In 1994, John McIsaac was part of a group that attempted to climb Mount Everest without bottled oxygen.
The group had to turn around 500 metres from the summit, and a complete team effort was required to perform a high altitude rescue.
In 2011, McIsaac and a group of Bow Valley residents have taken on another challenge: bring together Banff and Canmore to bid for the 2014 Alberta Winter Games.
McIsaac and Hans Holthuis pitched the idea to Canmore Council Tuesday (Feb. 15), asking councillors to sign a letter of intent to attract the three-day event to the Bow Valley.
“It’s not feasible to host it on our own, however by joining forces with Banff, we can put together an Alberta Winter Games like no other,” McIsaac said.
The event would attract about 3,200 athletes, coaches and technicians in mid-February, participating in 24 different sports and will see Banff and Canmore “work collectively to promote sport, mountain culture and tourism” McIsaac said.
Banff hosted the inaugural Alberta Winter Games in 1976, however neither community has even submitted a bid for the event since then. McIsaac and Holthuis said government officials were puzzled why it’s taken so long for another bid to emerge from the Bow Valley.
The games are expected to cost about $1.5 million and the organizing committee will find grants, donations and gifts in kind to pay for the games, which have proven to be an economic boon to other communities.
“In recent history, there has never been a games that has lost money. Most put between $100,000 and $500,000 back into the community,” McIsaac said.
The impetus for the bid followed the Vancouver olympics, McIsaac said, when several community members began reminiscing about Canmore’s Olympic experience.
“We got all fired up by the Olympics, and that spurred memories of ‘88,” McIsaac said.
Athletes participating in these games will be much younger – between 11 and 17 – but will include many of the provinces’ rising stars and future olympians.
Most of the athletes would be housed in the public schools, and McIsaac received support from the Canadian Rockies Public Schools board last week to house the students and use gymnasium space for events. The Games have cots for the athletes that are set up in classrooms where the athletes stay for the duration of the games, while coaches, parents and technicians would require more than a thousand hotel beds – a request the Bow Valley could handle.
The games in Cold Lake, AB were plagued with a lack of accommodation space for parents, who couldn’t travel to watch their children compete.
The bid committee has also received support from the Canmore Nordic Centre, who said there are no other conflicting events booked for that time.
While the communities have the infrastructure to host the events, McIsaac said the games could potentially co-incide with the Canmore multiplex opening.
“It would be a great way to break in the multiplex,” McIsaac said. “But we have the infrastructure now to host the games.”
Holthuis said the venues help make the Bow Valley an attractive option. Citing the ski hill, multiple ice surfaces, the nordic centre and gymnasium space. He said Banff and Canmore make a perfect location for the event.
He also stressed the ability of the games to bridge the two communities through sport and the spirit of co-operation.
According to the Alberta Winter Games bid instructions, communities require between 2,000 and 3,000 volunteers to pull off the games.
“It’s a hurdle but it’s also an opportunity for both communities to work together,” Holthuis said. “It could also, for the sports community, bring together a list of people that can help in the future for other events.”
Although they won’t vote on their support for the games until at least the next business meeting, Canmore town councillors were quick to support the bid.
“If we can pull off the Olympics, we can pull of this,” said Coun. John Borrowman.
“I’m excited about it. It’s an opportunity to do something with Banff and it would be great for the town,” said Coun. Gord Miskow.
Coun. Ed Russell participated in the first Alberta Winter Games as a 17-year-old. While he said his hockey team got thumped in the final, he praised the games and the community effort to bring it together.
“This is just a fabulous event. I can’t say enough about it,” Russell said.
He also said there is an arts and culture component to the games. The bid committee plans to pursue a $70,000 arts and culture grant that will help the community showcase its cultural component.
McIsaac and Holthuis will approach Banff town council shortly with the idea, again preaching the need for co-operation between the two communities. Both towns must provide a letter of intent to the committee by March 31.
The Alberta winter games occur once every four years. Communities must wait six years after a failed bid before bidding again. Judging occurs by June 31.
