The many hours of training put in at Langford Lanes have paid off for 10-pin bowler Patrick Reid who has claimed the gold medal in the doubles event with his Alberta-based partner Mitchell MacDonald at the Special Olympics World Summer Games taking place March 14-21 in Abu Dhabi.
Patrick says it feels awesome to have won gold in front of his parents who accompanied him on this trip:
“Gold was possible by remembering all the hard work I put in during my training the last few months with my coach Shannon Dempster and the support during the last week of competition from my games coaches”
Patrick says his best score at the games was 223 in qualifying. He bowled to 213 in his last game to secure the win.
Patrick’s coach at the games Rebecca Norton says Patrick has been performing well at the games, earlier in the week securing two 5th place finishes in the team and singles competitions:
“Patrick has bowled very well all week, just came up short against some tough competition earlier in the tournament. During the final day of competition, he didn’t hold back. He was focused and along with his doubles partner, they took gold handily”
Patrick is the second island-based athlete to medal at these games. Track athlete Arianna Phillips of Nanaimo has won two medals, gold in high jump and bronze in 200m.
Over 100 athletes with intellectual disabilities are representing Canada at the games, considered the largest sporting and humanitarian event of 2019.