Team Yukon made many memories at the 2022 Canada 55+ Games in Kamloops recently.

The Games took place Aug. 23-26.

The Star spoke with the chair of the Yukon Organizing Committee, Brenda Dion, after the Games.

“They were fabulous and what made them so fabulous I think is the camaraderie, the spirit, the enthusiasm, first of Team Yukon – which is always so evident at the Games – and then of course from the other contingents too, in some of the events that I was able to get to and participate in. Just to see how the contingents were always so warm and welcoming and the host was welcoming, so it was really fun.”

The team won a whopping 74 medals.

“I really honestly didn’t have any sense of how it would go because it always depends on who shows up at the Games and who the competition is, I guess,” said Dion. “To me, it’s a fantastic result and then when you look at some of the highlights of where some of the teams were very very successful, we had an outstanding performance, I’d say.”

There were many highlights for Dion during the Games.

“The first highlight was the opening ceremonies. To be part of that parade, to have 143, 150 of us walking in together, led by our flag-bearer, who was Bryan Craven and the banner carriers, Dave Brekke and Paul Dabbs – it’s always an emotional experience. We’re going in singing, we’re waving our Yukon flags and we’re just a sea of this red, black and white colour – that’s pretty special to me.

“Another highlight to me was the Team Yukon kitchen parties that began so spontaneously on Wednesday night at the Games with just a few people – coming into headquarters, singing some songs and then someone coming in with a guitar. And then the second night, maybe we had 30 people there ... and then on the third night, I’m hearing while I’m out at the park, that there’s people waiting at the headquarters for the kitchen party to start and I’m pretty sure that night we were close to 60 people in the room ... I think that’s going to become a new Team Yukon tradition.”

The track and field team captured a large number of medals.

“This year, we got, I think, 34 medals in the track and field and then two more medals in the Five Km run. So that’s a significant number,” said Dion. Two of the medals were won by Sheila Senger, who won silver in the 75+ 100 Metre Sprint and gold in the 50 Metre sprint.

Stan Marinoske and Bruce Beaton also were the first to medal for the Yukon in Duplicate Bridge, scoring silver in the event.

“We were so pleased that we were able to enter a team into that event and quite excited to know that they had actually done so well,” recalled Dion.

Despite not medaling, a Yukon cribbage team was also a big hit.

“I was told if there was a medal for the most friendly and entertaining team, our team of Dina Grenon and Helen Bowie from Dawson would have got that medal. Apparently they had every table laughing in the games that they played,” related Dion.

The swimmers also stood out.

“We had five swimmers in that event and all five of them medaled,” said Dion.

The slo-pitch team also won a game (that wasn’t by forfeit) for the first time ever.

There were also 70 new participants on the team this year. According to Dion, that’s a significant number. About 25 of them were in the dragon boat event.

“So many people were down by the river just to watch this beautiful sight of seeing these people – they’d line up and then enter down into the boat in a certain sequence and then they’d take off. It was wonderful to see that,” recalled Dion.

Madeline Boyd, 90, the oldest Yukoner, participated in Carpet Bowling.

In darts, in the Mixed Doubles, John Hadvick didn’t have a partner, so partnered up with Gloria Allen from Inuvik and won gold.

On the curling ice in the 55+ Men’s Championships, Yukon achieved a remarkable feat by scoring seven in the fifth end against Saskatchewan en route to a 10-4 win.

Dion said the relentless heat of Kamloops had an effect on the Yukoners.

“It certainly affected us on the track and we were lucky that we had brought a shelter that we put up for shade all day. The volunteer at the track – he actually put on the sprinkler hose so that folks could go in and out if they wanted to cool off. And we actually have a picture – at the awards ceremonies, there was a big post, like a light post, near that area and you see a whole line of people just standing in that shadow of the post for shelter.”

Dion added “I should also highlight the mission team that was there and ran that headquarters and had it set up so well for everyone. They did a terrific job too.

“It was really, truly a great event. I want people to know about that and I want more people to join up and be part of it.”

Speaking of which, the next 55+ Games take place in Trois-Rivières, Quebec in 2024.

“I think they’ll look wonderful,” said Dion. “It’s in Quebec. How fabulous is that, that we’ll get to go to Quebec. I’m already hearing thoughts about ‘Hey, maybe we should get together and do a few French lessons for people, so we know how to speak the language a little bit better when we’re there.’

“We’ve had people say ‘Yeah, I can’t wait, I want to try something different. Maybe we’ll come to the track team’ or ‘I hope they have dragon boat there’, so I’m hearing some excitement about 2024 already and we have to get a much bigger headquarters room. If we’re going to start having these kitchen parties, we better make room for everybody.” Dion added “We’re looking forward to our post-Games gathering on Oct. 20. Get together and reminisce; have some fun.”