Whitehorse has lost it’s bid to host the 2020 Canada 55+ Games to Kamloops B.C.

Kamloops was announced as the winner at this morning’s opening ceremonies of the 2018 Games being hosted by Saint John, N.B.

Tom Parlee of the Yukon’s Elderactive Recreation Association said in an interview today from Saint John that it was his understanding it came down to Kamloops or Whitehorse. Calgary and Fort McMurray, Alta., had also submitted bids.

“It was a very close,” said Parlee, president of the Elderactive association. “I think they probably won by one vote.

“It was between Kamloops and Whitehorse,” he said. “Somebody revealed that to me but they did not know the vote.”

Parlee said he believes the fact that B.C. has never hosted the Games was a factor in the decision.

Whitehorse hosted the Games in 2004.

Parlee was in Saint John Saturday to make the final pitch to the Games’ board of directors, along with Sport Yukon president George Arcand, Community Services Minister John Streicker and Echo Ross of the Sport Yukon.

Parlee will also will be competing in shot put, discuss, javelin and the long jump as a member of Team Yukon’s athletic contingent.

Streicker will be competing in badminton.

The Yukon’s Betty Hebert was recognized and presented with a plaque this morning for being the oldest female participant at the age of 93.

She’s a member of the cribagge team.

The oldest male honours went to a 91-year-old ice hockey player from Quebec.

Parlee said Team Yukon is already lining itself up to win the award for the best spirit, as all 138 athletes and more than 20 cheerleaders marched and cheered their way together to the opening ceremonies at Harbour Station.

“We have people saying we have already won the spirit award,” he said. “We were very noisy this morning in the parade. I think we were the only people who marched their way from downtown.”

Competition has already begun in several disciplines, such as scrabble, floor shuffleboard, pickel ball...

There are 138 athletes and about 25 cheerleaders at the Games.

The average age of Team Yukon is 68, ranging from 55 years old to the 93-year-Herbert.

Eleven participants are over the age of 80.

There are 56 participants or one-third of the team who are over 70 years of age, and there are 27 from four communities other than Whitehorse: Dawson City, Watson Lake, Haines Junction and Tagish.

Parlee said with the way the location for the Canada 55+ Games is rotated across the country, Whitehorse won’t have another opportunity to bid as host for six more years.

But he did point out the Elderactive Recreation Association is very active and growing.

Currently, he said, there are 750 members, and he expects that number will hit 1,000 in the next two years.

The Yukon has competitors in 17 of the 22 disciplines at the Games.

Bidding to host the 2020 Games was a driving factor behind the construction of a new track and field facility currently being built behind F.H. Collins Secondary School. Without a commitment by the Yukon government to the new facility there would not have been a bid.