After a couple of busy weeks of travel, I found myself in Quesnel this past weekend to help represent Zone 7 (as a coach) in biathlon at the BC Winter Games.
It was a bit of a switch-up from my regular week, but my 7th (or 8th or 9th) BC Games experience was one for the record books!
Not only did the Zone 7 biathlon team walk away with 2 medals (a silver and bronze), but I can quite confidently say that this was one of the best organized BC Games I’ve ever attended. Big thanks to the Cariboo Nordic Ski Club for hosting along with Chris Elden (and his team of many, many volunteers), Biathlon BC (and Chris Halldorson), Games president (and biathlon parent!) Brian Balkwill, and everyone else who put on such a great event despite many sleepless nights beforehand wondering if they’d have enough snow.
One of the highlights for me - and many others - was to see the streets of historic Barkerville transformed into a cross-country ski track which hosted our final day of competition. I know the amount of work that went into getting this venue ready for one race was huge, but this truly was a once in a lifetime opportunity for the athletes, coaches, and spectators to enjoy.
I’ve lost track at this point of how many BC Games I’ve attended (four as an athlete and at least three as a coach though it may be as many as five) - but this was one of my favourites.
Thanks Quesnel for being such a great host!
Allie Dickson
Burns Lake