Western Canada Summer Games

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to attend the Western Canada Summer Games in Wood Buffalo, Alberta. It was such an incredible event, they said we go big in Alberta and man did they ever!

The first day we flew in on a chartered plane specifically for Team BC. it was packed and the energy level was almost over whelming. everyone was super pumped, excited for the week, accomadations, food, competition and meeting new people. we got our new kit and gear when we arrived at the airport, all the teams forming little cliques as we await to board. the plane ride wasnt too long, about 2 hours. As soon as we arrived we were escorted to the pick up area where we were greeted with a bunch of cheering supporters, a DJ and the games mascot, a wood buffalo. after that we were then put on school busses to go to our accomidations.

Every province got their own wing. boys and girls were seperated into different lodges and every single person got their own room, double bed, shower. it was perfect! a nice space to get away from all the comotion, a place to just relax. we didnt end up spending a ton of time in and around the lodge as we spent most of our race days at the venue, i think the longest day was 7 hours. we were usually pretty exhausted by the time we got back so we usually met up as a team 30 min after we returned and had dinner and a team debreif. the food was amazing! they always had baked goods, fresh fruit and veggies, deserts, sandwiches and drinks out. and then at meal time the buffet style room opened where they served, roasts, chicken, potatoes, bacon well basically everything! couldnt have been much better. also a little fun fact, with in the first 3 days all the athletes ate a total of 25,000 cookies.

The races were amazing, and each venue has incredible, big shoutout to all the volunteers who helped make this experiance one to remember!

at the games a;; the cyclists had to partake in four events, a TT, and Road Race, a Mountain Bike Eliminator and a X-Coutnry Mounatin Bike race. being a roadie the TT and road race wasnt super difficult for me. I really enjoyed riding with my friends and team mates. Emily Handford and I took the top steps of the Podium. I was quite pleased with that race as I had raced pretty hard but it was my first race where i was able to form a break and hold it for the last lap. The TT was a bit harder as it fell directly on to the road race course, and it had a big climb. and no it wasnt super fun on the TT bike. but that ok I managed to clock a fast enough time to secure 1st place.

The hardest events for me was difinetly the mountain bike races, I like mountain biking but I havent done a whole bunch of racing so it was all still relatively new to me. the course wasnt overly technical, so I was able to ride the whole course which I was pleased about. it was just fast and flowy with a few punchy grinds. I was able to place 6th in that race so i was pretty stoked about that, and the eliminator well i think everyone felt similar to me, pretty nervous. this was a new event to everyone. people had only ever heard about it. but Team BC managed to get a nother full podium sweep, Stephanie Denroche took the win! YAY.

Anyways this was such an uncredible experiance and anyone ever getting the oppoutunity to experiance a multisport games I would highly recommend attending. you dont get such a vibrant, enthused atmosphere anywhere else. you can also get the oppourtunity to cheer on your fellow TEAM BC team mates from the stands. CBC (cycling bc) went to go cheer on the mens gymnastics, it was absolutly incredible what some of these young men were cabable of. we also had afns of our own, cheerin on the side of the road were athletes who plaed, basketball, tennis, baseball, ect... it was such an incredible event. Thank You Wood Buffalo!