Canada’s own version of the Winter Olympics happens only once every four years.
The wait will soon be over for a group of Prince George athletes who will get their chance to represent B.C. at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island.
The opening ceremonies from Charlottetown are set to begin Saturday at 3:30 PT and most of the Prince George contingent will be there to walk into the arena behind B.C. flag-bearer 17-year-old Oonah Gamboa of Vancouver, a world-ranked athlete in karate, which will make its Canada Games debut this year.
The two-week Games includes 2,600 participants from all 10 provinces and three territories, competing in 20 sports. The venues are in P.E.I. , Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The Prince George athlete list includes wheelchair basketball forward Joel Ewert, 23, who will be competing in his third Canada Winter Games, starting Monday in Charlottetown.
Also back for a return trip to Canada Game is long track speed skater Kieran Hanson, 20, a former Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club racer who moved to Fort St. John to train on the indoor oval at the Pomeroy Centre. He also competed in the 2019 Canada Games in Red Deer.
Hanson’s 17-year-old brother Jack also made Team BC and will be competing in his first Canada Games. Former Blizzard coach Adam Ingle of Surrey is the team manager.
Aliah Turner, 16, was just eight when she watched the biathlon events at the 2015 Canada Games in Prince George. Now she’s part of it as a biathlete, set to compete at Mark Arendz Provincial Ski Park in Brookvale, P.E.I., starting on Monday. Nineteen-year-old Liam Simons of Prince George is also on the B.C. biathlon team.
Three members of the Prince George Judo Club made the cut for Team BC. Alandra Steiger (63 kilograms) and Lily McCullough (70 kg), who are both 14 years old and Hannah Yin, 15 (63kg) start their tournaments during the second week of the Games on Thursday, March 2 in Charlottetown.
Mason Pollard, 15, will represent the Silvertip Archers of Prince George in the archery events which start March 1 in Charlottetown.
Logan Cox of Prince George, 16, grew up in Kimberley and will represent his hometown club, Kimberley Nordic Racers, in the para-nordic cross-country skiing events which start Feb. 28.
Jen Wheeler of Prince George is coaching the B.C. ringette team at the Canada Games tournament, which starts Sunday in Montague, P.E.I.
Three Prince George hockey players – goalie Ryder Green and forward Cameron Schmidt and Chase Harrington – are getting set for their first game in the male U-15 tournament Sunday in Summerside, P.E.I., against Ontario.
Go to the Canada Games website for more scheduling information. Games events will be streamed live.
