Gallant, Reeves, Special Olympics bowling championship to be recognized next week

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — A well-known coach, a national bowling championship and a dedicated long-distance runner will all be recognized Tuesday by Sport P.E.I.

The organization’s 45th annual awards night will take place at Holland College’s Florence Simmons Performance Hall. The night will showcase the Island's finest amateur sporting accomplishments. Some of the award winners have already been announced. Here are excerpts from three of the winners’ bios:

Coach

Peter Gallant

Peter Gallant has become an Island icon in the world of curling. Recognized as a top coach in Canada, Gallant took on the challenge of leading a team from South Korea with the hopes of making it to the Olympics. Not only did his team reach the Olympics, he guided Team Kim to an Olympic silver medal. A milestone only a handful of coaches in the sport ever accomplish. This can be especially true for someone from a small province of 140,000 people. But, our little Island has shown it can compete on the world stage, and Gallant is one more reason for our future generations to believe in the possibilities.
Taking on a team from South Korea when not a single team member spoke English was just another hurdle Peter had to overcome. Being the strong-willed person he is, Gallant did not shy away from the challenge and spent the next year and a half working with a translator while he polished a group of South Korean curlers to near perfection.

Event of the Year

Special Olympics Canada 2018 Bowling Championship

Hosting a quality event is undoubtedly one of the toughest challenges for any organization, and it’s certainly worth recognizing these efforts in the amateur sport community.

The Special Olympics Canada Bowling Championships hosted more than 400 athletes and coaches over seven days.

The championships were an Island-wide event which boasted athletes’ villages in Prince and Queens counties with competition venues in Charlottetown, Summerside and Tyne Valley.
The 2018 championships were used to select the 10-pin athletes who will represent Canada at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dubai.

Masters Athlete

Steve Reeves

Running a marathon is an impressive feat for anyone but for Steve Reeves sometimes 42 kilometres just isn’t enough. Ultra running consists of any race longer than 42 km and it became a passion for Reeves after he was introduced to the sport several years ago.
This past season saw Reeves break many of his personal bests. In August, he placed sixth of 359 runners at the Squamish 50/50 event, a gruelling event that challenges runners to a 50 miler and 50-km trail race on back-to-back days. In order to prepare for the extreme elevations, Reeves ran the alpine ski slopes of Brookvale in high heat and humidity.

Reeves was crowned champion of the Round the Cape 48-km race. This event became one of the most demanding in its history when part of the trail was washed out and the organizers had to re-route the race from a loop to an “out and back” on the hardest 24 kilometres of the trail.
Possibly Reeves’ most impressive moment of the year was his victory at the Sunofa Gunofa Last Man Standing race. He set an event record completing the course 24 times, running 139.2 kms, in just over 24 hours.

Tickets are $25 and are available by calling Sport P.E.I. at 902-368-4110.