All eight members of the Lunenburg-Queens athletics team worked their way to the podium at least once during the Special Olympics Canada 2018 Summer Games held in Antigonish from July 31 to Aug. 4. In total, the local athletes brought home 14 medals in various athletic events including:
Jennifer MacIntosh, Bridgewater — 200 metre race (bronze) and 400 metre (silver).
Colby Oickle, Liverpool — shot put (gold).
Emily Latta, Bridgewater — shot put (gold), 100 metre (silver) and 4x100 relay (gold).
Ben Theriau, Port Mouton — 100 metre (bronze), 200 metre (gold), 400 metre (gold), 4x100 relay (gold).
Jamie Belong, Liverpool — 4x100 relay (gold).
Rebecca Maule, Liverpool — shot put (bronze).
Rebecca Delaney, Liverpool — 4x100 relay (gold).
Matt Faye, Chester — 1,500 metre (gold).
Also was representing Lunenburg-Queens Special Olympics was Krista Stockman from Bridgewater who placed fourth in the golf competition.
Kody Latta from Bridgewater, who was chosen as a coach for Team Nova Scotia, attended the weeklong event. He said he was very proud of the members from Lunenburg-Queens who had an exceptional showing as well as all athletes of the provincial team.
Team Nova Scotia earned a total of 134 medals for the province’s best showing ever.
“These athletes worked extremely hard for a full year,” Latta said, noting that athletes were notified last August that they had made the team and from that point on, they took part in at least three training sessions a week. “They all put in a tremendous effort and we are all extremely proud of them.”
The next step for some of these athletes could be participating on the international stage as some may be chosen to take part in the World Special Olympic Games being held next March in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
“The selection of those athletes is out of our hands, but we may know something within a few weeks,” Latta said, adding that would be a great honour for them.
The next national Special Olympics games will be held in Thunder Bay, Ont. in 2020 and will be the winter games, as summer and winter events rotate every two years. At this point, it isn’t known where the next summer games will be held in 2022.
