Strathmore was full of activity July 16-19 as over 1200 individuals gathered for a weekend of competition and friendship.
A culmination of more than two years of planning, buses arrived from the far north and south to deliver athletes to Strathmore and hundreds of cars and RV’s converged on the northern edge which housed the venues for the 15 sports and cultural activities which ranged from slo-pitch to pickleball to athletics and cribbage that were part of the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games.
The zone which includes Drumheller, Hanna and Three Hills were double winners. They won the Lieutenant Governor’s Cup which was awarded to the team that has shown the most improvement from previous Summer Games as well as the Spirit of Participation given to the zone team that exemplifies the true spirit of participation with personal integrity and sportsmanship both in and out of competition.
Drumheller residents contributed to the 81 medals won by zone two. Phil Wade won a gold medal in javelin throw, setting a games record with a throw of over 29 m. Bob Friesen and Ian Jones both won a bronze medal in pickleball. This was a new sport in the games and was highly competitive.
Other participants from Drumheller included Gus LeStrat playing crib, and Barb Barker, Mike Barker and Louise Paul in Creative Arts. Individuals from Oyen and Three Hills participated in golf, contract bridge, slo-pitch and floor curling.
More than 800 volunteers from the town of Strathmore and surrounding area made the games a tremendous event with young and old all pitching in to meet the needs of all participants. This included food, billets, people movers from site to site and rickshaw rides.
Concerts were held on Friday and Saturday evening, including a one man play, a string quartet, barn dance and Drew Gregory.
On Sunday the games wrapped up with Her Honour the Honourable Lois Mitchell, CM, AOE, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta presenting the overall awards and closing comments.
Calgary (Zone three) won the Alberta 55 Plus Zone Championship Trophy awarded to the zone team achieving the most points for the activity/sport competitions in the games with 126 medals won.
The mission of the Alberta 55 Plus Association is to encourage individuals to remain active both physically and socially by seeking greater levels of physical, social, intellectual and creative achievement through friendly participation and competition while enhancing a sense of community spirit by bringing Albertans together.
Zone two has recently provided two floor shuffleboard lanes to Drumheller and will be hosting a workshop to introduce this sport to Drumheller. Anyone wanting additional information on Alberta 55 Plus can contact Linda Traquair at 403-823-8460.
