Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games smash numerous records in Strathmore

Miriam Ostermann
Times Times Associate Editor

 

Fifty-eight-year-old Stephen Wiewel learned to swim in a river near a small town in Manitoba where he grew up. As an adult, he never received any formal training, and never swam competitively. In fact, the only experience he had in the pool was his leisurely swims every morning since the pool’s construction in Strathmore nearly a decade ago. Yet last weekend, during the Strathmore 2015 Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games, Wiewel blew everyone out of the water, and took to the podium to collect a total of four gold medals.
“Normally when I swim in the morning I don’t necessarily swim for speed,” said Wiewel. “It’s a little bit different when you are in a race than when you swimming for exercise in the morning. I kind of got hooked on the events … and I’m going to try and continue to participate in the games as the years progress.”
Wiewel was one of 1,289 Albertan athletes aged 55 and older, and one of two participants representing Strathmore in the pool. Susan Lust, 67, a former member of the Alberta swim team, hadn’t competed for 50 years but began actively training four days a week since March 31. Surrounded by her family and two former Alberta swim team teammates, Lust dipped into her erstwhile competitive edge and secured three silver medals on July 18.
“I was hoping for a gold … but I’m quite happy and was really tickled to get three silvers,” said Lust.
“You have to be able to swim pretty well, because they weren’t slouches, that’s for sure. The big thing is that now I’m really hyped up to keep training; keep swimming. And I know that’s the best thing that I can do for my health. I’m going to go again in two years and try again, and I’ll get gold.”
Twenty-eight participants from Strathmore and area competed in the games that included arts and crafts, Bocce, shuffleboard, athletics, cycling, cribbage, and Pickleball, to name a few. As 24 of the participants took home at least one medal, a total of 81 medals were distributed to participants from Zone 2 – Big Country – that ranked fifth overall.
Participants from all over the province gathered at the Wheatland Elementary School, racing around the tracks, aiming javelins, and throwing shot put, while breaking 42 Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games records in the process.
Strathmore’s own Theo Owel, who also finished with three silver medals, raced against Calgary’s David Guss in the 55 Plus men’s 1,500 metre, who smashed the record by a minute with a time of 4:55.
“I think this is a record number of participants in track and field, and we had 96 participants which is I think the highest it’s ever been,” said Joss Binns, activities director for the Strathmore 2015 Alberta 55 Plus Summer games.
“We had some very good quality athletes out of Calgary. I would say the majority of records were broken by Calgary athletes who belong to the track clubs in Calgary. They came out for this competition and that’s why they did really well.”
Regular trailblazer Nessie Hollicky was one of those athletes, whose late husband told her she was too slow to run a marathon in celebration of her 80th birthday four years ago. But that didn’t stop her last weekend on her 84th birthday, when the Calgary woman, whose friends joke is a battery that never runs out, did exactly that. Hollicky ran in four events, and set a record of 14:35 for the 1,500 meter run in her age group – an ideal birthday present.
However, Hollicky wasn’t surprised by her success. The mother of six was nearing 60 years of age when she picked up a book about running when you’re 40. Since then, Hollicky gets up every morning at 5 a.m. to run and has collected over 800 medals, participated in 15 marathons, and came first in the 75+ category at the Honolulu marathon.
“A gal in Calgary, when I was running, said ‘Oh her walk is strong,’ of course she kept on running, but I felt like saying ‘lady that was my run,'” joked Hollicky.
“It’s just weird because I try and go faster and it just doesn’t work.”
Strathmore put in the bid to host the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games over two years ago and required the help of over 800 volunteers to ensure its success – a goal many participants and volunteers feel was accomplished.
For detailed information about the participants, rankings, and categories visit www.albertagames.com.