The brains behind the Quesnel/Lhtako Dené BC Winter Games have been decided.
Brian Balkwill and Brenda Beatty will be the president and vice-president of the 2024 BC Winter Games, after Lhtako Dené council approves their appointment next week.
Mayor Bob Simpson presented the duo to the rest of city council at a Tuesday, April 26 meeting.
Balkwill is recently retired after working at West Fraser Lumber as their vice-president of Canadian wood products. He is also the treasurer of the Cariboo Ski Touring Club and currently coaches high school badminton.
“I’ve been the beneficiary of volunteers in this community for many years, as my kids grew up in a lot of sporting activities,” he said.
“It’s a great opportunity to give some of that back.”
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Beatty is the owner of Rocky Peak Outfitters, and was an alpine ski instructor at Troll Ski Resort this winter, and is a board member for Amata Transition House.
“When the BC Games were initially awarded to Quesnel, I was really excited, thinking about all the venues that we have here that will be so great to show off to the rest of the province,” she said.
“(Quesnel is) a little town in central B.C. that has great everything.”
The first task for Balkwill and Beatty is joining the nominating committee and finding 14 more directors to join them on the Local BC Games Society board.
“I’ve learned over many years in my work life you need to surround yourself with good people,” Balkwill said.
“We know in our community we have a lot of good people that have shown time and time again in a volunteer capacity.”
Mayor Bob Simpson is also on the nomination committee.
He said the rest of the members of the board for the 2024 games should be found by November of this year.
READ MORE: ‘The work begins now’ — Quesnel’s 2024 BC Winter Games bid successful
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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