Champion for Charity Mitch Blaine embraces adrenaline surge of helping local kids hospitals By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — A spectral mist floated into the invigorating alpine air above Alta Lake. Almost seven years ago, the glacier water was frigidly foreboding and enchanting all at once. Mitch Blaine, elbows up and surrounded by hundreds of…
Details
Champion for Charity Faune Lang is a fierce mom-of-four fighting for MacKids and all kids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca BADEN — Five years ago, life unleashed a dizzying combination on Faune Lang. Cervical cancer. Surprise pregnancy. A rare lung condition for her unborn child. Low blow. Jab of joy. Lower blow. But the mother of…
Details
Whatever the MacKids choose — even the Paw Patrol theme — Mitch Wilson will walk out to as a Champion for Charity By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca DUNDAS — The song selection is out of his hands. Or his paws. Mitch Wilson, one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity, will leave it up to the…
Details
Arnold Yescas channels brash Nicaraguan boxer to fight for Champions for Charity and MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Ricardo Mayorga once held up a chicken leg as he chowed down during a Las Vegas weigh-in. “He was a scrapper,” laughed Arnold Yescas — one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 community leaders ready to step…
Details
Eugenia Phelan, Champion for Charity fighter, cherishes a life-long bond with boxing By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca BEAMSVILLE — At 4:30 a.m., the bedside alarm blares with the feral ferocity of a clout to the jaw. Two minutes later, a weary Eugenia Phelan rises. Music? You’ve got to be kidding. “Just a hardcore, in-your-face alarm to…
Details
Cambridge’s Justin Hamilton eager to punch for MacKids, embrace hard knocks headed his way By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — A Rocky vision in tattooed technicolour bursts from between Justin Hamilton’s shoulder blades. Not an Italian Stallion ink splotch of a fictional film fighter, though. The Cambridge-raised Champion for Charity instead wears beautiful body art of the Rocky Mountains…
Details
Paul Bostajian eager to take a bite out his Champions for Charity challenge By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca CAMBRIDGE — There’s a shark circling in the water. Welcome to the predatory jaws of Paul Bostajian’s aquatic nightmare. The self-described “adrenaline junkie” — one of Mandy Bujold’s 20 Champions for Charity taking a first crack at boxing…
Details
Champion for Charity Alicia Panetta eager to fight and fundraise for MacKids By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca WATERLOO — Little Finnigan— fresh from blowing out four candles on his birthday cupcakes— danced around an imaginary ring in front of the Christmas tree. His pink piggy costume only emboldened his nimble footwork. Finnigan — whose middle name…
Details
20 local business leaders are getting ready to step into the ring to raise donations for McMaster Children’s Hospital On November 14 and 15, over 65 brave souls took their first step towards the ring for this year’s Champions for Charity. Our coaches and trainers put them through a grueling hour-long tryout to see if…
Details
Champions for Charity Tryouts Bring 70 Community Leaders to Tryouts By Jeff Hicks www.champsforcharity.ca KITCHENER — Gold ribbons flashed and shone in Stephanie Stretch’s tied-back hair. The Kitchener City Councillor, with every pendulum step forward and back, glittered and glowed among 70 community contenders and first-time fighters hoping to shine in the Tapestry Hall boxing…
Details