Some of the best young athletes from across the province will compete later this month at the Mission-hosted BC Winter Games, and Peninsula athletes will be front and centre.
In total, 49 athletes – plus a handful of coaches and event officials – from White Rock, Cloverdale and Surrey were listed on the BC Games’ participant list when it was released last week.
The BC Winter Games will run Feb. 20-23, with more than 1,800 athletes, nearly 350 coaches and more than 140 officials expected to take part.
While the sports the participating local athletes will compete in cover a wide range – from ringette to karate to hockey to speed skating, and more – a large part of the local contingent is made up of divers, as well as badminton players, gymnasts and female hockey players.
In the pool, the Fraser Valley (Zone 3) will be led by seven Surrey/White Rock divers – White Rock’s Hannah Jensen, South Surrey’s Marjan Aktary, Karina Jorgenson-Fullam, Kylea Pai and Tavia Walz, and Surrey residents Jackson MacLean and Samantha McKinney.
As well, Grant Brehaut – who is the head coach of the White Rock Divers club – will serve as an assistant coach with the Vancouver-Squamish zone.
The Fraser Valley’s female hockey team will also have a strong Peninsula contingent, as 13 players – including White Rock’s Nicola Murray – from the Surrey Falcons (Surrey Female Hockey Association) were selected for the team. Another member of the Falcons’ bantam program, Shona Bal, will play for the Fraser Valley-Delta zone at the tournament.
The Fraser Valley’s Special Olympics basketball program will also be chock full of Surrey athletes, including Scott Laroue, Tracy Payne, Scott Stewart and Jaspreet Warach. Three of the team’s coaches – Ron Hammell, Tram Lam and Kylie Parkinson – are also from Surrey.
Plenty of local faces will also be seen at Mission’s gymnastic competitions, as six Surrey competitors – Aidan Archer, Sage Bishop-Beaurone, Liam Page, Kyra Sager-Hoffard, Darcy Schultz and Alon Zvikler – are set to participate.
Elsewhere at the Games, Surrey will be represented in figure skating (Benjamin Mangabat), judo (George St. Amour) and netball (Cyrille Butac and Simran Grewal), a sport that is a team game based on running, jumping and throwing, and is a derivative of basketball.
The last BC Winter Games were held in Vernon in 2012, and the Fraser Valley team placed third overall, with 76 total medals, including 27 gold.
The overall team award was won that year by Thompson-Okanagan, with 84 total medals.
For more on the Winter Games, including a full list of participants, schedules and results as they happen, visit www.bcgames.org