Considering 13 of the 18 sports that made up the 2022 BC Summer Games were played at outdoor venues, the weather gods looking down on Prince George certainly gave their blessing when they provided four days of nothing but sunshine and warm conditions.
It might have been a bit too hot under the sun at times for some of the athletes, coaches and officials, but it sure beat having to reach for the raincoats and umbrellas or duck a bolt of lightning.
With a few slight delays in scheduling, all events went ahead pretty much without a hitch and that put a smile on the face of Renee McCloskey, president of the local BC Games organizing committee.
“It was just an exceptional time for our community and it was just such a joy to watch these young visitors just thrive and be the best they can while they really soaked up the opportunity to participate in the BC Games,” said McCloskey.
“Hopefully a few will come back as UNBC students, with the tuition credit they can apply for.”
Athletes from 170 B.C. communities who took part in the Games, which wrapped up Sunday, are eligible for tuition credits of up to $2,000 at UNBC ($1,000 for each of their first two semesters). To receive the credit, athletes must fill out an online prospective student profile by Aug. 31 and apply for admission for a semester starting in September 2025 or earlier.
Although they had to compete head-to-head against the zone that draw from more populated areas in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Okanagan, athletes from the host Cariboo-Northeast (Zone 8) won 33 medals (10 gold, 10 silver, 13 bronze) to place sixth in the team standings.
“There’s definitely something to be said for home-field advantage,” said McCloskey. “The majority of the Zone 8 athletes had the benefit of competing at venues they are already very familiar with.
“On the sports side, we weren’t as active or involved in the planning of the sports, so up until we had the chance to go to the venues I personally didn’t know too many of the athletes, so I didn’t know what to expect as far as which zone would the stronger in each sport.”
One of the highlights of the weekend for McCloskey was her role presenting the medals to swimmers at the Aquatic Centre.
“It was a very busy event with a ton of competitors and it was really cool that they incorporated some para and Special Olympics athletes into their event as well,” she said.
McCloskey is a former BC Games medalist in water skiing and she visited the towed water sports venue at Ness Lake a couple times to check out the action. The calm wind conditions throughout the weekend were perfect for those events.
“It was pretty awesome out there, some nice flat water that was great for the skiers,” she said. “For towed water sports it was great but I’m sure the sailing folks (at Tabor Lake) would have preferred a breeze. But they made it work.”
Misconduct away from the pitch led to the disqualification Zone 4 Fraser River boys soccer team and that was one of the low points of the Games. The team opened with wins over Kootenays and Northwest and the 18 players who formed the under-15 team were told before their scheduled game against Vancouver Coastal Saturday morning at Rotary Field, they were ineligible for the remainder of the Games for breaking a code of conduct. The team was sent home later Saturday on a bus.
McCloskey declined any comment on the incident and Games officials, in a statement, would not reveal what the team did to result in its disqualification.
She credited the nearly 2,000 volunteers who signed up for the Games for making it all possible.
“Honestly, for an event that runs nearly solely on volunteer power, to see what was pulled off and the success they had was pretty incredible,” McCloskey said. “We’re glad they got our order in for good weather.
“The recognition needs to go to the volunteers; there were people literally working from dusk till dawn and some of them, with the nature of their work, they never got out to a sport venue to interact with the athletes and soak up that Games atmosphere. They were the diehards driving around trucks and dropping off equipment and making sure the venues were set up and working in the kitchen to make sure the athletes were being fed. Those kinds of positions are the stuff that sometimes gets overlooked and people really stepped up.”
