Local B.C. Seniors Games athletes reached great heights – many of them all the way to the top of the podium.
The Vancouver Island North zone team placed fourth out of 12 zones at the Games, held Aug. 20-24 at Kamloops.
“It was just an outstanding Games…” said Charlie Bruce, president of the organizing committee.
“What surprised me is that we had a core group of 1,300 volunteers but, little did I know, there were volunteers coming from outside the Kamloops area, from as far away as Nanaimo.”
Athletes who travelled that far made sure their trip was worthwhile.
The Mid Island Masters dragon boat team, for example, won gold both in the women’s race and the mixed loop race.
Joan Irwin, team captain, said the paddlers found a little extra with the gold medal on the line.
“When our coach called the finish, we just surged, and that’s what won the race for us,” she said.
She said the victory was a “tremendous boost” for her team, and some additional excitement during an enjoyable week at the Seniors Games.
“It’s probably the best one I’ve ever been to,” she said. “It was very well organized, all the events that we participated in were very well run.”
Results include:
Archery - Michael Poole, gold, long target, silver, long 3D; Rose Houle, gold, recurve target, gold, recurve 3D.
Badminton - Cheryle Sosnowski, bronze, mixed competitive doubles, bronze, rec doubles, Tom Lewis, gold, rec singles, gold, rec doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles; Jackson Hirota, gold, rec singles, silver, rec doubles; Mary Mark, gold, rec singles, bronze, mixed competitive doubles; Rob Carruthers, bronze, mixed competitive doubles, silver, competitive doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles; Rob Strachan, silver, competitive doubles; Joan Galey, silver, mixed competitive doubles, bronze, competitive doubles; Bill Harney, gold, rec doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles; Richard Chahley, silver, rec doubles; Marion Drage, gold, rec doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles; Gayle Dunsmoor, gold, rec doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles; Noreen Martin, gold, mixed rec doubles.
Bridge - Miriam Peacock, silver, social flight B; Doug Peacock, silver, social flight B.
Cycling - Derek Steel, silver, competitive time trial, silver, competitive hill climb.
Dragonboat - Jacinthe Brouard, gold, gold, mixed loop; Diana Priestley, gold, gold, mixed loop; Audrey Strauss, gold, gold, mixed loop; Arlene Witham, gold, gold, mixed loop; Joyce Elmore, gold, gold, mixed loop; Laurie MacDonald, gold, gold, mixed loop; Lesley Heavey, gold, gold, mixed loop; Joan Irwin, gold, gold, mixed loop; John Corlett, gold, mixed loop; Garry Heiman, gold, mixed loop; Don Irwin, gold, mixed loop; Robert MacDonald, gold, mixed loop; Jim Pierce, gold, mixed loop; Bill Turner, gold, mixed loop; Gordon Witham, gold, mixed loop.
Golf - Tina Robertson, gold; Marge Bibby, bronze, low gross A.
Hockey - Norm Bohl, gold; Tom Mullan, gold; Vince Rowe, gold; Bob Simpson, gold; Paul Sinclair, gold; Chuck Hewitt, gold; Ken Lamont, gold; Henry Wiebe, gold; Harvey Thien, gold; Vic Osis, gold.
Pickleball - Nancy Stern, gold, doubles, silver, mixed doubles; Karen Peniuk, bronze, doubles, bronze, mixed doubles; Brenda Stewart, bronze, doubles; Piet Komen, silver, mixed doubles.
Slo-pitch - Jim Bolton, gold; Ed Coutu, gold; Doug Eamer, gold; Vic Wiebe, gold; Gloria Young, gold; Pauline Davidson, gold; Susan Toth, gold.
Soccer - Glen Murphy, bronze; Jasbir Sajan, bronze; Doug Cowling, bronze; Glen Kirkpatrick, bronze; Adda Besseghieur, bronze; Les McGrath, bronze; Barry Murphy, bronze; Will Brown, bronze; Wayne McConnie, bronze; Donald Attic, bronze; Paul Fudge, silver; Michael Collery, silver; Ken Robertson, silver; David Peffers, silver.
Swimming - Ian Burvill, gold, 4x25m freestyle relay, bronze, 4x50m mixed free relay, gold, 400m free, silver, 100m breaststroke, gold, 25m butterfly, gold, 50m breast, gold, 50m butterfly, gold, 200m individual medley; Nancy Ryan, gold, 50m backstroke, bronze, 400m free, gold, 100m free, silver, 50m free, gold, 100m back, silver, 100m IM, silver, 4x25m free relay, silver, 4x25m medley relay, gold, 4x50m mixed free relay; Doreen Scantland, silver, 50m back, gold, 50m breast, bronze, 100m back, bronze, 100m breast, bronze, 25m back, bronze, 25m breast, silver, 4x50m mixed free relay; Kathleen Van Doorn, silver, 50m breast, gold, 200m free, gold, 100m breast, gold, 100m free, silver, 100m IM, silver, 4x25m free relay, silver, 4x25m medley relay, gold, 4x50m mixed free relay; James Scantland, gold, 100m breast, gold, 25m breast, gold, 50m breast, silver, 100m free, bronze, 100m IM.
Table tennis - Peter Korvin, bronze, rec singles; Peter Korvin, bronze, competitive doubles.
Tennis - Doug Forrest, silver, singles; Isabelle Armstrong, silver, doubles; Shirley Craddock, silver, doubles; Doug Forrest, gold, mixed doubles; Patricia Garton, gold, mixed doubles.
Track and field - Eric Kirschner, silver, high jump, bronze, long jump, bronze, triple jump, silver, hammer throw; Joe Giegerich, silver, 100m dash, silver, high jump, gold, long jump, gold, triple jump, bronze, weight throw, gold, pole vault; Barry Sparkes, bronze, 100m dash, bronze, 200m, gold, long jump, gold, triple jump, silver, 4x100m, silver, 2,000m sprint medley relay; Sven Donaldson, gold, high jump, gold, pole vault; Bill Hollingshead, gold, 1,500m, gold, 10km road race, silver, 800m, gold, 5,000m, silver, 2,000m sprint medley relay; Bob Gehm, bronze, 1,500m, silver, 10km road race, silver, 5,000m, silver, 200m, bronze, 800m.
-with files from Marty Hastings