Before competing in a four-event relay race with a 12-foot wall to scale at the end, Dominic Janus spent his morning catching geese in Delta.

Pockmarked alleyways and unpainted fences. Vinyl-wrapped houses and weathered wooden decks. Kids running through the neighbourhood, brought together by school and age.

“O Canada” plays during the medal ceremony once a Canadian athlete wins gold at the Olympic and Paralympic games.

As Vancouver rain poured down on a gloomy Saturday morning, I followed the sounds of buck saws and axes into a deep clearing in the forests at the UBC Farm.

With the winter sun shining down on a very familiar pitch, the UBC Thunderbirds took to the field against the McGill Redbirds in a bid to defend their reigning Canadian University Men’s Rugby Championship (CUMRC) title at Thunderbird Stadium on Sunday.