MANITOWANING—Manitoulin Special Olympian Matthew Bedard was feted at the Assiginack Seniors Drop-in by young and the young at heart last week. Grade 3 students from Assiginack Public School joined the seniors in congratulating Mr. Bedard on the three bronze medals he brought home from the national snowshoeing competitions.
Mr. Bedard was presented with a congratulatory card signed by the students (presented by Jackson and Griffon) and a certificate of congratulations from the township by Assiginack Deputy Mayor Dwayne Elliott.
Mr. Bedard delivered a short speech on what it was like to compete at that level and the students were able to see and handle the bronze medals.
Events coordinator Jackie White had a few questions for the athlete, the first was on the special message of the Special Olympians.
“We always say it: ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt,’” responded Mr. Bedard.
As to his own personal motto, “for me, every time I go to compete, I just tell them, ‘do your best, forget the rest and have fun.’”
Mr. Bedard spoke a bit about his training regime and how he meets regularly with his coach Steve Redmond and the challenges of training for such a big event without snow. “I trained indoors at my home,” he said. The weird weather at each event presented some challenges, but Mr. Bedard made sure he kept his own health up.
Ms. White noted that comments from Calgary confirmed that Mr. Bedard “always represented Manitoulin with grace and dignity.”
Ms. White shared that Mr. Bedard’s times in his heats were outstanding. “I don’t know if I could even walk that fast,” she said. “For your triple bronze success and by the sportsmanship and effort you display, it gives me great pleasure to present you with this certificate on behalf of our municipality,” said Deputy Mayor Elliott.
Mr. Bedard thanked the seniors and students for the honour and the chance to tell them about his experiences competing at the national level.
