To top off an amazing week of medal winning at the 2011 Canada Winter Games in Halifax, Salmon Arm’s Alysson Marshall earned another honour.
Marshall was proclaimed flag bearer for Team BC in the Games’ closing ceremonies.
“I’m very excited. It’s definitely an honour and I’m proud to represent B.C.,” exclaimed Marshall in an interview for the Team BC website. “I had a great week and this just tops it off. I want to thank my support team and coaches. I couldn’t have done it without them. Everything came together this week. This course really suits me.”
Marshall earned four medals in cross-country skiing at the Halifax Games, three golds and one silver.
Her silver came in the 7.5-kilometre Free event, and the golds in 1,000-metre Sprint, the 10-km Classic (mass start), and the 4 by 3.75-km Relay. B.C.’s female cross-country team finished in first place overall, compared to fourth place in 2007.
Marshall is a Team BC alumni who also competed in the 2007 Canada Winter Games where she won one gold and one silver medal. She was the top North American woman and 12th overall at the 2011 U23 World Championships in Estonia in January and is a multi-winner of the Premier’s Athletic Award. With aspirations of becoming an Olympian, Marshall is one of Canada’s premiere skiers.
Two weeks of competition ended on Sunday with Team BC achieving one of its best medal counts at a Canada Winter Games.
The 88 medals included 28 gold, 29 silver and 30 bronze, 12 more than at the last Winter Games in 2007. That put B.C. in third place in the medal count, won by Quebec with 137 and Ontario with 100.
Team BC consisted of 242 athletes and 74 coaches. Salmon Arm also had good representation at the Games.
Along with Marshall, competing were Janessa Jenkins in female hockey; Erika Lipsett, Jasmine El Gazzar and Brittany Burge in ringette and Salmon Arm Minor Hockey product Curtis Lazar in male hockey.
The male hockey team brought home gold, and Lazar tallied 12 goals and five assists, the most goals and points of all participants.