready to take part and I’m looking for a few more. Each morning I’ll broadcast my radio programme before hopping onto my bike just after midday to cycle to the next town.

Here’s the itinerary:

Saturday 17th October 2009: Perth to York – 97km

Sunday 18th October 2009: Rest Day

Monday 19th October 2009: York to Pingelly – 87 km

Tuesday 20th October 2009: Pingelly to Wagin – 100 km

Wednesday 21st October 2009: Wagin to Katanning – 55 km

Thursday 22nd October 2009: Katanning to Cranbrook – 80 km

Friday 23rd October 2009: Cranbrook to Albany – 91 km

TOTAL: 510 km

Where to from here?

The task now is to finalise the team of cyclists. I’m hoping that we’ll have around ten to twelve riders. We’ll be followed by support vehicles which will carry all our gear.

If you know anyone in any of the towns along the way who you think would be a good contact, please let me know.

If you’re part of a business that would like to partner with us on the journey, I’m looking for some sponsors for the cycling jerseys. There are different levels of sponsorship for various sized logos on the jerseys.

I also need your story. Have you been touched by cancer? Are you battling cancer now or beaten it in the past? Does a loved one have cancer? Have you lost a friend? If you’d rather not leave your story in the comments section of this post, you can go to my contact page and send me an email.

Sometime soon I’ll let you know how you can donate to Cancer Council Western Australia in support of the ride.

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Can Cadel Still Win?

July 9, 2009

by Rodney Olsen

1 Comment

I’m conflicted. Every fibre of my being wants to see Australia’s Cadel Evans peg back the three minutes he needs to stand in yellow on the podium in Paris but I know that it’s incredibly unlikely.

Being a few seconds outside the time of the leaders is one thing, but being 2:59 down from names like Armstrong and Contodor makes the task almost impossible. Cadel is a great climber but we’ve never seen any evidence that he is good enough to put three minutes or more into the other climbers that stand between him and the yellow jersey.

The wheels came off Cadel’s campaign to win the 2009 Tour de France in the team time trial where his team was well and truly outclassed by the teams of the other favourites.

Thankfully Cadel hasn’t given up on his hopes of winning and if there’s an opportunity to do something spectacular, he’s still in the right frame of mind to take advantage of whatever situation might arise.

I’ve never been in this position at the Tour de France ahead of the mountains stages, so we’ll see what happens, but I’m feeling good. The Tour is not over for me yet.

So to the question, can Cadel Evans still win the 2009 Tour de France, I’d have to answer it’s not a big possiblity, but there’s still a flickering flame of hope, and I’ll be cheering him on whatever position he’s in when the peleton reaches the streets of Paris.

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Inspiration

June 29, 2009

by Rodney Olsen

3 Comments

I’ve done my fair share of long distance cycling and I’ve often said that I want to keep cycling as long as I possibly can. One of the things I’ve said that I’d love to do is cycle around Australia once I retire. I’m not sure that Pauline will be willing to follow me around in her car as support on the road but I can dream.

Aussie cyclist, Jack Griffin, is a fairly good example to look to if I need some inspiration.

Acording to ABC News, Jack is getting ready to cycle the 1 680 kilometre distance from Brisbane to Cairns. That’s over 90 kilometres a day. At 85 years of age Jack has around 40 years head start on me. You can read the full details of the story by clicking here.

He says he will be setting a record for being the oldest person to complete such a feat.

“People say ‘why are you doing this at 85?’ and I say ‘well I can’t do it when I’m dead, can I?’,” he told ABC News Online.

And he has even forked out $11,000 on the same bike Lance Armstrong owns to do the journey.

“What else am I going to spend my money on?” he laughed.

Jack should know what he’s up against with the ride. This is not his first long distance event.

But this isn’t Jack’s first long trek; the first time he rode around Australia, in 1985, he was 61 and it took him 100 days.

But Jack couldn’t get enough. The father of two, who was a hairdresser in the Air Force for more than three decades, did the same ride again in 1992 and then again in 1996, he got the ride down to 80 days.

In 1999, the International Year of Older Persons, he rode from Tweed Heads to Canberra – 1,034 kilometres in eight days – and had dinner with then prime minister John Howard.

As I’ve mentioned here before, I’ve cycled across Australia five times as well as taking on several rides in Western Australia, riding twice in India and once in Canada. I’m also organising a fund raising ride for October this year, but more about that later.

The difference is that I’m still a relatively young man. (At least I like to think that I am.)

I wonder how much cycling I’ll be doing when I reach 85 ….. or even if I’ll reach 85.

I guess it’s not just the fact that Jack is cycling long distances at the age of 85, it’s the fact that he’s still out there living life to the full. I’ve known too many people less than half Jack’s age who’ve already given up on living a full life.

Whatever threatens to hold you down, it’s time to use jack as inspiration and fully embrace life. You may not be able to ride the sort of distance that Jack does, but make yourself a promise to meet life and its challenges head on then get out and take advantage of every moment God gives you.

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Nick Marvin talks about Perth Wildcats

May 20, 2009

by Rodney Olsen

3 Comments

A lot has been said in the media recently about the survival of the NBL, Australia’s premier basketball competition. A restructuring of the league had several clubs opting out which threatened to cause the whole competition to collapse. In a country where basketball isn’t high on the sporting ladder, it’s important to make sure that the game grabs the attention of Aussie sports lovers.

Things have started to turn around over the past few weeks but in the middle of the confusion came rumours that the Perth Wildcats could be facing extinction. Thankfully that’s not the case but they are seeking extra corporate sponsors to sure up their future. The Perth Wildcats is the most successful professional sporting team in Perth, Western Australia with 4 national championships and 20 consecutive finals appearances over the last 25 years.

The developments and progress towards the 2009/10 NBL competition is progressing well. Whilst the Wildcats have outlined some key criteria for participating, we are very committed to playing this season.

However, as we seek to build a sustainable club, we can not rely solely on the generosity of our owner and chairman Jack Bendat.

The Wildcats do more than play basketball. We pride ourselves on our community engagement at schools, hospitals, juvenile detention centres and work in remote and regional communities.

Whilst we seek sponsorship for the high-profile activities on game night, we also want WA companies to sponsor our community work.

Over the last week, I have witnessed first-hand the great support we have across our state and the vacuum our absence would leave.

I hope what we do is important enough for Western Australians to get behind us in a real and meaningful way through corporate sponsorship. – Nick Marvin – CEO Perth Wildcats

Yesterday during my morning programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM I spoke to the Chief Executive Officer of the Perth Wildcats, Nick Marvin, who outlined where the competition is heading and spoke about the future of the Perth Wildcats.

One of the most impressive aspects of the Wildcats is the culture that is evident in the team members and support staff. In a time when we continue to hear about the bad behaviour of sports people both on and especially off the field, it’s extremely refreshing to hear about the values that drive Perth’s premier basketball team.

If you’d like to hear what Nick had to say about basketball, Perth Wildcats and the responsibility of modern sports people, just click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

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Tag - Australia