After four days of everything from skating to skiing to karate, the 2020 BC Winter Games wrapped up action on Sunday.
Seven Williams Lake and area athletes, along with five coaches, joined upwards of 1,000 athletes who competed in 15 different sports at venues in Fort St. John and across the North Peace Regional District, all aided by 1,600 volunteers.
“These past few days have been filled with exceptional competition and incredible experiences,” said 2020 BC Winter Games president Darren Snider.
“On behalf of our Board we wish everyone safe travels home and thank you for making these Games so memorable for our community.”
PHOTOS: 2020 BC Winter Games kick off in Fort St. John
The BC Winter Games concluded with Indigenous drumming and closing ceremonies, where the games’ torch was extinguished, to be relit this summer in Maple Ridge. The BC Games flag was passed to Mike Keenan, president of the Maple Ridge 2020 BC Summer Games that will take place July 23-26.
“Congratulations to everyone who participated in the 2020 BC Winter Games. Your achievements and spirit have inspired so many of us across the province,” said tourism minister Lisa Beare.
“Thank you to the community of Fort St. John and everyone involved in making these Games a wonderful success. I know everyone will leave the Games with new experiences and friendships that will last a lifetime.”
Members of the Cariboo Archers, representing the Cariboo-North East Zone fired their way to medals at the Games. The Cariboo-North East zone was coached by multi-time Canadian national and masters world champion Al Campsall of Williams Lake.
After two days and 120 competition arrows, Kylie Sharman severely dominated the best of the rest of B.C.’s 15 to 17 year old archers, winning by 30 points in a sport where winning margins are usually measured in single digits.
Kylie followed up her day-one gold-medal performance on day two with a thrilling shoot down tied scored with a competitor from a different zone, setting the stage for a one-arrow, closest-to-the-centre shoot off. Kylie ‘pinwheeled’ the 10 for her second gold medal of the Games.
Campsall said of equal excitement, the two most dominant 15 to 17 year old male archers in the province tied for first place, with Isaac Bedford beating Ty Thurow by one more ‘10’ scored during the competition, earning them gold and silver medals, respectively. It was the first time Ty had tasted defeat at a provincial competition.
The next day, Ty bounced back to win the gold medal in the shoot downs, beating all comers by a considerable margin.
“Although I was definitely proud of our kids’ archery skills performance, I was equally impressed with their humility and good sportsmanship,” Campsall said.
“They were truly fantastic ambassadors for our city. In addition, they helped each other to succeed by unselfishly supporting one another with helpful advice. It’s hard to imagine how I could have been prouder of them.”
Williams Lake and Bull Mountain cross country skier Anika Wallin narrowly missed the podium placing sixth overall in the midget girls free technique event.
In her qualifiers she finished first in her quarterfinal heat and third in her semifinal race.
Wallin also joined three other skiers from Prince George to place 11th in the relay - four by two kilometre mixed event.
Wallin’s mom, Beverly Rooke, also travelled as assistant coach for the Cariboo-North East Zone team.
In alpine skiing, Gareth Scrooby raced to 16th place in the slalom two-day run male category, while Livia Seabourne was 49th in slalom two-day run female.
Williams Lake Bullets speed skater Henry Beaton, who was joined by Bullets coach Tania Lauren and fellow skaters Leah Lauren and Ty Lauren as youth mentors, placed 14th in 500-metre Olympic style boys long track, 17th in 400-metre boys short track, 17th in seven-lap ISU mass start boys long track and 20th in 1,500-metre boys short track.
For full results, visit https://www.bcgames.org.
sports@wltribune.com
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