The Last Word: Marauding baboons a worry

Sign up for Alison
Are you angry? I am. Imagine becoming a world champion and then being told your event is in danger of being axed from the Olympics.

Imagine devoting hundreds and hundreds of hours and gallons and gallons of sweat to a dream that may be ripped from your grasp by a bunch of men in suits.

Imagine how Alison Shanks is feeling right now.

Shanks, the queen of Otago sport, is in a state of bizarre limbo as the folks at the UCI, world cycling's governing body, consider sweeping changes to the programme for the 2012 Olympics in London.

In a bid to have "gender equality", the UCI is proposing to bench five endurance races, including the individual pursuit.

That would be catastrophic news for British great Bradley Wiggins, for American star Taylor Phinney and for a delightful blonde-haired Dunedin woman who was a good basketballer and a very good netballer before becoming a superstar on two wheels.

It is time to play your part in showing the UCI that our Alison MUST be allowed to race for gold in the pursuit in London.

The Last Word urges you to visit this website - www.ipetitions.com/petition/keepindividualpursuit - and add your name to the list.

There were more than 3000 signatures last time I looked.

Rowing on The Serg
Queens High School produced Alison Shanks and now the Dunedin school is the proud owner of a new boat.

Not sure if it goes as fast as Shanks. The school launched the latest addition to its collection of rowing vessels last week.

It is named The Serg, after long-time Queens and rowing supporter Sergio Salis.

Queens rowers raised money and got grants from the Alexander McMillan Trust and the Dunedin Casino Trust to buy the boat.

Thinking outside the square
As another ludicrously long rugby season finally nears an end - just two games to go! - the mind wanders to these questions:

1. Why are there 33 players in this All Black touring squad?

2. Why can the Wallabies and the Springboks play midweek games but the All Blacks can't?

3. What exactly is the point of the Barbarians game these days?

Most rugby fans have fond memories of the Barbarians, and New Zealand supporters still talk about the great 1973 game and Gareth Edwards' famous try at Cardiff Arms Park.

But now the fixture seems like just another excuse to squeeze some cash out of an already overextended All Black cash cow.

All the leading All Blacks are dead tired, so the wisdom of making some of them front up next week for a tour-ending game against the Baabaas has to be questioned.

Here is a thought for future tours: pick an All Black team made up of a mixture of under-utilised tourists and European-based players to play the Barbarians.

The game does not have test status, so it is not like you are devaluing the jersey (as if it can possibly mean what it used to, anyway).

A team for next week, assuming fitness and availability, could have been: Ben Smith, Doug Howlett, Sam Tuitupou, Aaron Mauger, Rico Gear, Nick Evans, Byron Kelleher, Xavier Rush, Marty Holah, Craig Newby, Jason Eaton, Anthony Boric, John Afoa, Tom Willis, Clarke Dermody.

King Jimmie
A colleague insisted I offer some sort of tribute to American racing star Jimmie Johnson this week.

Johnson broke new ground in Nascar, the rather strange but hugely popular motorsport series in the United States, by winning a fourth consecutive Sprint Cup title.

I won't pretend I really understand what that means, but those who know four wheels - well, those who know four wheels as seen in places like Talladega and driven by men named Jimmie, Kyle and Dale - believe Johnson is a god.

The year in review
About this time of year, the Otago Daily Times sports department starts to plan its annual year-in-review features.

It has now become a tradition that we look back on the year in Otago sport, followed a week later by a review of the year in international sport.

One of the features of our Otago review is the naming of a "services to sport" recipient.

Previous winners have been Lois Muir and Glenn Turner (2005), Duncan Laing (2006), Fred Strachan (2007) and Dave Gerrard (2008).

Readers are invited to let us know who you think would be a worthy recipient this year.

Flick me an email (see below) with names for consideration.

Monkeying around
A story in The Guardian reports on the latest threat hanging over the 2010 World Cup in South Africa: "Violent crime. Transport chaos. Overpriced hotels. Visitor anxieties about next year's World Cup in South Africa. These could be as nothing compared with a new menace: marauding baboons.

"The light-fingered primates have learned how to open car doors and jump through windows in pursuit of sandwiches and snacks. And experts warn that the hundreds of thousands of fans expected for the 2010 football extravaganza in South Africa will represent rich pickings.

"Officials in Cape Town, the country's top tourist destination, are trying to control the increasingly aggressive animals.

"On Tuesday, a troupe of 29 baboons raided four cars outside Simon's Town, a small coastal neighbourhood.

"A baboon dubbed Fred, the leader of the group, opened unlocked doors and jumped through windows to search for food.

"He went through a bag in the back seat of a red car, as a couple panicked about their passports."

hayden.meikle@odt.co.nz