Steen shows age no barrier at Games

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This article was published 31/07/2023 (798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Ray Steen had July 29, 2023 circled on his calendar for six years, hoping to be the strongest but not knowing he’d be the elder statesman of the field.

It was also a day the 74-year-old retired RCMP member sought to complete a mission he unsuccessfully attempted in 1998 at the Can-Am Police-Fire Games in Regina and again a decade later after injuring his rotator cuff early on in Saskatoon.

This time, the event’s oldest participant endured the Toughest Competitor Alive event at the World Police and Fire Games, held at the University of Manitoba.

“When I heard that (the WPFG) was coming to Winnipeg, I thought this is going to be my only chance at my age to be able to put forth an effort and just see if I can at least finish the competition, which luckily I was able to Saturday,” said Steen.

“One thing you have to do is be able to start each of the eight events. Even if you’re injured, as long as you start the event, you don’t necessarily have to finish it. You have to put forth enough effort that you can then go into the next event and I once again injured myself — pulled the other rotator cuff — during the rope climb, but luckily, I was able to still go into the remaining events, get through those and cross the finish line.”

Indeed, Steen conquered the demanding eight-leg event for 12 hours, beginning with a five-kilometre run before taking to shot put, a 100m sprint, 100m swim, 20-foot rope pull, bench press, pull-ups and finishing with an obstacle course.

Not only did Steen finish the event — something not everyone who started can say — but he won his heat in the 100m swim.

“One thing that really struck home was the feeling of camaraderie amongst these fellows. I had a number of people come up to me and asked how old I was and one fella from Germany who hurt himself quite badly … came up to me and says, ‘You know, someone like you are such an inspiration to us younger people,’ and I felt in rarified company to be the only person there to have grandkids cheering me on,” he said.

“I had no idea there would be that much fellowship and it was just amazing.”

Steen was born and raised in Burnaby, B.C.,where he graduated from the RCMP academy before moving to Manitoba in 1970.

He’s been in the province ever since, meeting his wife during his first posting in Portage la Prairie before stops in Carberry, Steinbach, Stonewall, Headingley and Winnipeg — where he lives now — during his 25 years of service with the RCMP’s Underwater Recovery Team and Tactical Troop.

Steen, who was honoured with Commanding Officers Commendation while stationed in 1976, has stayed involved with the RCMP since retiring, doing more than 20 years of contract work in the staffing and training branch and appearing at citizenship ceremonies on behalf of the RCMP for the swearing in of new Canadians.

His competitive nature runs in the family. His cousin, Dave Steen, was a renowned decathlete and the first Canadian to medal in the event when he won bronze at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. His father was a competitive cyclist.

Steen said the experiences of family members motivated him to continue competing in the multi-faceted event.

“I know my dad, one of the proudest moments in his days was when he was selected to be the torchbearer for the Senior Games in Vancouver… it meant so much to him, and I feel like I’ve reached the same point in my life where I feel like I gave it a shot,” Ray said.

“I didn’t do as well as I hope to do in certain events and I did better in others than I thought I would do and just the fact that I finished it was, to me, a tremendous sense of accomplishment, and having family, friends and grandkids and everybody cheering me on just made me feel so proud to be a Canadian, too.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jfreysam