RED DEER, ALBERTA—Along with a fine performance in her biathlon races as a member of Team Ontario at the Canada Winter Games last week, Mackenzie Turner of Gore Bay had the very prestigious honour of carrying the Ontario team flag at the opening ceremonies at the Winter Games.
Mackenzie was the flag bearer for the opening ceremonies and a lot of local people were able to watch her carry the Ontario flag and lead the Ontario athletes into the arena on television on the evening of February 15 on TSN.
“I was so honoured to be chosen to carry the flag!” Ms. Turner stated. “Being an athlete representing your province, along with the other 325 athletes, and being picked to be the flag bearer out of all those athletes was quite a shock! When I walked out into the arena and saw that it was full, yeah I got a bit nervous, yet extremely proud!”
TSN carried a lot of coverage of the games during the week, but only one of Mackenzie’s races was live streamed through the Canada Games website.
Mackenzie took part in four races in varying distances. She placed 12th in the six kilometre sprint; sixth in the 7.5 kilometre pursuit, fourth in the 3×6 kilometres and 11th in the 10 kilometre race.
Mackenzie was the top Ontario athlete in all four races. There were 40 competitors in each race, all being the top from each province.
Mackenzie told the Recorder she was overwhelmed with the support and encouragement she got over social media while she was away, and wants to thank everyone who sent her messages.
The games had about 3,500 athletes and coaches attend along with over 20,000 visitors and spectators.
Ms. Turner has a couple more competitions in March and then her last competition for the season is in British Columbia where she will compete at the national championships at the end of March.
She will then have some time off in April and will be home for a couple of weeks for some down time.
