Comox Valley athletes returned from the Special Olympics Canada 2014 Summer Games in Vancouver with many medals and memories of a great time.
"It was pretty exciting, quite electric," said Team BC aquatics assistant coach Nikki Apps, one of nine Valley participants at the July 8-12 Games, hosted by UBC.
"It went awesome. The entire Team BC did fantastic."
Kerri Denninger was the first local to ascend the medal podium as she won bronze in the 50m backstroke and silver in the 4x50m freestyle relay.
Denninger also had best times in her 50m free and 100m free swims, noted Apps, who was coaching at her first Games.
Playing on the B.C. Grizzlies, Chris Roberge and Brad Horgan helped their team win gold in the A division of softball. Although results were not finalized on the Team BC website at press time, they showed Katie Flint winning four silver medals (ball, hoop, rope, all around) in rhythmic gymnastics.
Jake Hooper won silver in athletics and Apps said Robert Burns dominated his events, winning two gold, one silver and one bronze in athletics.
Also strong on the track, Mason Keddy won gold in 800m and 3000m, silver in 1500m and bronze in relay. He also has a Personal Best in long jump. Apps said Trevor Carter did not medal in 5-pin bowling but had a great Games experience.
"(The locals) had a blast. Everything about it was just awesome," said Apps, adding she is already looking forward to the next Summer Games in four years time.
The largest Summer Games in Special Olympics Canada history wrapped up Saturday following four days of intense competition. More than 2,000 athletes, coaches and officials from across Canada competed in 11 sports and were awarded 2,214 medals.