{"id":6608,"date":"2024-02-01T17:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T21:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6608"},"modified":"2024-02-01T17:52:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T21:52:02","slug":"queens-county-athletes-get-ready-for-special-olympics-canada-winter-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/02\/01\/queens-county-athletes-get-ready-for-special-olympics-canada-winter-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens County athletes get ready for Special Olympics Canada Winter Games"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Susan Inglis and her daughter, snowshoe athlete Rebecca Delaney, will be part of Team Nova Scotia at the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary, starting Feb. 27. (Rick Conrad photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

Queens County athletes are getting in some last-minute training as they prepare for a big national sporting event in Calgary later this month.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Special Olympics Canada Winter Games<\/a> begin Feb. 27 and run until March 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

And Queens County will be well represented on Team Nova Scotia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s Rebecca Delaney, 27, will be one of three local athletes on the six-person snowshoe team. She\u2019ll be racing in the 100-metre and 200-metre events, as well as the 4×100-metre relay.<\/span><\/p>\n

This will be the 27-year-old\u2019s first national winter games, though she\u2019s competed and won at provincial winter games before. And she\u2019s a veteran of summer games where she has won many medals in track and field.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s excited to do well, but racking up more medals isn\u2019t what it\u2019s all about.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI just want to go and have fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Team Nova Scotia will be sending 69 athletes, coaches and mission staff to Calgary. Of those, 45 athletes will compete in eight sports \u2013 five-pin bowling, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, floor hockey, speed skating and snowshoeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delaney\u2019s mother Susan Inglis is the snowshoe team\u2019s assistant coach and Inglis\u2019s partner Earl Mielke is the head coach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Delaney and her teammates have been training twice a week, either indoors at Queens Place Emera Centre or outdoors when there\u2019s enough snow.<\/span><\/p>\n

She does some extra cardio and strength training at the Queens Place gym.<\/span><\/p>\n

She\u2019s going into Calgary as the fastest female on the Nova Scotia team.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m competitive, very competitive. I play fair.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inglis says that while the games are a competition, they\u2019re also a social event for athletes, coaches and their families.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s very important. We have one athlete, our Jillian who has never been on a plane, doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s one big social occasion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s excited and happy because they don\u2019t always get a lot of opportunities to socialize. They\u2019re 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\u2019re going to have a great time. So am I.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Delaney says she won\u2019t have much time for many social activities before she competes, because she needs to focus on her events. And that dedication usually pays off.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s worth it when you bring it home,\u201d she says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

She met a friend there who told her she should try snowshoeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she went to Verge House it opened up a whole new world,\u201d Inglis says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inglis and Delaney say it would be great if more people would get involved with Special Olympics locally.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI just wish more athletes would come for Special Olympics, we need more athletes,\u201d Delaney says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a wonderful place to volunteer,\u201d Inglis says. \u201cI obviously got involved because Rebecca was involved but it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u2019s focused on doing well in Calgary and having fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

And she doesn\u2019t plan to retire any time soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cProbably a long time till I want to give up. Because it\u2019s fun, I get to socialize with people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/specialolympicsfeb124.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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.\u00a0 Liverpool\u2019s Rebecca Delaney, 27, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[882,1717,1270,1716,39,1715,241,1711,1714,1710,1713,1626,1712,1718],"class_list":["post-6608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-ben-theriau","tag-calgary","tag-earl-mielke","tag-jillian-young","tag-liverpool","tag-michael-moreau","tag-nova-scotia","tag-rebecca-delaney","tag-snowshoeing","tag-special-olympics","tag-special-olympics-lunenburg-queens","tag-sports","tag-susan-inglis","tag-verge-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6608"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6612,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6608\/revisions\/6612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}