Only a few days into the B.C. Seniors Games and Prince George has been well represented on the podium, with local athletes earning 38 medals, seventh in the overall medal standings.
More than 3,100 athletes are participating this weekend at the Games in the West Kootenays (Trail, Castlegar and Nelson).
At Haley Park in Trail, Tom Ukonmaanaho of Prince George earned a gold medal in 65-69-year-old men's shotput (10.04 metres), gold in pole vault (2.3m), gold in the javelin throw (32.8m), gold in the 100 metre race (13.72 seconds) and another gold in the 200 metre race (28.48 seconds) and a bronze in hammer throw (22.44m).
"Tom medalled in every sport he entered," said Dick Voneugen, track and field chair of the BC Seniors Games. In total, he earned eight medals.
Zena Campbell, from Prince George, was registered in more sports than any other athlete and earned herself a gold medal in 75-79 year-old women's 100 metres (36:54), gold in 200 metre race (1.26 minutes) and a silver medal in the 800 metre race (8:07 minutes).
In the medal standings, the Fraser Valley won the medal count, earning 265 medals in total (124 gold, 89 silver and 52 bronze).
The organizing body divides B.C. into 13 zones, with Prince George part of Zone 9.
The North Central zone has 196 competitors this year with the majority of those competitors from the Prince George area. Zone 9 collected 36 gold, 32 silver and 36 bronze medals.
"The games were awesome! When we were there [the weather] was just phenomenal," said Voneugen.
One sport expecting to attract the biggest crowds at the Games is tennis. In each age category there are several events: men's, women's, men's and women's doubles and mixed doubles. Jennifer Clarke of Prince George found gold on the court in the 75-79-year-old women's singles final in Castlegar.
Other Prince George medal results were as follows: Track and field -- Dennis Matson, 60-64 men, silver, 1500m (6:49.30); Owen Mathison, 60-64 men, silver, triple jump (7.77m); Erich Bertram, 75-79 men, gold, shotput (7.32m), silver, discus (19.3m), bronze, javelin throw (12.19m); Ewing McLaren, 80-84 men, bronze, discus (14.12m), bronze, javelin throw (14.8m); Keith Taylor, 75-79 men, gold, pole vault (1.8m), silver, 5,000m powerwalk (38:55.40); Lynne Hyatt, 55-59 women, gold, triple jump (6.13m); Linda Meise, 60-64 women, bronze, triple jump (5.11m; Cris MacDonald, 65-69 women, gold, triple jump (4.91m), bronze, javelin throw (11.6m), bronze, weight throw (7.94m); Arna Kristian, 75-79 women, silver, weight throw (8.33m), silver, discus (16.05m), bronze, javelin throw (13.26m); Suzanne Sharp, 55-59 women, silver, 1,500m (7:42.39).
There are 27 events included in the games.
Not all of the events require physical excursion, medals for the card games whist, bridge, cribbage are also up for grabs.
