Richmond athletes ensured Team B.C. finished with a flourish at the Canada Summer Games in Quebec.
An impressive final day saw B.C. secure third place in the medal standings with 122, including 47 gold.
BC's rowing team was a force to be reckoned with, earning five gold and one bronze and finished the competition earning 12 of a possible 14 medals including 10 gold.
Leading the way was Richmond's Cameron Howie with an outstanding three gold medal performance. He teamed with Delta's Max Lattimer to win the pairs event and added gold in the lightweight four and eight races. Colin Schaap produced a pair of gold. He too was part of the eight winning crew and joined Samuel Harris (Kelowna), Martin Barakso (Nanaimo) and Lucas deGelder (Vancouver) to rally back and win the the men's four by an open water margin.
It was also terrific regatta for Kelly Jackson. The 19-year-old Boston University student teamed with Cloverdale's Hillary Jannssens to capture the women's pair a event by an amazing 23 seconds over runner-up Ontario. Jackson then joined three Vancouver Island rowers - Mickey Aylard, Morgan Cathrea and Allie DeLarge - to win the four race by nine second margin.
"It's been a pleasure to be one of the coaches on this journey and we're all very proud of our kids, how well they themselves," said assistant coach and Olympian Barney Williams. "One of the commitments we made was to engage the rowing community of B.C. through our experience, to try and bring the community together through the Games, and I think we succeeded in our goal. We took a picture of all of us in front of the flame and it will be displayed at every club in the province who produced an athlete on this team."
The B.C fencers also finished the Games in style with a total of 10 medals. Richmond's Shaul Gordon won gold and silver while Dylan French added a silver and bronze. The coaching staff included Victor Gantsevich of the Richmond-based Dynamo Fencing "We selected the right group of athletes for these Games," he said. "The development program in British Columbia has resulted in a new breed of fencers and has now shown that we are a real force to be reckoned with -both nationally and beyond!" On the soccer field, Richmond's Jason Roberts an Justin Turner-Pearce won silver after a 2-0 loss to Quebec in the final. It was an impressive run to the gold medal match given B.C. entered the tournamwnt seeded eighth based on their showing in 2009.
In track and field, high jumper Emma Kimoto continued her busy summer with a silver medal performance. Her best jump 180 cm was beaten out by Alberta's Rachel Machin.
