Cdn-Firearms Digest Thursday, July 24 2008 Volume 11 : Number 795 In this issue: City policeman wins gold at Can-Am Police-Fire Games Is he or isn't he? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:18:45 -0400 From: "Breitkreuz, Garry - Assistant 2" Subject: City policeman wins gold at Can-Am Police-Fire Games PUBLICATION: The Lethbridge Herald DATE: 2008.07.24 SECTION: Thursday PAGE: a3 BYLINE: Keith, Pamela WORD COUNT: 559 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Setting his sights on the worlds - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- City policeman wins gold at Can-Am Police-Fire Games; preparing for the 2009 World Police and Fire Games. With his trusty firearm at his side, Donald Realini cleared his head to focus on the task at hand. At the sound of the buzzer, he exited his patrol car, pulled out his firearm and shot at a number of targets with his shotgun before making a transition to a handgun to take aim at several more targets. His foot movements are swift and his mind racing as he moves from target to target and quickly reloads his gun. It's a test of time, accuracy and speed as he makes his way through the course. In less than two minutes, it was all over for Realini, who claimed his first gold medal in pistol shooting at the Can-Am Police-Fire Games recently in Saskatoon. It was a win he wasn't expecting and is still savouring. "I was kind of intimidated. I didn't know what to expect, so it felt pretty good to win," said Realini, an officer with the Lethbridge Regional Police Service. "As a competitor, you always go in with the mind you are going to win but it doesn't always happen." Realini described the police and fire games like a mini Olympic event with more than 60 events ranging from swimming, wrestling and track and field to other events that are job specific to firefighting and law enforcement. About 30 competitors from throughout Canada and the U.S. took part in the pistol shooting events, where they put their speed and accuracy to the test. For Realini, the event was the largest in terms of international events he has ever attended and was a good opportunity as to what he can expect when he goes to the 2009 World Police and Fire Games in Vancouver. Although he is a police officer by day, patrolling the city's core as part of the downtown beat unit, Realini doesn't put away his gun when it's time to punch out for the night. In fact, there's a good chance you will find him fine-tuning his shooting skills at the Fish and Game Range in Peenaquim Park several times a week. The sport of practical shooting intrigued Realini during his high school years in New Brunswick, then took off in university where he got into rifle shooting. His shooting skills earned him a spot on the Open Gold Team at his university, where he also took an interest in handgun shooting - something he has been actively competing in ever since his days as a student. Coming off a gold-medal finish at the Can-Am Police-Fire Games, Realini is hoping to improve on his 20th-place finish from last year for the upcoming International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) National Championships in Lethbridge July 31-Aug. 4. Whether he medals or not, doesn't matter. It's his love of the sport that keeps him coming back for more. "It's easy to shoot fast and it's easy to shoot accurately, but to combine both elements is much more challenging," said Realini. "You rehearse in your mind what you want to accomplish and then you just have to trust your instincts and skills. If you try and think your way through it, then you end up making some pretty big errors." The Can-Am Police-Fire Games promotes physical fitness and camaraderie between law enforcement and fire service personnel. The games started as the Northwest Police-Fire Games in 1977 when officials from two state police and fire games (Washington and Oregon), and a police-fire sports group from Western Canada formed an organization that organized and conducted multi-sport event for police officers and firefighters on an annual basis. http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/article_11461.php ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:20:37 -0700 From: "Willy Floyd" Subject: Is he or isn't he? I still do not know whether to back Garry B. or not. I suppose I will ask him a direct question. But keep in mind that of this date Garry has 14 years, 9 months of Parliamentary service which will give him a nice pension if he choses to stand on principle, maybe even be a sacrificial lamb to Harper's nasty fox. That would do a lot to inflame the cowardly gun owners because they would then become aware of what we have long suspected.....the CPC will confiscate your guns just as fast as the Strangler would have. The eternal sceptic, Willy Floyd "Stop Crime - Re-arm the Innocent.." ------------------------------ End of Cdn-Firearms Digest V11 #795 *********************************** Submissions: mailto:cdn-firearms-digest@scorpion.bogend.ca Mailing List Commands: mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca Moderator's e-mail address: mailto:drg.jordan@sasktel.net List owner: mailto:owner-cdn-firearms@scorpion.bogend.ca FAQ list: http://www.canfirearms/Skeeter/Faq/cfd-faq1.html Web Site: http://www.canfirearms.ca CFDigest Archives: http://www.canfirearms.ca/archives To unsubscribe from _all_ the lists, put the next four lines in a message and mailto:majordomo@scorpion.bogend.ca unsubscribe cdn-firearms-digest unsubscribe cdn-firearms-chat unsubscribe cdn-firearms end (To subscribe, use "subscribe" instead of "unsubscribe".)