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Seniors all smiles after impressive medal haul

A large contingent of participants from Nanaimo, Nanoose Bay, Lantzville, Cedar and Gabriola Island attended the B.C. Seniors Games.
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Richard Henderson and Maxine Howse celebrate double medal wins in cribbage competition at the 2012 B.C. Seniors Games in Burnaby.

Nanaimo seniors seemed to be in the medal hunt in every single competition at the B.C. Seniors Games.

A large contingent of participants from Nanaimo, Nanoose Bay, Lantzville, Cedar and Gabriola Island crossed the Strait of Georgia for the Games, held Aug. 21-25.

Complete medal results were not available at press time, but there looked to be several impressive medal hauls. Track and field athletes Barry Sparkes, Sven Donaldson and Joe Giegerich won five medals apiece, as did swimmer Heidi Bromley. Another swimmer, Ian Burvill, won three gold medals. The zone’s men’s soccer team also won gold.

The Vancouver Island North  zone team, as a whole, finished third in the medal count behind teams from the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley.

Games chairwoman Darlene Gering said she thought the week was a hit with seniors.

“We had great feedback from the participants, they thought the Games were superb, very well organized and run ... they had a lot of fun,” she said.

Gering said it was “so inspiring” to see seniors being so active noting she watched an 85-year-old cyclist ride up Burnaby Mountain and “they were just having a great time.”

Here are partial medal results from the Games:

Badminton - Jackson Hirota, bronze, mixed competitive doubles; Noreen Martin, bronze, mixed competitive doubles; Rob Strachan, bronze, mixed competitive doubles; Bill Harney, bronze, recreational doubles; Richard Chahley, bronze, rec doubles, bronze, mixed rec doubles; Marion Drage, bronze, rec doubles; Joan Galey, gold, rec doubles; Gayle Dunsmoor, silver, rec doubles, bronze, mixed rec doubles.

Bocce - Franco Sartor, bronze, singles; Jane Sartor, bronze, pairs; Gino Sindaco, gold, mixed pairs; Margaret Sindaco, gold, mixed pairs.

Bridge - Ruth Rennie, bronze, duplicate master points.

Golf - Billie Chang, gold, gross; Tina Robertson, bronze, net; Bob Russell, bronze, gross; Lesley Hazeldine, silver, gross.

Cribbage - Richard Henderson, gold, F flight pairs, silver, overall; Maxine Howse, gold, F flight pairs, silver, overall.

Hockey - Lyle Dennison, silver; Norm Bohl, silver; Jack Broome, silver; Tom Mullan, silver; Cliff Cookman, silver; Richard Fontaine, silver; Bob Simpson, silver; Paul Sinclair, silver; Bryan Murphy, silver; Andy McNally, gold; Don Campbell, gold; Vince Rowe, gold; Jim Forster, gold; Henry Weibe, gold.

Lawn bowling - Vern Hagstrom, gold, pairs; Keith McMann, gold, pairs.

Pickleball - Debby Morgan, bronze, mixed rec; Stewart McWilliam, bronze, mixed rec; Joanne Oehlanschlaeger, bronze, mixed rec; John Savoy, bronze, mixed rec; Gordon Hay, bronze, mixed rec; Ronnie Pitcher, silver, mixed competitive; Nancy Stern, mixed competitive.

Soccer - Ken Wright, gold; Phil Morgan, gold; Ken Robertson, gold; Bruce Ballam, gold; Barry Murphy, gold; Jasbir Sajan, gold; Andy Dixon, gold; Doug Cowling, gold; Paul Fudge, gold; Adda Besseghieur, gold; Del Challenger, gold; Les McGrath, gold; Ian Andexser, gold; Michael Collery, gold.

Slo-pitch - Gloria Young, silver, mixed; Pauline Davidson, silver, mixed; Ralph Webster, bronze, Gary Peterson, bronze, John Preston, bronze.

Swimming - Layne Osterman, bronze, 50-metre backstroke; Doreen Scantland, bronze, 50m back, gold, 50m breaststroke, silver, 25m back; Kathleen Van Doorn, gold, 50m back, bronze, 800m freestyle, bronze, 100m free; James Scantland, silver, 50m breast, silver, 100m free, gold, 200m individual medley; Heidi Bromley, gold, 50m back, silver, 800m free, bronze, 200m free, gold, 400m free, silver, 100m free; Harry Keen, silver, 400m free, silver, 800m free, bronze, 100m free, gold, 200m free; Allison Elderfield, silver, 200m IM, silver, 50m back, silver, 200m free, gold, 100m free; Ian Burvill, gold, 400m free, gold, 25m butterfly, gold, 50m breast.

Table tennis - Dan Ford, silver, competitive doubles; Wally Lawrence, silver, competitive doubles.

Tennis - Bob McDonald, gold, singles, silver, doubles; Patricia Garton, silver, singles, bronze, mixed doubles; Judith Croome, silver, singles, gold, doubles; Doug Forrest, silver, singles, bronze, mixed doubles; Dave Manhas, gold, doubles; Tarlochan Pawar, gold, doubles; Glenn Barraquias, silver, doubles; Shawn Gessner, gold, doubles; Isabelle Armstrong, gold, doubles; Shirley Craddock, gold, doubles.

Track and field - Barry Sparkes, silver, 100m dash, bronze, 200m, silver, long jump, silver, triple jump, silver, pentathlon; Sven Donaldson, bronze, 100m dash, silver, high jump, bronze, long jump, silver, pole vault, bronze, shot put; Bob Gehm, bronze, 200m; Jess Brewer, gold, triple jump, bronze, 200m; Joe Giegerich, silver, high jump, gold, long jump, silver, triple jump, silver, javelin, gold, pole vault; Eric Kirschner, silver, high jump, bronze, triple jump.

-with files from Wanda Chow