This year’s B.C. 55-Plus Games are in the books, so that means the next time the B.C. 55-Plus Games are held, it will be in Nanaimo.
For this year’s games, held Sept. 10-14 in Salmon Arm, the Vancouver Island North team sent a sizable contingent and the athletes showed will, finishing sixth in the medal standings with 47 golds, 30 silvers and 20 bronzes.
Athletes from Nanaimo, Lantzville, Nanoose Bay, Gabriola Island and Cassidy were among the contributors, earning gold, medals in archery, golf, mountain biking, pickleball, slo-pitch, soccer, swimming, tennis and triathlon.
Diane Murphy, president of the B.C. Senior Games Society, said organizers, volunteers and everyone else involved “knocked it out of the park” in preparing and putting on the games.
“All the venues were excellent, from the pool to the lawn bowling to the ball diamonds, the ice rinks we used in Chase and Sicamous, carpet bowling in Enderby – they utilized other local towns and it was just great,” she said.
Approximately 2,700 athletes participated in this year’s Games, and 1,075 volunteers helped in some capacity over the four days.
The 2025 B.C. 55-Plus Games will be held Sept. 9-13 in Nanaimo.
Results from this year’s games include:
Archery - Bob O’Brien, gold, target-barebow.
Darts - Derek Carter, bronze, singles.
Golf - Billie Chang, silver; Janis Uvanile, gold.
Hockey - Lorraine Anderson, bronze; Tracy Hurley, bronze; Jody Lennox, bronze; Sue Maltby, bronze.
Mountain biking - Vicki Adamson, gold, team relay, bronze, cross country short course; Roberta Carr, bronze, cross country long course; Tim Johnson, silver, cross country long course, gold, team relay.
Pickleball - Caron Knight, gold, doubles; Andre Smith, gold, singles, silver, doubles.
Slo-pitch - Shelley Cantelon, gold; Murray Carver, bronze; Bryce Hleucka, bronze; Judy Mitchell, gold; Marie Morton, bronze; Gary Peterson, bronze; Lynn Scarsbrook, gold; Kevin Shires, bronze; Gerald Siemens, bronze; Nancy Stern, gold; Susan Toth, gold; Susan Whittaker, bronze; Gloria Young, bronze.
Soccer - Doug Cowling, gold; Sandy Dick, gold; Paul Ellison, silver; Tony Fitterer, silver; David LaCharite, silver; Scott MacLean, gold; John Marley, silver; Wayne McConnie, gold; Les McGrath, gold; Debby McNeil, gold; Matthew Moore, silver; Barry Murphy, gold; Glen Murphy, gold; Patrick Ng, silver; Annette Noble, gold; Alan Parker, gold; David Powell, silver; Ron Reynolds, gold; Bob Smiley, silver; Jack Stephens, gold; Keith Watson, silver; Lesley White, gold.
Swimming - Karlene Clapham, gold, 100m backstroke, gold, 100m breaststroke, gold, 100m freestyle, gold, 200m freestyle, gold, 100m individual medley, gold, 200m IM, gold, 4x25m medley relay, gold, 4x25m freestyle relay; Philip De Ridder, bronze, 25m freestyle, bronze, 400m freestyle, silver, 800m freestyle, gold, 4x50m freestyle relay; Nancy Ryan, silver, 25m backstroke, silver, 50m backstroke, silver, 100m backstroke, silver, 50m freestyle, silver, 100m freestyle, gold, 200m freestyle, gold, 4x25m medley relay, gold, 4x25m freestyle relay; Joanne Van Oosten, bronze, 25m backstroke, silver, 50m backstroke, bronze, 25m breaststroke, silver, 50m breaststroke, gold, 25m freestyle, gold, 50m freestyle, gold, 4x25m medley relay, gold, 4x25m freestyle relay, gold, mixed 4x50m freestyle relay.
Tennis - Elaine Johnston, gold, doubles, silver, singles.
Triathlon - Patricia Good, silver, sprint triathlon; Paul Shrubshall, bronze, sprint triathlon; Tony Sweet, gold, sprint triathlon.
