It’s a Sunday like no other in Port-Cartier: baseball, darts, bowling and pétanque. The 30th Regional Games of the Fédération de l’agence d’or du Québec (FADOQ) on the North Shore are coming to an end and the organizers are looking to the future.
We pulled out all the stops, admits Claudine Émond, general director of FADOQ Côte-Nord.
The cost of the Games has climbed to $50,000 this year, compared to about $35,000 last year. T-shirts for everyone, meals, snacks, but above all new disciplines; it’s like the Olympics, explains Ms. Émond.
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Claudine Émond sees the FADOQ Regional Games on the North Shore continuing to grow.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Charles-Étienne Drouin
The popularity of seniors from the North Shore at the FADOQ Games is also on the rise.
The North Shore, given the extent of its territory, is holding the Games in two parts. For the west of the territory, they took place at the beginning of May in Forestville and Baie-Comeau. For the east, they end on Sunday in Port-Cartier.
In total, the two events brought together around 1,200 athletes, aged from 50 to over 90, according to Claudine Émond.
I counted 117 teams, she specifies, and around fifteen disciplines.
Here, I see people bent over, who have difficulty walking, but people who win medals.
A quote from Claudine Émond, general director of FADOQ Côte-Nord
New disciplines
This fall, the administration committee will look at the organization to think about the future of the Games. At the heart of this reflection is the desire to add disciplines for which competitors seem to have an insatiable appetite.
After pickleball, whose popularity has skyrocketed in recent years – it’s good for cardio, underlines Ms. Émond – the discovery of this 30th anniversary of the Games will have been that of carpet curling.
Marc Lacroix, the designer of this sport, was visiting the North Shore to publicize his creation, intended for the elderly. There, they can rediscover curling with their friends today, standing up, without injury and without cold, he says.
According to him, mat curling preserves the tactical aspects of curling, while eliminating its more athletic aspects, which make it difficult for seniors and people with reduced mobility.
Réjean McNicoll, a participant, confirms: It’s a lot like curling… but here, we don’t freeze them!, he says with a laugh.
With information from Charles-Étienne Drouin
2024-05-27 01:07:09
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