By Scott Roblin

Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games ready to kick off in ‘Gas City’

Jul 3, 2019 | 5:33 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The City of Medicine Hat is ready to welcome the province this week, playing host to the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games.

The celebration of athletics and active living will begin on Thursday evening with the opening ceremonies, which will take place at the Cypress Centre.

Marketing director for the 55 Plus Games Barry Finkleman said it’s been a long road to get to this point, but organizers feel prepared.

“Things are coming together really well,” said Finkleman. “People have been working in various areas, they’ve been planning, they’ve been working with people, setting up volunteers. It seems to all be coming together very, very well.”

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Over 800 athletes from all corners of Alberta will take part in the three-day competition, which will feature 16 competitions ranging from cycling, to swimming, to tennis.

Slo-pitch will see the most competitors this week with over 250 athletes taking to the Moose and Lorne Holden ball diamonds.

Over 100 golfers will compete at Connaught Golf Course, while close to 80 are planning to hit the track and field facility outside of Crescent Heights High School.

This will be the latest in major provincial and national events to be held in Medicine Hat, joining the 2017 Canadian Little League Championships, 2017 Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games, 2016 Alberta Winter Games, and the upcoming 2019 World U-17 Hockey Challenge.

“Medicine Hat has offered games several times over the last 10 years, so we’ve got a fair amount of experience,” said Finkleman. “That’s why there’s a Sport and Events Council that is continuing to look into bringing additional games here to Medicine Hat and make this a centre of activity.”

As for community involvement, Finkleman expects just under 500 volunteers to assist in the activities this week.

All events will also be free for the public to attend, something that Finkleman said reflects the spirit of the games to try and keep people 55 and older active.

“We want people to come out and not only enjoy the fact that we have all of these wonderful potential spaces in Medicine Hat where activity can go on,” he said. “But, we want them to realize that there’s a lot more, we want them to get involved as time goes on.”

“This is not just a highlight for the games itself. But, this is also a template to show people that Medicine Hat is a very active, growing community.”

The first athletes will get their events started on Friday morning at 8:00 am, while the Alberta 55 Plus Summer Games will wrap up on Sunday with the slo-pitch finals.