Five Canim Lake athletes competed against athletes from around the continent at the North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) held in Toronto July 16-23
Although 100 Mile House and the surrounding area was under a combination of evacuation orders and alerts — the Canim Lake area was under an alert — due to the Gustafsen wildfire, the youth displayed an incredible combination of skill and athleticism in Toronto.
Taylor Daniels, 14, competed in five athletics events earning herself five medals: silver in the 150m dash and the 4x400 relay, and bronze in long jump, the 4x100 relay and the 800m race.
In the 150m race, Daniels was barely a tenth of a second away from the gold.
“She was incredible. She found herself on that track and I’ve never seen her run so hard and so fast,” says her trainer, Tish Diamond.
“I was quite intimidated at first because it was my first year going to NAIG, but I had lots of fun. I’m glad I went,” says Daniels.
She says she’s most proud of the 150m silver, as it was a personal best for her.
“Going up on the podium I was nervous at first, but after I got off I felt really proud.”
Also competing in track and field events was Morris Bob in the U16 category. Bob competed in the 3 km cross-country event as well as the 2000m race, placing seventh and fourth respectively.
“He had a really good run,” says Diamond.
Three other athletes competed in the canoe-kayak events: Terrence Hubick-Archie, Quincy Archie and Trinity Jensen.
“They all did really well,” says Diamond.
The canoe-kayakers were at a disadvantage. When Diamond evacuated from the 108 Mile Ranch, the atheletes’ paddles and life jackets got left behind. Team BC made sure the athletes could borrow paddles so they could still compete in the events.
All three athletes made it through the heats into the final competition for many of their respective events.
Trinity Jensen competed in the 200m kayak, and 3000m kayak events and 3000m canoe doubles, placing sixth in the 200m.
Quincy Archie raced in the 3000m and 1000m canoe doubles.
Terrence Hubick-Archie competed in 3000m and 1000m canoe fourth and the 500m dash, placing fourth in the 1000m canoe, two seconds away from a bronze.
“It was pretty good,” he says, “It was kind of hard as well too, because of the fire and everything and having to borrow other people’s paddle gear and life jacket.”
He said the paddlers would train before the event to get used to the new equipment.
“I think my favourite part was going out with the team and exploring. We went out to Niagara Falls and we got to go out to the mall and all of that was pretty fun,” he says.
He thanks his coaches Diamond and Dennis Wick for helping them get to the games.
While both Hubick-Archie and Daniels say the experience was challenging because of all the things happening at home — — elders from Canim Lake were at an elders retreat in the Lower Mainland while families were still in the Cariboo — they say they definitely plan on competing again.
“What I learned from the experience is how strong we can be from Canim Lake — to go over, try to hold everything behind us and compete and do what we like to do,” says Hubick-Archie.