Ontario Winter Games set to resume in Thunder Bay this weekend
Second weekend includes hockey, curling, biathlon and archery
After what organizers are calling a successful first weekend, the Ontario Winter Games return to Thunder Bay on Saturday with a whole new slate of sports on the schedule.
The games are being broken up into two weekends. The first ran from Feb. 16-19, and the event resumes this weekend, with competitions running from Saturday to Monday.
This time around, the sports will be different, however, with the following competitions scheduled for the next few days:
- 5 pin bowling at Mario's Bowl on Memorial Avenue
- Archery, at Lakehead Archers on Vibert Road in Rosslyn
- Artistic swimming, at the Canada Games Complex
- Biathlon, at Kamview Nordic Centre
- Curling, at the Fort William Curling Club
- Fencing at Confederation College
- Hockey at Fort William Gardens.
"We were really happy with the way that week one went," games coordinator Matthew Lawrence said. "Anything that we do for week two will just be minor adjustments."
"We can always tweak things as we go along, but we were quite happy with the with the success of week one."
One nice surprise on the first weekend, Lawrence said, was the number of spectators who showed up at the various venues across the city.
"We got a lot more spectators than we were expecting," he said. "People were out cheering on the athletes, which was really appreciated."
"We definitely got a lot of great feedback from coaches and athletes, so it was well received and well attended, so we were quite happy with it," he said.
The interest around the games is helpful for the sporting organizations participating, as well.
"We have had a few new people come out to the club recently to try things out," said Shane Baker, junior development chair with Lakehead Archers. "I'm hoping that's as a direct result of [the Ontario Winter Games.]"
"We are trying to get as much information out there to let people know that the games are happening, and archery is going to be a big, big component of it," he said. "So I would like to think that, with the games coming here, that there will be an influx of people coming to try archery for the first time."
Neil Lumsden, Ontario Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport, said participating in the games will be a valuable experience for all of the athletes, regardless of how they place.
"The experience that these games deliver will be second-to-none," he said. "If the young athlete wants to take it to the next level, it gives them an idea, from a competition perspective, what it might be like, and what to look forward to."
"That's really important in sport, to get to compete against high-quality athletes, if you ultimately aspire to go to the ultimate level," he said. "That's where those experiences are great."
Lumsden speaks from experience. Not only does he have children who are athletes, but he himself is a retired CFL player: Lumsden has four Grey Cup rings, three from his playing days with Edmonton, and one from his time as general manager in Hamilton.
Lumsden was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2014.
"Sport will deliver change within seconds, and you need to learn and understand not to get afraid of change, but to embrace it and figure out how to get by it," Lumsden said. "Whether it's in football and adjustments on-field, whether hockey, whether it's bobsledding, doesn't matter."
"That's one of the major lessons to be learned from sport," he said. "Stuff changes. Don't let it put you back in your heels. Think, move forward and change it."
Successfully running an event like this can also help open doors for future hosting opportunities for cities like Thunder Bay, as well, Lumsden said.
"You've seen it, you've done it, you do it again and you're more capable and able to deal with change and adjustments," he said. "Because it's not just a matter of rubber stamping and then away you go."
"It's a lot of work put on by the organizing committee and all the volunteers around it," Lumsden said. "And they deserve so much credit for what they do."
The second weekend of the games will also feature another opening ceremony at Fort William Historical Park; that gets underway at 5 p.m. Friday.
A full schedule of competitions for the coming weekend is available on the Ontario Winter Games website.
