Recent History – 2002
By Rick Davison, Daily News Staff
Twelve athletes and a coach from Dawson Creek will join more than 1,500 athletes from around the province at the B.C. Winter Games in Williams Lake Thursday to Sunday.
The 12 are divided among three sports (table tennis, hockey and speed skating) and will represent the Cariboo-North East Zone.
Progress’ Sheena Heaton, who plays defence with the Dawson Creek Hawks, the local girls’ hockey team, has been selected to the zone’s girls’ hockey team.
Brody Fraser, Aaron Girard and Kyle MacDonald are all Dawson Creek hockey players who are on the zone’s boys’ hockey squad.
Three speed skaters have qualified for the Games. Kolton Chapman and Jeffrey Judge, who have recently returned from the national long track speed skating championships, are competing, as is fellow Dawson Creek Speed Skating Club member Yvonne Hopkins.
The table tennis players make up the largest contingent of Dawson Creek athletes. Coach Tat Ma will oversee five athletes, all who have been attending practices in the mini-gym above Unchagah Hall twice a week. The five are Chance Thola, Caitlin Thola, Kyle Wagner, Corrie Steinke and Louise Frank.
Along with 1,554 athletes, there are also 224 coaches, 242 officials, 115 chaperones and 41 managers at the provincial event.
There are eight zones represented in the Games. The largest zone team is the Vancouver Island – Central Coast team with 295 athletes and the smallest is the Kootenay squad with 162 athletes. The Cariboo-North East team has 270 athletes and is fourth largest.
This year there are 23 sports at the Games. They range from traditional winter sports like the curling, figure skating and hockey to the non-traditional such as powerlifting, judo and netball.