The annual BC Summer Games is back, and this year it will be in Kelowna from July 22nd till July 26th.

Hosted every two years, the games welcomes back amateur athletes from all over BC to compete in a Summer Olympics style event. Some of the events that are going to be included are Baseball, athletics, Swimming, Golf, Triathlons, and more.

These events are not open to all ages, however. Depending on the event, there is an age limit for the competitors. For example, the Golf competition has a limit of twelve to sixteen years old, while the rowing competition is open to anyone under the age of seventeen.

The only category that has an allowance for anyone over the age of nineteen is the Special Olympics Athletics program that has an age allowance of anyone from the ages of twelve to forty.

The events will be held at a multitude of stadiums as well. This includes the Apple Bowl Stadium for athletics, H20 Adventure and the Fitness Centre and Kelowna Family YMCA for swimming events, Sarsons Beach Park for triathlons, and many more over the Kelowna area.

The Summer Games Torch. (credit: Province of British Columbia via Flickr)

This is not the first time that the BC Summer Games have been held in Kelowna either, instead this is the fourth time it’s been held in the city. The city has hosted the BC Summer Games in 1980, 1994, and 2008 in the past.

Surprisingly, the city has not been host to the BC Winter Games, despite having access to Big White Ski Resort nearby, as well as Silverstar Mountain Resort and Kelowna Nordic.

For anyone in the Kelowna area that would like to help with the games, there are a lot of volunteer opportunities as well that are available. There are positions for games volunteers, being an official, a Provincial advisor, or a zone representative. Of course there are positions that are also open for those that want to help set up and tear down, and manning water stations as well.

If you want to find out more about the code of conduct for the BC Summer Games, you can find that here, if you want to find out how to volunteer for the games, you can find that link here, and if you want to find out more about the games, and the next city that is going to host the upcoming BC Winter Games, you can find out more by clicking here.