Fourteen Ashcroft residents went to the 30th annual 55+ BC Games in Vernon and area Sept. 12-17 to represent Zone 8, and they came home with eight medals.
Kevin and Muriel Scallon won gold and bronze medals in the horseshoe competition.
Paul and Janet Quesnel and Dwight and Barb Hodder captured the silver medal in mixed team curling.
Pat Kilt and Carylon Elliott competed in cribbage, winning bronze medals.
Other local Zone 8 competitors included Jim Gyoba in darts; Maria Russell-Martin, John Farmer and Randy Leiter in tennis; and Linda Holland and Isabel McGrath in social bridge.
McGrath is also the 55+ BC Games representative for the Ashcroft/Cache Creek area in Zone 8.
McGrath noted there are 12 zones throughout the province, with Kamloops being the headquarters for the Aschcoft-Cache Creek zone.
Like all of the major Games events in the province, there are opening and closing ceremonies, McGrath says, adding that while she didn’t attend this year’s ceremonies “they are always great and enjoyable.”
The competitors have to pay for their own transportation, meals and accommodations, she adds, but the provincial government provides a funding grant that is distributed equally to all of the competitors as a rebate.
McGrath says she has been to at least seven of the 55+ BC Games and has liked every one of them, always having competed in bridge.
“The unfortunate thing is all of the sports are played at the same time, so you never chance to see other people competing,” she said.
Noting there were a couple streets blocked off in downtown Vernon on Saturday, McGrath says there were a lot of vendors selling things “and you could walk around and talk to people.”
She adds there was a big dance on Friday night. “We were treated fantastically. They had snacks and coffee; some we had to pay for, but other times they were just put out.
“There were lots of volunteers and they were all so good to us.”
The competitors are always friendly, McGrath says.
“It’s great to see people you haven’t seen since the games last year. We made some good friends there.”
First time
Dwight Hodder, along with his wife Barb and Paul and Janet Quesnel, swept up silver medals in the mixed curling.
Dwight says the experience was interesting. “We didn’t go to any other events, but that was partly our own fault. If we go again, we’d like to get to some other events them out.”
He says the competition was pretty good.
They won three games in the round robin, but they lost the gold-silver game to a team they beat in the third game of the round robin.
He says they really like the social aspect of the games.
“They did really good. We got to wander around downtown and they had two or three city blocks blocked with vendors. They were handing out free stuff.
“So we tried a little bit of wine and a little bit of this and that. It was kind of cool.”
Dwight says they went to the Vernon Rec Centre for the dance and comedy show. “The music was pretty good but it was too loud because you couldn’t even talk to each other.
The ventriloquist (Norma McKnight) was absolutely hilarious. She had everybody in tears.”
He says they would definitely go to the Games again. “We’re hoping to be able to go to Cranbrook.”
Twenty times
On the other side of the coin was Kevin Scallon, the first area representative for Ashcroft and Cache Creek, who has competed at the Games for about 20 years.
He has seen a lot of changes in those two decades.
First, it used to be called the Senior Games and competitors would get their meals and accommodations free, but now they have to pick up the tab.
“The Games started in Vernon 30 years ago with 1,400 to 1,500 people. Now, it’s gone up to around 3,500,” Scallon said.
He notes some of the sports have been cut out from time to time because the Games organizers didn’t have the number of competitors it needed or didn’t have the facilities to host a particular sport.
Even horseshoes has had to cancel because of lack of facilities, he adds.
“The next Games will be in the East Kootenays and they will have to put up portable horseshoe pits.”
Scanlon saiys slo-pitch, old-timers hockey and dragon boat races are very popular judging by the number of competitors, while horseshoes seems to be on the wane quite a bit.
“We need new people to come in; it’s a dying sport. I’m not pleased about that part of it at all,” he said.
“It’s hard to get people interested, but we still have enough people to keep it going.”
While the 55+ BC Games switches locations from the Coast to the Interior of the province every year, Scanlon said he doesn’t like that because the event tends to be better organized when hosted by an Interior community compared to the Lower Mainland.
“They switch it around every year to give every community in the province a chance to bid on hosting the Games,” Scanlon explained.
“I don’t know if it can be changed, but I think they should have the Interior separate from the Coast because of the traveling. I don’t know if anybody else has that idea.”
Scanlon says he has won a couple of dozen medals at the Games, but they’re not all golden like at the Vernon Games and they have come in different classes.
He explains there are different classes based on the number of ringers a thrower makes in 100 tosses.
Noting the top players would have around 40 to 50 per cent of their throws being ringers, Scanlon says he’s around 25 per cent.
“The top players are making a lot of ringers and there isn’t very many of them who can do anymore.
“There was a guy from the Kootenays a few years ago who was at 70 per cent. He got a ringer almost every time; he missed a few but not very many. He ran out of competitors because nobody could keep up with him.”
So how does Kevin keep sharp?
“I have a peg out by my fence at home. Nobody has said anything about it,” he said with a chuckle.
Games notes
• More than 3,500 active seniors from all over the province competed in 27 sports and activities at this games.
• More than 1,200 volunteers were there to make sure the games was a top-notch experience for the competitors.
• The goal of the games is improve health, lifestyle and image of B.C.’s residents who are 55 years and older.
