Medals, personal bests and qualifications for the national competition will soon be on the line for a group of Tri-Cities winter athletes.
Special Olympics BC (SOBC) has unveiled its rosters for the 2023 BC Winter Games in Kamloops next month, and it includes 16 athletes and nine coaches from Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody.
Altogether, they'll represent three different regions on the field, or on the sidelines, in hopes of reaching the podium at the biannual event.
SOBC winter sports include five-pin bowling, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, floor hockey, snowshoeing and speed skating.
"I'm just so enthusiastic about this! And wow — I can't wait," said Lori Urban, a Coquitlam alpine skier, in a release sent to the Tri-City News about the games.
Urban and her fellow Tri-Cities Special Olympians earned their spot on their respective rosters through a series of regional qualifiers between January and May last year.
If successful in Kamloops, the athletes will have the chance to get to the next level of competition — the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary.
The 2023 SOBC Winter Games are scheduled for Feb. 2 to 4.
The Tri-Cities' competing athletes and coaches bound for the Okanagan are as follows (in alphabetical order):
Fraser Valley
Coquitlam
- Lindsey Aarstad (snowshoeing)
- Don Bruneau (speed skating)
- Assistant Coach
- Eric Bruneau (speed skating)
- Sean Casey (speed skating)
- Rene Girard (speed skating)
- Sheila Hogan
- Mission Staff
- Rosella Infanti (speed skating)
- Nicholas Libera (speed skating)
- Head Coach
- Walde Libera (speed skating)
- Assistant Coach
- Janis Sibley (curling)
- Assistant Coach
- Ariel Taylor (snowshoeing)
- Joanne Turnbull (snowshoeing)
- Head Coach
- Lori Urban (alpine skiing)
- Esli Zuniga (curling)
Port Coquitlam
- Frankie Fu (speed skating)
- Jeremy Kong (curling)
- Bradley Laforce (speed skating)
Port Moody
- Reid Demelo (speed skating)
- Fiona Hall (alpine skiing)
- Jay Prentice (snowshoeing)
- Wade Sandberg (snowshoeing)
- Assistant Coach
Burnaby, Delta, Richmond
Coquitlam
- Bridget Colvin (curling)
- Katie Little (snowshoeing)
- Liz Little (snowshoeing)
- Head Coach
Vancouver, North Vancouver, Sunshine Coast
Port Coquitlam
- Tracy Evans (curling)
- Assistant Coach
