Six local students have shown why Squamish is so renowned for producing skilled athletes after representing Vancouver-Coastal at the 2024 BC Summer Games.
Held on July 17 to 21, the games are British Columbia’s “biennial celebration of sport and community, bringing together British Columbia’s best emerging high performance athletes, trained coaches, and certified officials for four days of competition” reads the BC Summer Games website.
Youth compete in a number of sports including swimming, athletics, baseball, equestrian, and soccer.
The BC Games were founded in 1977.
This year, Squamish’s Jenaya Clegg took first place in the Super Sprint Triathlon, F1 Triathlon and the Aquathon and fourth place in the Duathlon.
“My experience at the BC Summer Games was amazing. I tried a new sport and learned about the rules and techniques that came with it,” Clegg said.
“It was also so cool to see how many other athletes there were from different sports and has widened my perspective.”
She said the whole experience gave her the chance to accomplish some “unexpected things”.
“It was also so amazing to see all the other athletes competing in their sports. It was like summer camp for athletes!” Clegg said.
Sisters Allie and Payton Spence competed as duo rowers and placed 6th in the under 19 pairs category, and together with teammates came 5th in the quad category.
“I had a wonderful time at the BC Games, I loved getting the opportunity to race with my sister and meeting a lot of new people from different sports and making all sorts of new friends from all across BC,” Allie said.
“It was a great way to experience my first race and I am grateful that I have gotten to come home with a lot of memories with my sister, the rest of my team and some of the other athletes at the BC Games.”
Sadie Hitchmough competed in her first BC summer games in basketball and her team came home with a bronze placement.
Klara Fielding took part in the equestrian competition and placed seventh, eighth and ninth in the mixed category.
In his first and only chance to compete in the BC Summer Games, Diego Castellanos said he swam his best times in the freestyle categories.
“This was my first time competing at the Summer Games; it is actually the only opportunity I had, because each athlete can only take part in the games once in a lifetime,” Castellanos said.
“I was one of the youngest because of this but I am grateful for the chance. If I waited another two years I would have aged out.
“It was a different experience because we travelled, lived and raced with the team. The swimming was the same but the team travel aspect was new and exciting. I did pretty well.
“At the end of the meet I swam my best time in the mile. I was very happy,” he said.
Castellanos placed 18th in the boys 50m freestyle and the boys 400m freestyle.
More information about the event can be found on the BC Summer Games website.
