Five athletes from the Cowichan Valley will head to Fort St. John next week to join more than 1,000 other competitors at the 2020 BC Winter Games, which run from Feb. 20-23.
The region will be represented in four different sports, with Duncan’s Liam Whitworth in archery and Carlie Hardie in curling, Mill Bay’s Ashton Attew in alpine skiing, and Cobble Hill’s Elsa Bollinger and Annika Michaluk in judo.
The Cowichan athletes will be part of the Zone 6 (Vancouver Island-Coastal) team. Zone 6 finished fifth out of eight teams at the 2018 BC Winter Games in Kamloops with 50 medals (12 gold, 16 silver and 22 bronze).
The 2020 games will feature 15 sports, and for most of the athletes, who average 14 years of age, this will be their first experience at a multi-sport event. Special Olympics athletes will compete in speed skating and figure skating and athletes with a disability will compete in skiing-cross country and basketball-wheelchair.
The athletes will be supported by more than 300 coaches and 190 officials who have earned their certification in order to provide the best knowledge and expertise to the athletes and the competition.