The two Cowichan Valley athletes who represented Canada at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, had mixed results.
Mill Bay’s Ciaran Breen, a graduate of Shawnigan Lake School, suffered a concussion in Canada’s second game of the men’s rugby sevens tournament, and missed the remainder of the tournament. He came in as a second-half sub in Canada’s first two matches, a 31-0 win over Wales and a 19-12 loss to Fiji, the eventual silver medallists.
Without Breen, Canada went on to beat Zambia 24-12 in its final pool game, then lost playoff games against South Africa and Samoa to finish sixth out of 16 teams.
Duncan’s Sara Goodman, a graduate of Cowichan Secondary School, helped the Canadian women’s field hockey team to a 2-2 record in round-robin play. Canada defeated Wales 4-0, then lost 1-0 to England, and beat Ghana 8-1 before falling to India 3-2 in a game that would have sent them to the medal round. Finishing third in their pool, Canada then beat Scotland 3-1 in the fifth-place match.
The teams who beat Canada in pool play, England and India, went on to take the gold and bronze medals, respectively.