Half of the dynamic duo!! |
Victoria teenage lacrosse star, Paul Gait, is said to have wrapped up an MVP performance at the 1985 Minto Cup national championships by stating that he and twin brother Gary's goals were to win the Minto and Mann cups and the NCAA field lacrosse title. The Gaits, virtually inseparable from the time they picked up tiny sticks playing backyard lacrosse to the point they joined the senior box ranks, won all three and more in their careers, chalking up no less than a dozen national or international titles.
Seen by some observers as the playmaking half of the duo, Paul scored his share of goals as well. His career highlights included scoring an incredible 29 goals and 29 assists in six games for the Esquimalt Legion to take MVP honours in the 1987 Minto Cup, and notching the winning goal to get Syracuse University into the 1988 NCAA final, which they won.
After college graduation, the brothers went their separate ways in the game, joining different senior teams and professional squads. They would rejoin each other in springtime to play for the Victoria Seasprays field team, with whom they won two national crowns.
Paul and Gary enjoyed a fitting homecoming in 1999, however, joining forces again with the senior Victoria Shamrocks. Not only did they win the Mann Cup on their home floor at Memorial Arena, the pair were named co-MVPs of the tournament.
It is most fitting that they enter the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame as individuals, yet together.
The astonishing Peter Reid. |
A talented athlete who gravitated to triathlon in his late teens, Peter Reid first tested the competitive waters in 1989. He experienced limited success initially, but after he teamed with coach Roch Frey in 1994, things really started to come together for the Montreal native.
In the mid-90s he moved to Victoria to train year-round in the mild climate. His first win came in 1996 at the Wildflower triathlon in California, but the long-distance races were his real passion. That year he tackled Ironman Hawaii in Kona - the world championships - and turned heads with a fifth-place finish.
He improved to fourth in 1997, the same year he won the first of three straight Australian Ironman titles. He struggled with health issues the following year and expected to compete in his final world championship. He was re-energized after reading a training article written by six-time world champion Mark Allen, and meeting the man, Reid won his first of three world titles by more than seven minutes that fall.
His rebound earned him his first of four Triathlete Magazine triathlete of the year awards and Canada's male athlete of the year honours.
One of the sport's top runners, he challenged annually at Kona. He won with a gutsy, come-from-behind effort in 2000, and bounced back from two injury-plagued seasons with his final win in 2003 at age 34.
Upon retiring from active competition in 2006, Reid had amassed seven top-three finishes at the Ironman worlds, two Ironman Canada crowns and a place as this country's greatest male triathlete.
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