By Steve Hubrecht

Pioneer Staff

A group of valley seniors recently returned home from this years BC Seniors Games with a silver medal in carpet bowling.

The team which consisted of skip (captain) Myrtle Holden, Herta Tacha, Bess Spark, Arnold Wassing and George Bicknell (filling in for Aly Mederer) represented East Kootenay Zone Seven and earned the silver during the September 9th to September 13th games in Langley, coming just one point shy of the gold-medal winning team in the final standings.

Thats the luck of the game, said Mrs. Holden, speaking about almost taking the top spot.

The team members all hail from Radium, with the exception of Mrs. Holden, who lives in Invermere and they are no strangers to the medal table at the Seniors Games, as they also earned the silver medal in 2011.

We were gunning for victory this time, said Mrs. Holden, but added that the games is about more than the competition.

Its a lot of fun. Its a challenge, but we like a good challenge, she said. We dont get too many chances to play many other teams.

Mrs. Holden has been carpet bowling since 2009 and other members of the team have been at it for even longer.

Its a game of skill and its not a game where you have to spend too much energy, so its something most seniors can do, she said.

The team practices twice a week in Radium and once a week for Invermere and is looking for more participants.

Wed like to invite people to come join us and get to know more about carpet bowling. We need some young blood, said Mrs. Holden, adding you need to be age 55 or older for the Seniors Games and most of the current team members are comfortably above the limit. After the team members returned from the Games, Sobeys baked and presented a cake to them to celebrate their achievement.

Valley senior Ray Neratko did not participate in golf at the Games as reported in the August 29th Pioneer issue.