Several dozen Westlock and area competitors did our region proud at the recent Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games in Fairview, with a dozen bringing home some hardware.
Zone 5, which comprises an area roughly encompassing Yellowhead County in the west all the way to Athabasca County in the east, earned 68 medals total, with nine being awarded to people in the Westlock area.
Westlock’s competitors earned gold in four events. George and Vivian Oko of Westlock, along with Neil and Wanda McMillan of Pickardville, formed the gold medal-winning 55-plus bocce team. George and Lawrence Nestorovich, from Dapp and Jarvie respectively, won first place in 55-plus cribbage doubles. Leo Provencal of Vimy was a member of the first-place 65-plus slow pitch team, and Westlock’s Nancy Thomas was a member of the 70-plus gold medalist floor-curling team.
Agnes Otis and Marie Bird, also of Westlock, took silver in the 70-plus cribbage doubles, while Hedwig Williams got second in both the 10 km and 20 km 55-plus cycling events. Two Westlock golfers earned bronze medals: Nellie Brooks in the ladies 75-plus Callaway event, and Ken Elder in the 65-plus men’s Callaway event.
George Oko said he looks forward to winning the gold medal on home turf in 2013.
His team won the gold medal in Fairview, but not without a fight.
“It came down to a four-end playoff,” he said. After the round-robin tournament, two teams were tied for first, so they had to play a quick tiebreaker and came out on top.
The performance was an improvement over their 2009 bronze-medal finish in Airdrie.
“That was the first time we had competed in bocce,” he said. “We made up the team before that, won zones, and therefore got to compete in provincials.”
While the competition was obviously the reason to make the trip north, Oko said the highlights of the tournament were the hospitality they received in Fairview.
“The hosts were just terrific for transportation, with courtesy cars and vans running every 15 minutes or so,” he said. Also, the food and the entertainment provided for the athletes were also top-notch.
Best of all was the sense of camaraderie that comes from taking part in the games, and meeting people from across the province.
“You meet a lot of people. You meet people from all over, and you meet people that you’ve met before at other games,” he said. “Every time I’ve gone to one, it’s been a lot of fun.”
