Team Richards and Team Parkinson, largely composed of Comox Valley Curling Club members, both won silver medals at the BC Winter Games, Feb. 20-23 in Fort St. John.
Skip Gracelyn Richards, third Keelie Duncan and second Bryn Woloshyn are locals. They won gold two years ago at the BC Winter Games in Kamloops. This year’s team included lead Carley Hardie from Duncan. The girls played three games on Saturday (round robin, tie breaker and semi-final) to reach the final game, which came down to the last rock against Kelowna. The Okanagan side won 5-4.
The boys’ team consists of skip Chris Parkinson, lead Graham Lee and second Henry Holland of the CVCC. Third Jackson Nowak is from the Qualicum Curling Club. They lost 11-9 in the gold-medal game against a team with members from four different Lower Mainland clubs. The final went into an extra end.
The biennial BC Winter Games features some of the top emerging athletes in the province.
Eleven-year-old Taelyn Stuve of Chimo Gymnastics in Comox won a bronze medal in all around female JO7 (Junior Olympic). She won a second bronze medal in team female JO7 and JO8, and placed fourth in JO7 beam.
Courtenay’s Carter McIsaac and his Zone 6 teammates from Vancouver Island won a silver medal in wheelchair basketball.
Courtenay biathlete Micah Payette had a fourth-place result in the boys team relay, and a fifth-place finish in the mixed relay. He also placed 10th in the individual boys competition.
Several athletes from the Strathcona Nordic Ski Club also competed in Fort St. John.
In the classic distance on day one, Madelaine Galik was seventh and Carly Ram ninth for 2006 girls, Joaquim MacPhail-McGrady was 13th for 2006 boys, Sarah Roberts was 15th and Vivianne Lemay 16th for 2005 girls, and Rory Bratrud was 11th and Noah Doeschner-Fretts 15th for 2005 boys.
The second day was the skate sprint. Galik and Ram placed seventh and 10th respectively in their age group, MacPhail-McGrady was 14th, Roberts was 15th and Lemay finished 17th respectively, and Bratrud was sixth and Doeschner-Fretts 12th in their division. The final day was the mixed relay. The Zone 6 team of Galik, Bratrud, Doeschner-Fretts and Ram finished ninth.
“I was very impressed with how all of our athletes conducted themselves both on and off of their skis,” Marika Galik said. “There were some ups and downs with a few crashes and disappointments, but they picked themselves back up and got right back out there. I received many compliments on their behaviour and conduct, and could not be more proud of this group of young athletes.”
