The Alberta Winter Games kicked off in Medicine Hat over the weekend and Red Deer was well represented.
The annual province-wide competition features more than 2,500 youth athletes competing in a variety of events, including skiing, hockey, archery, volleyball, and boxing as well as many others.
More than 80 athletes from Red Deer and 250 from Zone 4 made the trip down to the Hat to compete in the Games, which are hosted in a different city around the province every year.
“I think our athletes are representing the City of Red Deer and Central Alberta really well. They’re competitive and they’re great kids. Our coaches are doing a good job in terms of making sure they’re good representatives, not just on the court but off the court,” said Miles Kydd, who served as Zone 4’s Chef de Mission during the Games, which ran from Saturday through Tuesday.
“In their interactions with the volunteers I’ve heard nothing but positive comments.”
As the Chef de Mission of the zone, Kydd acts as a liaison between Zone 4’s athletes and the Games. Outside of the Alberta Winter Games, Kydd also serves as the Executive Director of the Alberta Sport Development Centre – Central.
“The ASDC’s mission is to help Central Alberta’s emerging athletes and it is those same athletes that are here competing in Medicine Hat. It is our hope that we can partner with all the athletes, coaches, and sport programs to help all athletes achieve their sporting potential,” he said.
As of Tuesday morning, Zone 4 sat in sixth place out of eight in the medal count, garnering six gold, 14 silver and 13 bronze medals, but Kydd said they’ve been competitive throughout the weekend.
“We’ve got our girls’ hockey playing for a bronze medal right now, boys and girls volleyball are both to play for bronze medals here. Our archery kids are looking to add to their medal count yet. There’s maybe 12 medals — bronze, silver, gold — up for grabs in archery and our team has won six of them so far.”
Bringing home gold medals for Red Deer were Zachary Kosack and Ethan Mcdonald in cross country skiing, Amelia Murray and Kaitlyn Wiley in archery, Kia Risling in synchronized swimming and Devin Saunders in biathlon.
For a full list of athletes and results from the Games visit the web site at www.albertagames.com.
zcormier@reddeerexpress.com
