2019 Canada Winter Games and chairperson honoured with national recognition

2019 Canada Winter Games chairperson Lyn Radford, meanwhile, was honoured with the 2020 Sport Event Volunteer of the Year Award, edging out fellow nominees Brian Hetherington from the 2019 World Triathlon Series in Edmonton, and Denis Perrault from Hockey Day in Canada | Western Canada Summer Games | CCA Rodeo | and World U-17 Hockey Challenge in Swift Current, SK.

Scott Robinson, CEO for the 2019 Canada Winter Games, says the recognition stirs up warm feelings, even two years later.

“Based on all the work that everyone did from the start of the process to the end, and to be recognized not just for a tremendous amount of work but for the incredible community spirit that we displayed when The Games were on here, just makes you feel good about Red Deer and central Alberta and what we were able to accomplish,” he explains. “It’s a really nice cherry on top of the cake in terms of being recognized. It’s not why you do things, but when you get recognized for doing them, it’s such a warm feeling and so many great memories to look back on of all the people that made it happen.”

“This was a community award, because there’s no one person or one group that could possibly have done this,” adds Radford. “This is really for the city of Red Deer and surrounding communities that made this possible. Even two years later, it’s unbelievable how many people’s lives it touched.”

In terms of the personal accolade, winning the 2020 Sport Event Volunteer of the Year Award, Radford remains humble.

“Everybody jumped in, did their share and was absolutely phenomenal. I don’t regret any minute of it,” says Radford.

Robinson, however, feels Radford’s recognition is significant on a couple fronts.

“She was the first female chairperson ever to lead a Canada Games by herself in terms of that role, and the amount of work that she did wasn’t a ceremonial role at all. The fact is, she worked just as hard when The Games were awarded all the way through, and probably worked even harder after they were over.”

“Lyn really broke a bit of a glass ceiling if there was one,” remarks Robinson. “It’s a great symbol of mentorship and recognition in our community that we have some phenomenal leaders, but some phenomenal female leaders in this region, and I think you can’t understate how important that is in today’s day and age.”

(Sport Tourism Canada)

Other awards handed out on Thursday were in the categories of Canadian Sport Event of the Year Award (Group B: budget less than $1 million), International Sport Event of the Year Award (Group A: budget greater than $2 million), International Sport Event of the Year Award (Group B: budget less than $2 million), Canadian Sport Event Sponsorship Initiative of the Year Award, Sport Event Legacy of the Year Award (which the 2019 CWG were also nominated), and the Sport Tourism Rising Star of the Year Award.

For more details, visit www.sporttourismcanada.com.

by Josh Hall and Sheldon Spackman

2019 Canada Winter Games and chairperson honoured with national recognition

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