Special Olympics Ontario - Stratford and Area brought some extra, shiny, luggage back from the Special Olympics Canada National Winter Games.
The curling team of Curtis Bender, Dylan Haynes, Meghan O’Donovan, Jacob Ponsford and skipper Tiffany Keller won the gold medal in the Rocky Mountain Division in Calgary.
Stratford and area defeated Nova Scotia 6-5 in the gold medal game. They beat fellow Ontario entry South Saugeen 6-2 in the semifinals.
The curling competition featured a total of 22 teams from 12 provinces/territories, 110 athletes and 44 coaches.
Mike Hitchcock, a Stratford resident, formerly of St. Marys, helped lead Team Ontario's London Blazers to gold in their Rocky Mountain division, with a 4-1 win over the Alberta Warriors in the floor hockey gold medal game, after a 3-2 win over Manitoba in the semifinal.
In 5-pin bowling, Mike Kelemen won a bronze in the Men’s 9th (of 16) division and placed 5th in the team event.
Team Ontario led the way with 209 medals overall.
All of the competitions took place Feb. 27 to March 2. National Games occur every two years and rotate between summer and winter sports and they act as a qualifying event for Special Olympics Team Canada to take part in the Special Olympics World Games.
