BC Sports Hall of Fame Chair Tom Mayenknecht/via BC Sports Hall of Fame
Kamloops is getting a new moniker.
Already known as the Tournament Capital, the BC Sports Hall of Fame is going to dub Kamloops a Sports Heritage Community.
“What the BC Sports Hall of Fame has decided to do is start a new category, which is the historic sports community,” said Duncan Olthius, Executive Director of the Kamloops Sports Council. “That’s why, Kamloops being the very first one, because of our history and all of our sporting events that we’d done throughout the years.”
“It’s a new initiative by the BC Sports Hall that is designed to put the spotlight on communities that have truly helped shape British Columbia sport history, heritage and culture over the years; communities that have produced some of the best sports programs and participation rates in the country,” said BC Sports Hall of Fame Chair Tom Mayenknecht.
“It is, quite simply put, a natural way for the BC Sports Hall — working in tandem with our stakeholders at the Government of British Columbia and viaSport, along with sport partners such as the BC Games Society, Sport BC, KidSport, BC Women & Sport, Canadian Sport Institute Pacific and SportMedBC — to acknowledge the important role that communities play in fostering physical activity, play, organized sport and high performance.”
Olthius says part of the new designation relates to what Kamloops has done in the past with the creation of sports facilities.
“The buildings that we’ve done for the ’93 Games and on, that is a huge part of why we are Canada’s Tournament Capital. To put on another little hat through Build Kamloops is just going to be an add to that.”
The BC Sports Hall of Fame will officially name Kamloops a Sports Heritage Community when it holds its annual summit in Kamloops on September 19th – 21st at the Delta Hotel downtown.
“Having been rotated around the province, this is the third time in the 58-year history the Annual Summit is being held outside of Greater Vancouver, following New Westminster in 2019, Surrey in 2021, Kelowna in 2022, and Greater Victoria in 2023,” noted the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
