Some 53 athletes from 11 Cowichan communities participated in 13 of the 20 sports offered at the 2024 55+ BC Games in Salmon Arm.
The Games were held Sept. 10-15.
The Chemainus contingent featured Susan Harrison, Morris Jenson, and Todd Lefebure (golf), and Barb Bradford (pickleball). Lefebure took gold in his age group while Morris and Harrison both earned bronze in their categories.
Cobble Hill participants included Rhonda Scheiber and Jane Stone (equestrian), Sandy Wade and Ian Wade (golf), Laurie Arscott, Susanne Grundison, Dallas Lister, Deb Morrow, and Ingrid Vermegen (ice curling), and Mike Walter (soccer).
Stone picked up three golds, while Scheiber took a gold, three silvers and a bronze. Ian Wade earned a bronze, as did Walter and Grundison in their events. Morrow and Arscott's curling team took the silver.
Cowichan Bay athletes were Anne Muir (equestrian), Carol Bond (hockey), and Lorrie Bell-Wiles and Lynn Derry (ice curling). The curlers both medalled with Bell-Wiles' team taking bronze and Derry's, silver. Muir earned two golds in her events as well.
Crofton's contingent included Bruce Carey and Wendy Carey (carpet bowling), and Susan Hawkes (pickleball). Wendy Carey's team picked up the bronze.
Participants from Duncan included Joan Ayers and Cindy Shillito (carpet bowling), Joe Sawchuck and Maggie Simms (cribbage), Meryle Hilberry and Mary Watts (equestrian), and Anne Berrisford, John Fournier, John Keepence, and Cheryl Martin (golf). Duncan athletes also included Francie Ellison, Gloria Magee, Ellen Merrian, and Karen Thorington (ice curling), Julie Lindsay (slo-pitch), and William Chaster (soccer).
Chaster's soccer team took the gold, while Ellison and Thorington took silver and bronze respectively in curling. Three golfers medalled with Martin earning silver, and both Keepence and Berrisford taking bronze in their events. Mary Watts rode to a gold and three silvers in equestrian.
Ladysmith's entries included Robert Berry (archery), Tracey Montgomery (five-pin bowling), and Alan Seriani (hockey). Berry took two golds in his events.
Lake Cowichan's Gary Goodfellow (carpet bowling), and Rocky Wise (golf) also attended the 55+ Games in Salmon Arm, as did the Malahat's Marvin Orth (pickleball). Wise earned golf gold.
Cathy Craft and David Craft, of Mesachie Lake, were also participants (carpet bowling) and Mill Bay's Mark Baker (archery), and Teresa McKinnon (equestrian) went to the games as well.
Pip Breckon and Catherine Royle (equestrian) of Shawnigan Lake joined Lora Favor and Sally Hansen (hockey), David George (ice curling), and Don Deines (mountain biking) at the Games.
Deines took the gold in his category. Royle took bronze medals in two equestrian events while Breckon earned five golds and four bronzes to become the most decorated Cowichan athlete at the games.
The 2025 55+ BC Senior Games will be held in Nanaimo, Sept. 9-13.
