Eleven Campbell River athletes bound for Special Olympics Canada Summer Games<\/p>\n
Published 7:30 am Saturday, August 1, 2026<\/p>\n
Eleven athletes from Campbell River will travel to Medicine Hat on August 9 to compete at the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games.<\/p>\n
These athletes are among the more than 200 athletes representing Team BC, who have spent the past year training for the national competition. Five Campbell River coaches will accompany the team.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s Games will bring together more than 1,700 athletes and coaches, supported by approximately 1,500 volunteers. In addition to competing for national medals, athletes will be vying for the opportunity to represent Canada at the 2027 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Santiago, Chile. <\/p>\n
One of Campbell River\u2019s competitors is Ian Zipser, who will compete in golf. Zipser has been involved with Special Olympics for three years participating in softball, floorball, basketball and club fit, as well as golf. This will be his first appearance at the National Games. <\/p>\n
To prepare, Zipser has been practicing at the Campbell River Golf Club at least three times a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I play holes and sometimes I practice,\u201d he said. \u201cI am looking forward to golfing at Nationals, meeting other athletes and having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
Campbell River will also be represented in track and field by Ashley Adie and Hazen Meade. <\/p>\n
Adie has participated in Special Olympics for 23 years. In addition to track and field, she competes in snowshoeing, swimming, floorball, 10-pin bowling and powerlifting. <\/p>\n
She has attended four National Games\u2014twice in snowshoeing and twice in track and field\u2014and was selected to compete at the 2022 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Kazan, Russia. Unfortunately, those Games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were later cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am looking forward to making fun memories at Nationals,\u201d said Adie, \u201ccheering on my teammates and doing my best!\u201d <\/p>\n
Meade represented Canada in snowshoeing at the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in South Korea. He has competed at six National Games in snowshoeing and two in track and field. <\/p>\n
To prepare for this year\u2019s competition, Meade has been training consistently.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have been preparing by running three kilometres every Sunday,\u201d he said. \u201cI run every chance I get. I have also been seeing a physiotherapist and doing everything he recommends.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meade credits Special Olympics with helping him stay active, maintain a healthy lifestyle, meet new people and experience new places. <\/p>\n
Also representing Campbell River on Team B.C. are: <\/p>\n
Victor Goslin \u2013 10-pin bowling
\nJo-Dee Ingram, Bryan Jorgensen and Patrik Lowe \u2013 bocce ball
\nBreanna Lutzer and Hannah Taylor \u2013 rhythmic gymnastics
\nMaire Anderson \u2013 women\u2019s soccer
\nCalum McLagan \u2013 powerlifting <\/p>\n
The team will be accompanied by coaches Ann Jorgensen (bocce), David Ell (mission staff), Lynne Macara (rhythmic gymnastics), George Maclagan (powerlifting) and Steve Zipser (golf).<\/p>\n
The Campbell River athletes will join hundreds of teammates from across British Columbia in representing the province on the national stage, showcasing not only their athletic abilities but also the dedication, perseverance, and spirit of Special Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eleven Campbell River athletes bound for Special Olympics Canada Summer Games Published 7:30 am Saturday, August 1, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44,36245],"class_list":["post-840627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-vancouver-island"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}