Two local first time winter B.C. Winter Games athletes didn’t hesitate when asked if they’d like to compete again in the three-day event.
“The experience was a lot of fun. It isn’t all about the medals,” Marlaina Gumpert, a Grade 7 student at Similkameen Elementary Secondary School said.
Gumpert and her team Zone 2 earned silver in Karate at the B.C. Games.
Carter Crow was the other local athlete. The 16-year-old placed fifth in the U-16 archery category.
Gumpert has studied karate for the last nine years at Penticton’s Taneda Dojo. She qualified as an alternate on the team.
In karate, the team is scored opposed to individually. The combined totals of the four events are added together to determine the winner.
Gumpert was able to compete after a team member took three punches to the throat and had to go to hospital.
“She ended up being OK, so it was great that I got a chance to compete,” she said. “It was a lot of fun.”
This will be the only time Gumpert has a chance to compete in karate because the age category stops at 12 and 13 year olds at the games.
“I guess older than that it can get pretty dangerous and people can get hurt, maybe. It’s really strict there. If you get four penalties during the tournament you’re out.”
Crow was happy with his fifth place finish at the games. He guessed he started to learn how to use a bow and arrow when he was about five years old. He’s part of the Oliver Archery Club, but said mostly he practices in his backyard.
The 16-year-old said he hadn’t thought of competing before this year when he heard about it and decided to try out. He travelled to Kelowna in the fall.
“I just wanted to see if I could do it. It was cool,” he said.
Crow said competition was fierce. He explained the target was a smaller size than what most people think of as a target for archery.
“The middle is a dot the size of a nickel and that’s what you want to hit,” he said.
During the three days of competition he shot 60 arrows per day. The scores of each athlete were added up each day to determine what place they would be competing for.
He said the intense competition was not physically difficult and he focussed on doing well and having fun.
“I’ve been doing this so long that I don’t feel it in my body. You really train your muscles as you’re building on your technique,” he said.
More than 1,200 B.C. youth competed in the Winter Games held in Kamloops Feb 22 to 25.
