The 2020 Manitoba 55+ Games scheduled for June 16th - 18th in Selkirk has been cancelled because of COVID-19.

Eastman regional coordinator Jim Ticknor of Beausejour wasn’t surprised that this years event will not take place.

“The way everything else has been cancelled I would have been very surprised if they would have made a decision to continue,” said Ticknor. “It initially started with the curling event which was to take place last month in Selkirk. It was supposed to start around the 24th of March and when the decision was made to shut it down I was quite relieved. I was pretty concerned that we could run into big trouble if we tried to carry on.”

A handful of Eastman competitors took in the 2019 Games in Swan River and with the close proximity to Selkirk, Ticknor was expecting a pretty large turnout to compete this June.

“I think we would have had a real strong contingent from Eastman especially in events like the card playing - the whist, bridge and cribbage. We have a lot of card players in this region and I think a lot of the would have shown up. We were also looking forward to quite a few of golfers going. It would have been a good group from here I think.”

The 38th edition of the games were expected to attract between 1,500 and 2,000 participants from all across our province.

Ticknor explained why the Games are so important to the 55+ athletes.

“Of course there’s always a group that are very competitive and they’re quite interested in getting medals. But I think more and more people are going for the social aspect. They get to meet the same people year after year. For example I’ve golfed with the same group of guys off and on every since I started going the Games at least 15 years ago. The social aspect is a big deal. I think that’s more important than taking home the medals. It also gets people out. When we have regional playoffs we get a large group out for that. It’s quite an interesting thing to watch and a lot of fun.”

The 2020 Canada 55+ Games scheduled for August 25th - 28th in Kamloops, B.C. was also cancelled.

photos courtesy activeagingmb.ca