From bocce to badminton and tennis to track and field, Surrey and White Rock seniors pulled in quite a medal haul at the B.C. 55+ Games, which were held earlier this month – Sept. 11-15 – in Kimberley and Cranbrook.
In bocce, Ines Tonon of Surrey won gold in women’s singles, while also teaming up with Carol Adams to win gold in women’s pairs. Adams also paired up with Zeff Baldonero to win silver in mixed pairs, while Baldonero and White Rock’s Lino Bragagnolo teamed to win men’s pairs gold, as well.
Florio Scremin won silver in men’s singles to round out the podium finishes.
Medals were quick to come to local swimmers, as well.
Competing in the women’s 55-59 year-old division, Dale Freeman won gold in the 200-m individual medley, 100-m backstroke, and 200-, 400- and 800-m freestyle events; Celia Hill won gold in 800-m free, 100- and 200-m IM, 50-m backstroke and 50-m butterfly, and silver in 100-m free in the women’s 60-64 group; Craig Slater won gold in mens 55-59 200- and 400-m free, 50-m fly and 100-m back, and 100- and 200-m IM; among 60-64 year-old men Dan Zaklan won silver in 100-m breaststroke and 800-m free and bronze in 400-m free, and Ivan Vonic won silver in 100-m back and 50-m breast.
Also in the 60-64 class, Ray Decenzo won gold in 50-m back, silver in 25-m breaststroke and bronze in 25- and 200-m free. Many of the aforementioned swimmers also joined forces to win a handful of medals in various relay races over the course of the competition.
On the badminton court, Surrey’s John Crombach won silver in the men’s 65-69 competitive division, while on the golf course, both Jim Naidu and Dan Nagur won silver medals in their respective divisions.
Sylvia Decenzo won gold in women’s 60-64 year-old tennis singles, while Paul Dumas and Scott Davidson won gold and silver, respectively, in their age categories.
In track and field, Harjinder Kang won two gold medals – in 400- and 800-m – while also picking up three silvers, in the 200- and 1,500-m events plus discus; Mohan Bains won gold in men’s hammer throw and silver in shot put and weight throw; Hardev Sandhu won gold in men’s 65-59 weight throw and 200-m, silver in hammer throw and bronze in 50- and 100-m; Armarjit Chahal won silver in 100- and 200-m; Larry Johnston also won two silver medals, in triple jump and 200-m; Harold Morioka took gold in 100- and 200-m, silver in 50-m and bronze in discus; Surinder Shah won silver in weight throw, 80-m hurdles and 400-m, while scooping bronze in both long jump and triple jump; Bill McNamara won silver in long jump; and Bakhshish Dhillon won five golds – in discus, shot put, javelin, weight throw and hammer throw.
Sheila Allison won gold in a slew of events in the women’s 70-74 division: 200- , 400-, 800- and 5,000-m as well as the 10-km road race and triple jump, while also winning bronze in long jump.
In the same age division, Lynette Baldock won silver in the 200-, 800-, 1,500- and 5,000-m races, plus the 10-km road race, long jump and triple jump.
Marie Johnson won four golds – in 50-, 200-, 400- and 800-m – while adding a silver in the 100-m dash; and Linda Hague won gold in women’s 1,500-m race walk.
Rounding out the medal winners was White Rock’s David Ulis, who won four gold medals – in discus, javelin, shot put and pentathlon – while also adding two silvers, in weight throw and hammer throw.
In pickleball, the Surrey tandem of Sheena Brewer and Robin De Graaf won gold in mixed doubles, while Brewer and teammate Jane Rich combined to win gold in a women’s doubles event.
Overall, the Fraser Valley zone – for which all Surrey and White Rock athletes competed – placed first in the team rankings, with a total of 304 medals. The second place zone, Vancouver Island North, finished with 234.