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Medal march for Chilliwack Special Olympians at B.C. Summer Games

Chilliwack power lifters combined for four medals alone at the massive athletic event in Kamloops.
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Chilliwack’s Brian Lee (in blue) flashes fancy footwork vs a Quesnel defender during a soccer match at the Special Olympics B.C. Summer Games. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Local Special Olympians brought home the hardware from last weekend’s Special Olympics B.C. Summer Games in Kamloops.

Chilliwack athletes participated in powerlifting, bocce, swimming, soccer and basketball.

Joanne Bunnin and Curtis Martinow each grabbed gold in power lifting with Matt McKay, Lisa Newell and Michelle Martinow snagging silver.

Jamie Fulcher was a bronze medalist in swimming.

The C division soccer team brought home bronze medals.

A long list of Chilliwack athletes on that team included Ian Smith, Jaimie Barrisoff, Alan Reid, Caden Swedgen, Jack Witt, Jacquie Monty, Justin Blenkin and Scott Graham, joined by coaches Christine and Wayne Williams.

The Chilliwackians were part of a larger group of 1,600 participating in the Summer Games.

Other locals who competed were Scott Kim (swimming), Betty Colk (bocce), Sammi Saad (bocce), Nic Hildebrandt (bocce) and Melinda Franson (bocce).

The A division soccer team included Richard Walker, Yoshi Doldersum, Brian Lee, Gean Plant, James Cooper, Bart DeBoer, Brad Mayo, Siku Eegeesia and Derek Trainor along with coach Duncan MacDonald.

Hope native Ionella Garret played basketball for a team from Surrey.

The list of Chilliwack coaches included Bill Stewart (power lifting), Mladen Andric (swimming) and Dorothy Franson (bocce).

Kamloops was a qualifying event for the National games being held in Nova Scotia in 2018 and the World games being held in Abu Dhabi in 2019. See specialolympics.bc.ca/2017-sobc-summer-games



Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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