Success At BC Winter Games

British Columbia hosts plays host to the games so as to help grow athletes around the Province, hoping to develop athletes as well as better citizens.

Reality say’s who really knows how far today’s athletes can go to reach the goal they have set their sights on and one could be a future Olympian.

Winning isn’t everything and even if you don’t bring home a Gold, Silver or Bronze medal the friendships you are making today will last a life-time.

Parents enroll their children to play for various reasons and it’s hoped that it’s for the best of intentions and not to fulfill a level of success that Mom or Dad could not achieve.

And yes – I’ve seen it from both sides having attended three (3) BC Winter Games, twice as a hockey referee and once as a supervisor.

One could say we had a celebration of sorts not only in the rinks, but meeting those who spent time as a volunteer at various venues.

Everyone I met left something inside me that will last a life-time and it’s for this reason I enjoy being involved in my community in hopes of making better citizens for future generations to come.

This year the 2016 BC Games were held in Penticton and along with the host committee and in some cases over 2,500 volunteers they made it a success.

To everyone involved in the games I thank you for your time, consideration, generosity and lasting friendship.

Notable games of interest this year (and these are only a few) are some of the following.

West Kelowna and Vancouver competitors grabbed the figure skating top spots.

West Kelowna’s Vienna Harwood won Gold (Juvenile women for Zone 2 Thompson-Okanagan) while the Silver was taken by Faith Benko (Cloverdale for Zone 4 Fraser River) and Bronze went to West Kelowna’s Tianna Potts.

Capturing Juvenile Men for Vancouver-Coastal was Vancouver’s Shohei Law, while Silver went to Wesley Chiu and Bronze went to Christopher Horwood.

Cross-Country Relay

Host Club Thompson-Okanagan (Zone 2) won Gold on the final day at the Nickel Plate Cross Country Centre in the 4×2 kilometre mixed relay event.

The team finished with a time of 26.53.3 and consisted of Ian Oliphant (Vernon), Simon Blackie (Revelstoke), Julia Brown (Salmon Arm) and Hanneli Ladyman from Kamloops.

A close second capturing Silver (4.2 seconds behind) were Vancouver Island, the Central Coast Zone 6 consisting of Amelia Wells (Victoria), Emmy Stapff (Campbell River), Stephen Lamon (Comox) and Aiden Noble (Courtenay).

Bronze went to Thompson-Okanagan Zone 2a, and consisted of Salmon Arm’s Stephen Moore, Erik Brosch (Revelstoke) and Rachel Bates also from Salmon Arm.

Archery

Eye sight, nerves of steel and setting your sights on the target is was Archery finals were about this year.

It took two (2) shootouts to close out the Gold medal matches in compound and recurve male finals also on the final day of competition. Kootenays Zone 1 Dwight Vanderveen won Gold narrowly (114-113) defeated Fraser River Zone 4 Coquitlam’s Matteo Jang.

Langley’s Jesse Meister represented Fraser Valley Zone 3 managed to grab a Bronze-medal.

Top spot in the boy’s aggregate compound competition went to Matteo Jang while Dwight Vanderveen managed to grab a Silver medal with Bronze going to Jesse Meister.

The girl’s side of match play compound competition, saw Kyra Adachi of Cranbrook earn Gold over Quesnel’s Emerie Watson in the tie-breaking final competition all coming down to one arrow.

Representing Cariboo-North East Zone 8 saw Prince George Allaina Procter win Bronze.

They were back on the podium for the girls aggregate compound competition that saw Emerie Watson grab Gold, Kyra Adachi silver, while Bronze went to Allaina Procter.

The boy’s side (aggregate recurve competition) Victoria’s Matthew Lange narrowly defeated Port Coquitlam’s Brenan Formanek, while Maple Ridge native Jesse Hubbard took home Bronze.

The boy’s match play recurve competition saw Gold awarded to Brenan Formanek while Silver went to Matthew Lange and Bronze presented to Mission’s Benjamin Seeley.

Elissa Foley (Surrey/Fraser River Zone 4) won gold in the girls match play recurve competition with silver going to Mikaela Francis (Maple Ridge/Fraser Valley Zone 3) and Victoria O’Brien (Chilliwack/Fraser Valley Zone 3) winning bronze.

In the girl’s aggregate recurve Elissa Foley (Surrey/Fraser River Zone 4) won gold, Mikaela Francis (Maple Ridge/Fraser Valley Zone 3) won silver and Autumn Kelbert (Kelowna/Thompson-Okanagan Zone 2) took the bronze.

Victoria’s Daniel Gustafsslon won Gold (aggregate bare-bow competition) defeating Parkville’s Aiden Hare in the final, while Sean Williams (Prince George) captured the Bronze medal. In the match play bare-bow Aiden Hare (Parksville/Vancouver Island-Central Coast Zone 6) won Gold, Geoffrey Lau (Burnaby/Fraser River Zone 4) won Silver and Sean Williams (Prince George/Cariboo-North East Zone 8) won Bronze.

Quesnel’s Kelly Murray won first place over Kaytlyn MacInnes from Prince George in the girl’s match play bare-bow competition.

Hana Stewart rounded out the field in third, bringing bronze back to Coquitlam. in aggregate bare-bow Kelly Murray took Gold, Hana Stewart won Silver and Kaytlyn MacInnes Bronze.

Thanks to BC Games for photos and part of the results.