Cochrane area athletes were among the medallists in the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games hosted by Medicine Hat last weekend.

Medals were earned in a range of sports, including cycling, golfing, floor curling, floor shuffleboard and slo-pitch by local participants.

On a whole, Zone 2 had one of its best showings at the summer gamer ever, says Cochrane's Doug Campbell, area 7 director for the zone. In total, 110 participated and they returned with 78 medals.

Better known by some as Big Country, zone 2 topped the list of medallists in track and field, swimming, cycling and golf.

In track and field, athletes returned with 32 medals. Russ Sagert, Louise Nesterenko and Randy Molitor each set games records on their way to winning all four of their events. Zone 2's Norma Dawson also established a new record in the 75+ women's 50m dash

In swimming, all four Zone 2 athletes climbed the podium in every one of their events and collectively came home with 16 medals.

In cycling, 12 medals were earned, six of them gold. Thirteen medals in all were earned in golf, three of them gold.

Medallists from the Cochrane area include: Clint Docken (Bragg Creek), gold medals in 65+ cycling time trials and road race; Karl Gibbie, silver, 85+ men's golf (low gross); Alicia Brooks, bronze, 65+ women's golf; Dan Stuehrenberg and Doug Campbell, bronze, 70+ men's floor shuffleboard; and Greg Martin, Reg MacDonald, Dean Pederson and Glen Skrabek, silver medal, 55+ slo-pitch.

Campbell says Medicine Hat is developing a solid reputation at the games they host.

"They've done junior and Paralympic games nationally in the last five years. They have great facilities and they have a good crowd of volunteers. It takes a ton of volunteers when you are taking care of 16-odd sports at a number of venues across the city."

The Alberta 55+ games continue to recover to a major reduction in provincial government funding three years ago.

"We're trying to carefully keep things alive and rebuild and do as much as we can on a very limited budget. The important thing is participation, good fellowship and good sportsmanship and I think we're getting really high marks for that."

The overarching aim of Alberta 55+ Sports is to encourage participation in physical and social activities. The volunteer organization facilitates some 30 sports, recreational and arts/crafts/creative writing activities through the course of the year.

"Big Country" is one of the eight geographical zones. Cochrane is part of its area seven, which includes the western half of Rocky View County (Bearspaw, Cochrane, Bragg Creek and Springbank).

Preparing for 2020 Canada 55+ Summer Games in Kamloops

Those interested in participating in the 55+ Canada Games being hosted by Kamloops, B.C. in August 2020 are welcome to contact Campbell by early September for more details. Entries need to be finalized by late September, early October.

He can be reached at 403-932-6866 or by email at dec@cabsi.ca.

Photos courtesy of Alberta 55+ Sports and Doug Campbell.