Sports Hall of Fame celebrates 10th birthday
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame.
I am very excited to have been asked to be on the Hall’s Nomination Committee.
I attended my first meetings recently and was very impressed by the amount of work and research that is done before an athlete is inducted into the Hall. The athlete must be vetted by three committees — the Nomination Committee, then the Sports Legacy Committee and, finally, the Sports Selection Committee. Very few athletes are inducted each year.
This year’s induction ceremony will be held at the Capri Hotel on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7 a.m. (breakfast is included).
This is a very professional and impressive event, and already over 240 tickets have been spoken for. Tickets are available for purchase through Dana at the Kelowna Museum 250-763-2417.
The museum also hosts a great display honoring the athletes who, over the last 10 years, have been inducted into the Hall. This year’s inductees are: Athlete Category: Malindi Elmore Malindi competed in the 2004 Olympics in the 1,500 metres and was the 2012 Canadian Olympic Trials champion. She is a four-time Canadian champion in the 1,500m and placed fourth at the Pan-American Games in 2003 and third at the ’03 World University Games. Athlete Category: Garett Hickling Garett is a wheelchair rugby legend. He has four Paralympic Games medals (3 silver, 1 bronze) and five world championship medals (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze). He was Canada’s flag-bearer at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Coach/Builder Category: Chris Taneda Chris was named Karate B.C. Coach of the Year in 2005. He was an Olympic torch bearer in 2010 and received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. Chris is a six-time Canadian champion and four-time world champion in karate. Athlete Category: Conrad Leinemann Conrad placed ninth in beach volleyball at the 2000 Olympic Games and won the gold medal at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg. He won the Canadian beach volleyball championship in 1995. In 1994, he was named first team All-Canadian while at UBC.
Pioneer Category: Kelowna Buckaroos Hockey Franchise
The Bucs helped establish Junior A hockey in Kelowna. They joined the Okanagan Jr. league in 1961 and were one of the four original teams in the B.C. Junior Hockey League in 1967. The Buckaroos won their only BCJHL title in 1974 but their success laid the foundation for both the WHL Rockets and Kelowna Minor Hockey.
Kelowna’s Trophy Den also deserves a big thank you. Their contribution will enable the museum to make their Hall of Fame display even better in the near future.
Regular readers will know that the sports that I write about are mainly running, cycling, cross-country skiing, triathlons, and occasionally paddling.
There are only a very few athletes in those categories already in the Hall, and I hope that my input will help to get more inducted.
Inducted to date in these sports are — Aundria Bertoia (running), Dan Bertoia (running), Glen Mervyn (rowing, cycling), Jo-Anne Ritchie (triathlon), Brenda and Mike Van Tighem (track coaching) and this year Elmore will join their ranks.
In my last column I wrote about Cliff Serwa, and how he has become, after retiring from politics, an accomplished cyclist at the age of 83. He recently returned from the Senior Games in St. George, Utah.
This is by far the largest senior games in North America with thousands of senior athletes (50+) from all over the U.S. and Canada competing in a wide variety of sports. In cycling, there were more than 250 competitors!
Cliff had an outstanding competition. Although he is pretty new to serious bike racing, he won every event he entered and he entered them all — the time trial, the hill climb, the criterium and the road race. He set a record in the hill climb winning by over six minutes, won the time trial by four minutes, dominated the road race, and in the criterium, a race he’d never even heard of before, he finished two laps ahead of the second-place rider.
The Starting Block Interior Cross Country Running Series is well underway. The third race in the five-race series was the Reino Run 8K held at the Larch Hills ski trails near Salmon Arm on Oct. 15.
Kelowna’s Michael Mitchell (M20-24) was first overall.
The fourth race in the series, the Larry Nicholas 9K, was held this past Sunday at Kelowna’s Mission Creek Park.
Penticton’s Josh Heinrich (M35-39) finished first in 31:20. Josh is having a great running year, and he seems to be getting faster with every race.
Kelowna runners John Machuga (M35-39, 32:04) and Zach Jackman (M20-24, 32:42) came second and third.
Kelowna’s Vanessa Tilson (F25-29) was first woman in 37:33, followed by Kelowna’s Alysson Hamilton (F25-29) in 37:45 and West Kelowna’s Emanuela Bandol (F35-39, 38:26).
Runners who had outstanding runs in the most competitive age categories included — Dirk Tiger Handke (M50-54, Kel), Leslie Gamble (F50-54, Kel), Steve Buzikievich (M60-64, Summerland), and Roly Muller (M65-69, Kel).
Bruce Butcher, the indefatigable 83-yearold from Kamloops ran his third race in the series, finishing the hilly course in just over an hour.
The final race in this series, the Kal Park 9k, will take place on Oct. 29 at Kal Park near Vernon.
The third run in the Fresh Air — YMCA Strong Kids Series was held immediately after the Larry Nicholas run.
It was well attended, with many parents running along with their kids.
The six-and-under age class was, as usual, the largest group, and the smiles on the faces of the kids and their parents showed the organizers, once again, what a great series this is. Kudos to Cindy Rhodes and her volunteers for putting this series together.
I cannot finish without mentioning Shanda Hill, the superb ultra athlete from Vernon.
I previously wrote about the Deca Triathlon (10 times Ironman distance, 38K swim, 1800K bike and 422K run) she did in Switzerland. That was just a couple of months ago, then she did a triple ironman distance race in Virginia in September and is now in Mexico competing in another Deca Triathlon.
She was the second-place woman in Switzerland, first in Virginia and, as of this writing, she was about halfway through the run in Mexico, with a large lead over the second-place woman.
An upcoming event that sounds like a lot of fun is the Dirty Feet Tunnel Run. This is a 20K run beginning in Naramata and going along the Kettle Valley Rail Trail. There are several categories — solo, two women teams, two men teams, mixed two person teams. Costumes are encouraged.