Victoria, BC – The BC Winter Games in Greater Vernon kick off in one week and over 1,300 of BC’s best emerging high performance athletes, coaches, and officials are set to be part of this celebration of sport and community from March 23-26.

The 895 athletes, 300 coaches and 140 officials attending the Games hail from 122 communities across the province and represent 84 constituencies in BC. Competing in 15 different sports, most athletes will be attending their first multi-sport Games.

The BC Winter Games were originally scheduled to take place in February of 2022 before organizers decided to postpone to 2023 due to several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic and flooding and wildfires in many parts of the province. The official name of the event remains the Greater Vernon 2022 BC Winter Games. 

The over 1,200 volunteers in Greater Vernon will come together to ensure the participants have exceptional competition and a first-rate experience with an Opening Ceremony, special events, and wonderful hospitality. 

The BC Winter and BC Summer Games were established in 1978 to bring young people around BC together through sport and friendship. BC Games participants who have gone on to compete for Team Canada at the Olympic or Paralympic Games include Micah Zandee-Hart (Ice Hockey), Mollie Jepsen (Para Alpine Skiing) and Natalie Wilkie (Para Nordic Skiing) among many others. 

For more information about the BC Winter Games, please visit BCGAMES.ORG. To access photos from the event, visit the BC Games Flickr page. 

Quick Facts:

• Greater Vernon hosted the BC Winter Games in 1992 and 2012, as well as the 1982 BC Summer Games.
• Competitors represent eight geographic zones: Kootenays (Zone 1), Thompson-Okanagan (Zone 2), Fraser Valley (Zone 3), Fraser River (Zone 4), Vancouver-Coastal (Zone 5), Vancouver Island-Central Coast (Zone 6), North West (Zone 7) and Cariboo-North East (Zone 8).
• To date, 40 communities have hosted BC Winter and/or BC Summer Games.
• Greater Vernon 2022 BC Winter Games participants will compete in alpine skiing, archery, artistic gymnastics, badminton, biathlon, cross country skiing (including para), curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, judo, karate, rhythmic gymnastics, ringette, snowboarding, and wheelchair basketball.
• More than 350,000 participants and volunteers have taken part in BC Winter and BC Summer Games over the past 44 years.

Key Dates for the BC Winter Games

• Opening Ceremony: 7:00 pm, Thursday, March 23 – Kal Tire Place
• Competitions: Friday, March 24 until noon Sunday, March 26 – Full Sport Schedule

 
PARTICIPANT LIST
To find out who is registered for the Greater Vernon 2022 BC Winter Games, visit our online Participant List, which is searchable by city, sport, and name:

https://bcgames.org/games/participant-lists-and-results/
 
To search participants by community:
Step 1: Choose Greater Vernon 2022 BC Winter Games
Step 2: Choose List of all Participants
Step 3: Choose All from the Sport dropdown list (bottom of the list)
            Choose the community from the dropdown list
Step 4: Click Submit
 
PLEASE NOTE: The Participant List and numbers are subject to change until the close of the Accreditation at 5:00 pm on Thursday, March 23. 

Media Contact:
David Conlin
Communications Manager
BC Games Society
davidc@bcgames.org