Seniors from across the province are in Greater Victoria this week as the region hosts the 55+ B.C. Games for the first time in its 36-year history, today through Saturday at venues in Langford, Saanich, Victoria, Oak Bay and Esquimalt.
About 2,500 people age 55 or older will be in town to compete in 22 sports and activities, in the largest annual multi-sport event in the province. It also represents the first major multi-sport event hosted by the region since the 1997 North American Indigenous Games.
The games are organized and managed by the B.C. Seniors Games Society, with funding from the provincial government.
The province is divided into 12 zones, with each zone responsible for selecting participants and teams for events such as pickleball, ice hockey, cycling, dragon boating and cribbage.
Irene Wallace, an active 73-year-old on the Boomer Babes hockey team representing Victoria in Zone 1, said the games are an opportunity to expand her horizons, travel and meet people. “Sport is a great motivator for people to get out and do some critical socialization.”
Originally from Swift Current, Sask., Wallace grew up in a time when girls weren’t allowed to play on hockey teams. Every winter, her dad, who was also a hockey coach, would create an ice rink in their backyard and she would play hockey with her brothers.
She recalls, around Grade 8, playing a hockey game wearing her figure-skating blades, because a girl at that time would never be seen wearing hockey skates.
Wallace went on to play basketball and field hockey at university level and was a pitcher for the national softball team in the Pan American Games in Puerto Rico in 1979.
She returned to hockey when she was 57 and has been hitting the ice ever since.
“I like to be seen as an advocate for healthy living,” said Wallace, who has been twice inducted into the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame.
“I don’t mind setting an example because many people tend not to try things until they see others doing it. I want to tell them that skills are attainable at any age.”
Also, she said, maintaining a healthy lifestyle means that her metabolic age is years younger than her actual age. “I just love aging backwards.”
Admission is free for watching all the competitions at the 55+ B.C. Games, today to Saturday.
The public is also invited to the Thursday Night on the Town festival, with music, buskers, a First Nations cultural performance and a chance to try out some games. The event runs 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday on Government Street between Humboldt and View streets.
For more information, go to 55plusbcgames.org/ greatervictoria2022.
parrais@timescolonist.com
