London’s Senior (55+) athletes will go to the Ontario Senior Games in Cobourg on Feb 21-23. A busload of Londoners will make the trek to compete in 10 Pin bowling, Skiing, Badminton, Curling, Duplicate Bridge, Hockey, Prediction Skating, Table Tennis & Volleyball.
Events generally offer age groups – 55+ and 65+; and team, doubles, mixed doubles or singles, as appropriate. All Londoners are invited to participate in the London Senior Games. The Summer Games will be held in May and June.
This year’s local Gold medalists include: Otto Benke in Men’s 65 Prediction Skating, Barry Brigham in Men’s 55 and Kim Benke in Women’s 55. In badminton, more than 30 players competed in six events. Gold medals went to: Cathy Johnston & Catherine Neelankavil in W55, Akiko Nakamaru & Karen Jackson in W65, John Long & Archie Skikos in M55, Rod Wensley & Guy DeBock in M 65, Lynn Thompson & Randy Frederick in Mx 55, and Akiko Nakamaru & Rod Wensley in Mx 65.
Table Tennis attracted another 20 participants. Gold medals went to: Bernadette Pitt & Norma Beck in W55, Norene Clancy & Vera Capirchio in W 65, Eugene Kolesinski & Jim Dwyer in M55, Gogi Khokha & Otto Benke in M65, Bernadette Pitt & Tim Bobier in Mx 55, and Norene Clancy & Gogi Khokha in Mx 65.
Other local events include: 8 Ball, which was won by Bob Callahan, and Snooker, won by Bill Lawrence; also Wii bowling & Crokinole, just for fun.
Meanwhile, London will be sending five volleyball teams to Cobourg – 55+ W, 55+ M, 55+ Coed, 65+ W, 65+ M. A fun volleyball tournament was made up of the players that had signed up. There were nine teams and everyone played all afternoon. Gold medal winners were: Aileen Reid Captain, Paul Witmer, Mike Hook, Tracy Weaver, Peter Stainton, Miro Hudecek and Jackie Piccolotto. Silver medal winners were: Harry Ducker Captain, John Bannerman, Bill Gaskell, Kim Goor, Nancy Edgar, Diane Johnson, Peter Kaminisky and Phil Prieur. Bronze medal winners were: Mitch Lupa, Fred Lane, Marnie Littke, Cliff Gowan, Daryll Eedy, Rudy Kotar, June Decker and Peter Grail. Good luck to those players going to Cobourg!
Complete results and more photos are available at www.londonseniorgames.com.
Story By Kim Benke, for London Senior Games
