Local athletes came up with some clutch performances at the B.C. Seniors Games.
A contingent of 112 participants from Nanaimo, Nanoose Bay, Lantzville and Gabriola Island returned home with dozens of medals following last week’s games in Trail, Rossland and Castlegar.
The region’s most prolific medallist, once again, was Nanoose swimmer Heidi Bromley. The freestyle specialist won seven gold medals and one silver – quite a significant chunk of the Vancouver Island North zone’s tally of 97 gold medals, 74 silver and 53 bronze.
Bromley’s teammate Nancy Ryan also won eight medals, six of them gold.
At the track and field stadium, Nanaimo’s Barry Sparkes and Nanoose’s Joe Giegerich were standouts with three gold medals apiece.
Another highlight of the Games was provided by the Nanaimo curling team of Garry Smith, Dianne Smith, Frank Voysey and Eleanor Voysey.
En route to a gold medal, the squad qualified for the championship game by sliding an eight-ender Friday in a 12-1 win. The rare occurrence, where all eight stones score points in the target area, was a first for skip Garry Smith in his 40 years of curling.
An opponent knocked Nanaimo’s seventh rock in, setting up the house just right.
“It was the first opportunity and that’s nerve-wracking as any shot you’re going to throw, even though all we had to do to hit the house,” he said.
Medal results include:
Archery – Michael Poole, gold, 3D longbow without sight, gold, target longbow without sight.
Badminton – Jackson Hirota, gold, mixed doubles, bronze, competitive doubles, gold, rec singles; Art Davis, gold, rec doubles, silver, rec singles; Len Ohlhausen, gold, rec doubles, bronze, mixed rec doubles; Bill Chen, silver, rec doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles; Mike Robert, silver, mixed rec doubles, silver, rec doubles; Mary Mark, gold, rec doubles, gold, rec singles; Noreen Martin, gold, rec doubles; Joan Galey, gold, rec doubles, silver, mixed rec doubles; Lois Ohlhausen, gold, rec doubles, bronze, mixed rec doubles; Stella Hu, silver, rec doubles, gold, mixed rec doubles, gold, rec singles; Cheryle Sosnowski, bronze, mixed competitive doubles, bronze, rec doubles; Rob Carruthers, silver, competitive singles.
Five-pin bowling – Maureen Carr, bronze, team; Donna Ramsay, bronze, team; Lynne Rankin, bronze, team; John Van Eijk, bronze, team; Rob Verbrugge, bronze, team.
Bridge – Hugh Power, gold, duplicate; Olga Power, gold, duplicate; Miriam Peacock, bronze, social Flight A; Doug Peacock, bronze, social Flight A.
Curling – Karen Hungar, gold; Susan Barber, gold; Frank Voysey, gold, mixed; Eleanor Voysey, gold, mixed; Dianne Smith, gold, mixed; Garry Smith, gold, mixed.
Cycling – Derek Steel, gold, competitive time trials.
Darts – Nora Hughes, bronze, fours, bronze, target shoot; Brian Oltmann, bronze, fours, bronze, target shoot.
Golf – Chris Frederickson, gold, low gross; Tina Robertson, silver, low net; Graham Mules, bronze, low gross; Lesley Hazeldine, silver, low gross.
Hockey – Jack Downing, gold; Jean-Paul Guy, gold; Gerry Richardson, gold; Henry Weibe, gold; Andy McNally, gold; Bob Simpson, gold.
Pickleball – Alex Gendron, silver, rec doubles, silver, mixed rec doubles; Debby Morgan, gold, rec doubles; Dee Pitcher, gold, rec doubles, silver, mixed rec doubles; Theresa Orcutt, gold, mixed competitive doubles; Ronnie Pitcher, silver, competitive singles.
Slo-pitch – Bryon Coe, bronze; Sandy Peterson, silver; Gloria Young, gold; Pauline Davidson, gold; Karen Peniuk, silver.
Soccer – Glen Kirkpatrick, silver; Adda Besseghieur, silver; Dave Johnson, silver; Glen Murphy, silver; Scott MacLean, silver; Gil Windley, silver; Ted Boe, silver; Keith Watson, silver; Ken Wright, silver; Jasbir Singh Sajan, silver; Andy Dixon, silver; Doug Cowling, silver; Paul Fudge, silver; Phil Morgan, silver; Ken Robertson, silver.
Swimming – Nancy Ryan, gold, 50m backstroke, gold, 50m freestyle, silver, 100m individual medley, silver, 200m free, gold, 100m free, gold, 100m back, gold, 4x25m free relay, gold, 4x50m mixed free relay; Doreen Scantland, bronze, 50m breast, silver, 25m back, silver, 25m breast; Dan Ryan, silver, 100m back, bronze, 25m back, bronze, 25m free, bronze, 50m back, bronze, 4x25m free relay; Noel Hornby, gold, 25m free, bronze, 50m free, bronze, 100m free, bronze, 4x25m free relay, silver, 4x50m mixed free relay; James Scantland, bronze, 50m back, gold, 200m IM, silver, 100m IM, gold, 4x25m free relay, bronze, 4x50m mixed free relay; Heidi Bromley, gold, 200m IM, gold, 800m free, gold, 200m free, gold, 400m free, gold, 50m free, gold, 100m IM, gold, 4x25m free relay; silver, 4x50m mixed free relay.
Tennis – Baldev Manhas, silver, doubles, gold, mixed doubles; Bob McDonald, silver, doubles, gold, singles; Tony Pawar, gold, doubles; Prem Sandhu, gold, doubles; Isabelle Armstrong, gold, doubles, silver, singles; Shirley Craddock, gold, doubles; Shaun Gessner, gold, mixed doubles, silver, singles; Patricia Garton, gold, doubles, gold, mixed doubles; Doug Forrest, gold, mixed doubles, gold, singles; Elaine Johnston, bronze, singles.
Track and field – Barry Sparkes, bronze, 100m dash, gold, 200m, silver, long jump, gold, triple jump, gold, pentathlon; Bill Hollingshead, silver, 1,500m, silver, 10km road race, silver, 800m, silver, 5,000m; Bob Gehm, bronze, 10km road race, bronze, 200m, silver, 800m; Joe Giegerich, bronze, shot put, gold, long jump, gold, triple jump, gold, javelin.
-with files from Valerie Rossi
