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Island judo athletes helped sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ win a record number of medals at the recent Canadian championships in Richmond.

Island judokas brought home seven medals, including a Masters division gold by Victoria’s Wayne Unger in the male 55-59-year-old, under-100 kilograms class.

Josh van Meurs of Victoria earned a silver medal in the U-21 men’s 73-kilogram class. As did Nanaimo’s Braxton Clark in the U-18 Cadet men’s 81-kilogram class. Haley Henry of Campbell River went on to win bronze in the U-15 Cadet girls 52-kilogram class. Also winning silver was Victoria’s Kevin Hamer in the male over-50, 80-kilogram class, while Hamer’s clubmates Les Sylven earned bronze in the male over-50, 81-kilogram class, and Jeremy Grant bronze in the 45-49-year-old 81-kilogram class.

Victoria drivers right on track

Victoria driver Josh Reaume has all but locked up a spot in next month’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race in Iowa.

Reaume needed to finish at least 25th at last weekend’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway in Newton and he did just that, driving his Chevrolet to a 25th-place finish in the American Ethanol 200.

Meanwhile, Victoria’s Bill Okell raced to fourth- and third-place finishes at last weekend’s GTU Series races at Mission’s River’s Edge Raceway Park. Okell, behind the wheel of his MGB, now sits in third place in the overall points race with six of the 10 races complete.

Lightning make some noise

Lightning struck the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Under-12 girls softball championship last weekend in Maple Ridge.

The Langford Lightning A team, coached by Pat Guiney, won the bronze medal at the tournament. In the playoff round, the Lightning beat the Victoria devils and the North Delta Heat, before losing a close battle to the Heat in the semifinals to earn the bronze.

Marty has eyes on mascot title

While the Victoria Royals players are hard at work doing their summer training programs, the team’s mascot is in the middle of a competition himself.

Marty the Marmot is in the running for Favourite Mascot of the Year. The online competition — hosted by MascotInsider.com — wraps up Friday. Fans can go to the website and vote for mascots in different categories. Marty is in the Favourite Not Listed category, which includes Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger and Disney’s Mickey Mouse. Other categories include NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL and College. Following fan voting tomorrow, the winners of each category will then go head-to-head in voting for Mascot of the Year.

Marty has been recognized for more than just his work for the Western Hockey League club. Marty helps raise funds for charitable causes such as the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Cancer Foundation and sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Lions Easter Seals.