Another BC Summer Games is in the books, and two local swimmers carved out eight gold medals between them.
Played out July 19-22 in Surrey, the 2012 BC Summer Games featured 22 events including the always loud, always exciting, sport of speed swimming.
Unlike your typical swim meet where swimmers are representing their home clubs, the Summer Games’ makes teammates out of athletes by region, based on their place of residence.
“For most of these swimmers, it was their first experience to represent and be part of a larger team of athletes in a multi-sport competition,” said RAC Breakers’ coach Gary Cheung, who was selected to guide the Zone 6 swim team.
The event is meant, by design, to familiarize this province’s top young athletes with competing in big events. Athletes and coaches alike travel on BC Summer Games transportation and stay in BC Games accommodation.
At the Surrey Sport and Leisure Centre were the Breakers’ Haley Bennett, Joanna Redenbach and Lauren and Simon Gilmour (all from Parksville), along with 18 others from different clubs selected to represent Zone 6 — aka ‘Team Six’.
In what Cheung said “was a very close battle all through the meet,” Vancouver Island-Central Coast (Zone 6) finished first overall in the swim events’ team standings with 1,441 points; winning a total of 12 gold medals, five silver, and nine bronze.
Bennett, who is going into Grade 8 at Oceanside Middle School, accounted for almost half of Zone 6’s gold medals (five)touching the wall first in the 400 Free, the 1500 Free and first in the 200 IM — to go along with gold medals in the 4×50 Medley Relay, and 4x50m Freestyle Relay.
Joanna, in Grade 7 at Springwood Middle School, garnered gold in the 100 Fly and helped her team to gold medals in the 4×50 Medley Relay and 4×50 Freestyle Relay.
“It was definitely the best coaching experience yet,” said an enthusiastic Cheung. “I remember the day I sat the team down for the first time and introduced them about the idea of Team Six. I reminded them they were no longer representing their home clubs, they were now competing as a team, and their ‘mission’ was to get into finals and win as a team. The biggest challenge to me indeed was to get to know the strength of each swimmer.”
There was, he said, “a lot of preparation prior to the Games, but it was totally worth it … when they (announced) our team as the Champion on overall team scoring …
“I couldn’t be more pleased knowing that kids actually have a lot of fun being in the Games.”
