‘Inspiring’ torchbearers revealed

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This article was published 12/05/2017 (3260 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s oldest ringette player, Winnipeg’s best-known cheerleader and a single mom named athlete of the year were among those introduced Friday morning at a red-carpet ceremony announcing the torchbearers for the 2017 Canada Summer Games.

“Each one of them has an inspiring story to tell,” said Jeff Hnatiuk, president and CEO of the 2017 Canada Summer Games host society.

Nearly 200 torchbearers were chosen from the 650 who applied from all over Manitoba and Kenora, Ont., to take part in the Manitoba Hydro Torch Relay.

Alda Tait made the cut. At 89, she is Canada’s oldest ringette player.

“I’ve got a plaque to prove it,” said the great-grandmother who didn’t start playing ringette until after turning 60.

Tait said she’s been active all her life.

“When I was little, it was swinging in the trees playing Tarzan,” she said. “There wasn’t much to do in those days.”

Tait played championship-level softball in the 1950s and ’60s, coached, volunteered at community centres and now plays on the 35-plus ringette team Black Ice in St. Andrews. Tait credits sport for her good health and longevity.

“I wouldn’t have lived this long,” she said in an interview after the red carpet ceremony.

There, more than 60 Winnipeggers taking part in the torch run were introduced — including “Dancing Gabe” Langlois, a fixture at pro sporting events in Winnipeg, and author and reconcilitation expert Wilma Derksen, the mother of Candace Derksen, who was slain in 1984.

Swimmer Kimberly Moors, Manitoba Bisons female athlete of the year, also made the cut for torchbearer. She attended Friday’s ceremony with her seven-year-old daughter, Mila.

“I feel like all of it was for her,” Moors said. “It’s setting an example for my daughter.”

Mila, a soccer player and aerial acrobat, shook hands with the dignitaries on the red carpet, including Premier Brian Pallister, who is also taking part in the torch run.

Mila’s single-parent mom said being a torchbearer is about more than just the Canada Summer Games. Moors, 30, who works with the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre, is about to enter a master’s program in occupational therapy on a scholarship.

Sport has given her opportunities, taught her about balance in life as well as time management and determination, said Moors, who grew up in Thompson and is raising her daughter with no family in Winnipeg to help. Making time for the Games and the torch run is a priority, said Moors.

“It’s letting her know there are so many possibilities and that sports can open so many doors. It has given me so much.”

More than 4,000 athletes and coaches will be at the Games that run from July 28 to Aug. 13. Close to 20,000 visitors are expected to attend the 50th anniversary of Canada’s largest multi-sport event for young athletes.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca