Before heading east, Vernon snowshoer Mary Adamson said competing at the 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games “is a dream come true.”
It was a chance, Adamson said, to showcase her personal best in a sport she loves, and showcase herself she did.
Adamson returns home with three medals – two silver and a bronze – from the Games held in Thunder Bay, Ont., Feb. 25-29.
Adamson won silver in the F3 final of the 100-metre race, finishing in 27.20 seconds. She added a second silver as part of the B.C. team on the 4x100m F2 relay squad and finished third in 1:06.90 in the F3 200m final.
She was joined on Team BC by fellow Vernonite Justin Chippendale, who earned a gold medal as part of the BC relay team that won the M2 4x100m final. Chippendale just missed medals in three other events, earning ribbons for his pair of fourth-place finishes in the M6 400m final and the M8 100m final. Chippendale was fifth in the M9 200m race.
READ MORE: Special Olympics BC Games wrap in Vernon
A second gold medal for a Vernon athlete came on the cross-country trails.
Matthew Bisschop won gold in the one-kilometre Classical event in the M3 final, covering the course in five minutes 59.70 seconds, edging out fellow BC skier Jesse Jensen for gold.
Bisschop added a second medal, a bronze, in the 500m Classic M2 final.
Justin Sigal of Vernon won a bronze medal and a pair of ribbons. The Special Olympian veteran was third in the M2 final of the 5km Classic, covering the course in 30:45.70. He was fourth in the 1k Classical M1 final in a time of 5:21.30. Sigal was sixth in the 2.5K Classical, finishing in 15:08.00.
Colby Bell of Vernon won a silver medal in alpine skiing. Bell was second in the M1 final in the Intermediate Giant Slalom race, covering the course in 1.17.14. Bell won a ribbon for his fourth-place showing in the Intermediate Super G for M1, finishing in 48.57 seconds.
Bell came close to another ribbon in the Intermediate Slalom. His time was good for fourth place but officials disqualified him after the race.
Vernon’s Les Sigal (cross country skiing) and Janny Jung (snowshoeing) served as volunteer coaches with Team BC.
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