Queens County athletes get ready for Special Olympics Canada Winter Games

By Rick Conrad

Queens County athletes are getting in some last-minute training as they prepare for a big national sporting event in Calgary later this month.

The Special Olympics Canada Winter Games begin Feb. 27 and run until March 2.

And Queens County will be well represented on Team Nova Scotia. 

Liverpool’s Rebecca Delaney, 27, will be one of three local athletes on the six-person snowshoe team. She’ll be racing in the 100-metre and 200-metre events, as well as the 4×100-metre relay.

This will be the 27-year-old’s first national winter games, though she’s competed and won at provincial winter games before. And she’s a veteran of summer games where she has won many medals in track and field.

She’s excited to do well, but racking up more medals isn’t what it’s all about.

“It doesn’t really matter to me,” she says. “I just want to go and have fun.”

Team Nova Scotia will be sending 69 athletes, coaches and mission staff to Calgary. Of those, 45 athletes will compete in eight sports – five-pin bowling, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, floor hockey, speed skating and snowshoeing.

The other team members from Queens County are Michael Moreau and Jillian Young, who are also on the snowshoe team, and Ben Theriau, who is on the curling team.

Delaney’s mother Susan Inglis is the snowshoe team’s assistant coach and Inglis’s partner Earl Mielke is the head coach.

Delaney and her teammates have been training twice a week, either indoors at Queens Place Emera Centre or outdoors when there’s enough snow.

She does some extra cardio and strength training at the Queens Place gym.

She’s going into Calgary as the fastest female on the Nova Scotia team.

“I’m competitive, very competitive. I play fair.”

Inglis says that while the games are a competition, they’re also a social event for athletes, coaches and their families.

“It’s very important. We have one athlete, our Jillian who has never been on a plane, doesn’t spend a whole lot of time outside of Liverpool so this is a really big deal for her. Whenever we go somewhere with the athletes, it’s one big social occasion.

“Everybody’s excited and happy because they don’t always get a lot of opportunities to socialize. They’re scattered in different smaller communities so Special Olympics provides a big social outlet for them. And getting to go away like this all together they’re going to have a great time. So am I.”

Still, Delaney says she won’t have much time for many social activities before she competes, because she needs to focus on her events. And that dedication usually pays off.

“It’s worth it when you bring it home,” she says.

Delaney has been involved in Special Olympics since 2014. When she graduated from high school, she was in a transition program at Verge House in Bridgewater for people with developmental delays.

She met a friend there who told her she should try snowshoeing.

“When she went to Verge House it opened up a whole new world,” Inglis says.

“She ended up going to the (Nova Scotia) winter games that year and came home with three medals and she was hooked and then I was hooked too.”

Inglis and Delaney say it would be great if more people would get involved with Special Olympics locally. 

“I just wish more athletes would come for Special Olympics, we need more athletes,” Delaney says.

“It is a wonderful place to volunteer,” Inglis says. “I obviously got involved because Rebecca was involved but it’s something that just draws people in, the enthusiasm. When you volunteer with Special Olympics you feel like you a member of the royal family or a rock star because everybody is always so excited to see you.”

The games in Calgary are also a chance to qualify for the Special Olympics World Winter Games in March 2025 in Torino, Italy. For now, though, Delaney says she’s focused on doing well in Calgary and having fun.

And she doesn’t plan to retire any time soon.

“Probably a long time till I want to give up. Because it’s fun, I get to socialize with people.”

And you can help too. Buy a Special Olympics donut from Tim Hortons Feb. 2 to 4 and 100 per cent of the proceeds support programs and athletes across Canada.

Delaney, Inglis and the rest of the team plan to leave for Calgary on Feb. 25 to have a day or two before the Games begin. And after the closing ceremonies, all of Team Nova Scotia will visit Lake Louise and Banff before they head home.

If you want to get involved with Special Olympics Lunenburg/Queens as a volunteer or as an athlete, contact the group through their Facebook page.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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