NAIG wrap-up!
Despite historical rain and flooding all around them in Nova Scotia last week, Manitoulin athletes did the Island proud at the North American Indigenous Games. The emergency flooding situation put a damper on the closing ceremonies but not their efforts, earlier in the week.
Maren Kasunich got to share her tremendous skill with a whole new audience, resulting in a heavy medal haul. She had gold medals in the 3000m, 1500m, 6K Cross Country, and the 4 X 100m relay! She changed the hue of medals with a bronze in the 4 X 400m relay!
Dane Gibeault (U16 Canoe/Kayak) won Ontario its first medal of the games and was a force out on the water in other sprint distances. Sister, Brooke Gibeault (Basketball) helped her U-19 Girls to the silver medal.
Leeda Trudeau-Osawamick and Niomi Tomaselli were both in the U14 Canoe/Kayak category and steadily improved with every race.
Wiingashk Shawana was right in the mix with some impressive shots in his U-16 3D archery events.
Sapphire Recollet – Case had impressive days on the track including a fourth place finish in her 4 x 100m U-16 relays race.
Saraya Eshkawkogan (U19 Track) had the honour of winning Ontario its first gold medal of the games. Here are her final results: Gold – U19 High Jump; Gold – U19 4X100m Relay; Silver – U19 Triple Jump and Bronze – U19 4X400 M Relay.
Andrew Rose was a powerhouse on his Ontario U-19 Volleyball team who made it to the finals and were just edged by Saskatchewan in the bronze medal match.
Jaron Panamick and Ian McCauley were with Team Ontario’s softball squad who came home with the Bronze medal!
Xavier Aguonie-Fox also of Sheguiandah First Nation was the strongman in athletics with a four-foot margin to win Gold in the shot-put. Xavier was also active in the high jump and relays.
Volleyball teammates, Reese and Emily Peltier dug and dove on the courts, just missing the medal rounds.
Xavier Esquimaux-Osawamick was a leader in the Team Ontario, box lacrosse team.
Congrats to the Team Ontario Girls Lacrosse team who were edged out of the Gold medal by British Columbia to take the Silver. Ontario defeated Alberta to win their semi-final match thanks to Reese Shigwadja (16) who scored the final goal to clinch the game. Proud parents are Shawn and Melissa Shigwadja’s and she is Dominic and Brenda Beaudry’s granddaughter!
Many thanks as well to local coaches: Sherry Peltier – Canoe/Kayak, Dustin Peltier – Golf, Claudine Keenan – Softball, Michelle Bond – Softball and Deidre Debassige – Volleyball.
Locals, Conquered Craters
We had some Islanders over at the Conquer the Crater off-road triathlon in Sudbury at Kivi park on the weekend. Four of them competed in the Sprint distance triathlon which was a 750m swim, a very tough and rocky 13 km mountain bike and 4.5 km trail run.
The Conquer the Crater event also includes a full distance triathlon, duathlons, a trail marathon and other run distances. They reported over 500 participants across all of the various races. All proceeds from the event go to the charity, “Miles Against Cancer,” which helps kids in Northeastern Ontario who are diagnosed with cancer.
There were 56 competitors in the Sprint Distance Triathlon. Xavi Mara (16) of Manitowaning finished 8th overall and second in the U18 age category with a time of 1:34:03. Ben Quackenbush finished 10th overall with a time of 1:36:58. Ben’s son Isaac Quackenbush (14) finished just 23 seconds behind his father at 1:37:21. He was 11th overall and 3rd in the U18 division. Dad laments proudly that this may have been the last time he beats him in any race! Little Current’s Bill Slaght had a great race and finished very well despite having to deal with a flat tire on the mountain bike!
