Four athletes from the NWT won medals at the weekend’s Special Olympics Alberta Provincials in Grande Prairie.
Two athletes, Josh Boudreau and Grayson Klein, participated in track and field. Two others, Chelsey Makaro and Marcus Wedawin, competed in swimming.
Jennifer and Trent Waterhouse coached the track and field athletes while Alex Malakoe and Sheadon Roll coached the swimmers.
“I’m so proud of all the work and effort that they put in,” Jennifer Waterhouse told Cabin Radio.
Klein won silver in the shotput and bronze in the 400m, finishing fifth in the 200m. “I feel happy and I’m excited, too,” he said.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
This was his first year at Special Olympics provincials, and he said his favourite part was “just being there and participating.”
Boudreau, a winner of multiple medals at world level as a speed skater, won provincial silver in the 3,000m, bronze in the 1,500m and bronze in the 800m.
In the pool, Wedawin won gold in the 100m backstroke, silver in the 100m freestyle, bronze in the 50m backstroke and gold in the 50m freestyle.
He described feeling “happy and excited” about winning medals. “I was like, man, I did it,” he told Cabin Radio, expressing happiness at the “friends you make along the way” at events like these.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
Makaro, a Special Olympics World Games champion in swimming two years ago, took home provincial gold in the 100m backstroke, 100m freestyle and 50m backstroke, as well as bronze in the 50m freestyle.
“One of the best things that I saw was just the friendships that were being made with our team and the other athletes,” said Waterhouse.
She described the Albertan teams as “very welcoming” and said they found ways to include all the athletes.
Waterhouse also described some of the adversities athletes overcame during the weekend. One athlete lost a shoe during his race and kept on running.
“They made some amazing friends along the way with people who they were competing with in the same events,” she said.
“It was just a great event for them to become confident in their sports, and become more confident in travelling on their own.”
