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Rimbey senior to compete in Games in New Brunswick

Congcar to hit the links
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Duncan Congcar will travel to the National Senior Games in St. John, New Brunswick. Treena Mielke Photo

Duncan Congcar is ready to hit the links in a big way.

This summer the Rimbey senior will travel to St. John, New Brunswick where he will complete in the National Seniors Games in golf.

Last year he won a bronze medal in golf at the Alberta Games in Calgary.

The 82-year-old loves golfing and is a regular at Gull Lake Golf Course where he golfs in the seniors league every Wednesday.

As he has aged, Congcar admits he isn’t able to drive the ball as far as he could when he was younger, but his love of the game is just as strong as ever.

“My putt and chip are still okay,” he said.

Congcar is looking forward to the new challenge of this year’s competition.

“I love golfing and curling,” he said.

The Senior’s Games began in the late ’70s when a group of Alberta seniors traveled throughout the province at their own expense promoting the concept to existing clubs and drop-in centers.

Their voice was heard and in January 1980 the Alberta Senior Citizens Sport and Recreation Association was formed and in August of 1980 the first Alberta Senior Games were held at Camrose Alberta. The games were held for seniors 55 years of age + and involved over 15,000 seniors at the “grass roots” playoff level to yield the 750 participants in the first ever Provincial Senior Games.

These pioneer games were a big hit and so impressed the premier of the day (the late Peter Lougheed) that he gave the green light to hold regular Senior Games in Alberta every second year.

And so the Games were born.

Soon other provinces followed suit and today almost all provinces and territories in Canada, as well as many states of the USA, conduct senior games. The USA now also has National Senior Games, which were held this year at Baton Rouge Louisiana.

National and Provincial/Territorial Level Games offer up to 20 activities of varying activity levels from active games such as golf, tennis swimming and track & field to medium level activity such as ice and floor curling, horseshoes, pool and more passive pursuits such as card games.

The games are expected to bring over 1500 delegates and have an economic impact of approximately $3 million. The games will take place August 21 to 24 at venues throughout Saint John and Quispamsis, New Brunswick.