Local athlete gets invite to China meet

By Meg Olson

After only one year on the Blaine Borderite track team, Rhyan Lopez has attracted enough attention that he’s been invited to represent the state in an international track meet.

On the recommendation of track coach Mike Grambo, Lopez was asked to join other student athletes from Washington on a trip to compete in the Hong Kong International Invitational Track Meet and explore Honk Kong and Guangdong, China during the first ten days in July, 2002.

“Each summer top athletes in Asia travel to Honk Kong for competition,” said Jim Zatloukal, director of Washington Cultural Exchange which organizes the trip with the USA Track and Field Association. “We’ve incorporated the meet into our program’s trip to China.”

Lopez and his teammates will compete against athletes from China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan in the under-20 youth division. They will also participate in a smaller meet at the Guangdong Institute of Sport and Physical Education.

Two team members are chosen for each sport and Lopez will compete in the 100 meter-sprint if he makes the Hong Kong meet. “It’s one of those full out races,” he said. “You have to have a good start, hit a good stride and finish strong. It’s 100 percent the whole time.” Last year Lopez didn’t make the state final in the 100 meter but he did as a member of the 4x4 relay team, and they won. Track season starts next week and Lopez will be running for Blaine in the 100 meter and the 4x4 again, maybe adding the 200-meter and the 4x1 relay as well.

Lopez joined the track team after an accident damaged vision in one eye, limiting his ability to play baseball. “I talked to my football coach who said, since I was one of the fastest guys on the team, why not try track. Football’s always been my favorite sport. You need to be fast, focussed and strong. I’m finding with track it’s the same.”

The trip will be about more than running for Lopez – it will be his first time to visiting another culture, his first time on an airplane. “Everything will be out of the ordinary,” he said. “Part of the excitement is going to a place where you don’t know what’s going to happen, what it’s going to be like.” He looks forward to learning about Chinese culture, and even picking up some Cantonese.

Zatloukal said the program is designed to be as much of a cultural exchange as it is a sporting event. Off the track, program participants will see the sites and learn local traditions and history. “We won’t just compete in the meet,” Zatloukal said. “We’ll see Victoria Park, the floating fishing village at Aberdeen Bay – It’s a cultural exchange with an emphasis on education.” In Guandong, formerly Canton, they’ll visit temples, ancient pagodas and the Sun Yat Sen memorial. Zatloukal said the trip will also try and show participants the daily lives of people in a different culture, with visits to host families and trips to markets.

In preparation for the Borderite track season and the meet in Hong Kong, Lopez works out at the Civic Stadium sportsplex in Bellingham four times a week, lifting weights and working with sprint coaches.

He’ll have another hurdle to overcome to make it to China. The cost of the trip is $3,000 for airfare, hotels, meals, uniforms, tours, visas and entry fees. Meanwhile, he’s also been offered a spot on a U.S. team going to compete in Australia later in the summer, which would cost another $3,000.

“I’ve been writing letters to businesses in Point Roberts, Blaine, hoping to get sponsorships,” he said. Lopez tragically lost one of his biggest boosters when his father Rick died suddenly last month. “He was pretty much more excited about this than I was,” he said. “He said I was going to go for sure.”
Donations to help Lopez fund the trip to China, and perhaps beyond, can be sent to 1877 Washington Drive in Point Roberts or made at the local branch of Sterling Bank...

BACK TO TOP