CALGARY – Medal-winning machine Shane Stewart showed the young guys how it’s done.
The Canmore Special Olympian and long-time cross-country skier won two silver medals in the five-kilometre and 10km classic and bronze in the 7.5km classic at the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary from Feb. 27 to March 3.
At age 40, Stewart is still a commander of frozen courses and is showing no signs of slowing down.
“He trains all year long,” said Shawn Jesse, Team Alberta’s cross-country ski coach. “Everything from weight training to running to biking. All of our athletes do dry land training and then pretty intensive training at the Canmore Nordic Centre leading up to the Games.”
Gayle Buckle, Stewart’s mother, said: “He is in the top Men’s Division M1 where the competition is fierce ... and is competing against men more than half his age so did really well.”
Alberta has experienced unusual weather patterns this winter, whether it be unexpected big dumps to praying for snowfall to blisteringly cold to unseasonably warm. On race days at Confederation Park Golf Course, competitors got a bit of everything.
“The conditions were fairly heavy and slow,” said Jesse. “So Shane had to really muster up some power to be able to maintain some decent speed throughout his race. It was kind of applicable to all of his races and he did a really good job of that.”
Competing at a fourth Canada Winter Games, Stewart now has 11 medals (four gold, three silver, four bronze).
“There’s some younger guys really coming on from B.C. and Ontario and so Shane was definitely happy with the results,” said Jesse.
Before Stewart was fighting for top spot in Calgary, he was smiling ear-to-ear wearing a cowboy as Team Alberta’s flag bearer for the opening ceremonies.
“He was very honoured,” said Jesse. “That really benefits the entire team, like beyond the cross-country skiing, it’s our whole Alberta contingent and Shane was the guy and he was really proud and we were really proud of him for being the flag bearer and he did a great job.”
In Calgary, Team Alberta was third in overall medals with 78 (36 gold, 23 silver, 19 bronze).
Ontario was first overall with 209 (72 gold, 67 silver, 70 bronze) and British Columbia was second with 135 (54 gold, 45 silver, 36 bronze).
It’s expected in the coming months Special Olympics Canada will announce its roster for the World Games next March in Italy.
