Team Woodland athletes came together for a group photo during the closing ceremony on Friday. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

lasting legacy

Team Woodland dominates Tony Cote Summer Games

Aug 17, 2024 | 8:00 AM

Team Woodland has been crowned the 2024 Tony Cote Summer Games champions.

Team Woodland – consisting of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation and Montreal Lake Cree Nation – took first place in the provincial competition with 93 points. In total, Woodland athletes earned 44 gold medals, 32 silver and 24 bronze.

Second place was awarded to the Prince Albert Grand Council (82 points) with seven gold medals, 15 silver and 10 bronze, followed by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (81 points) in third with 14 gold, eight silver and 14 bronze.

Woodland topped the charts in archery, athletics, canoeing, golf and soccer, while the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council dominated softball and the Southeast Treaty 4 Tribal Coucil took the top spot in beach volleyball. In all, 11 out of 13 teams competed in the Tony Cote Summer Games with the exception of the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs and the Yorkton Tribal Council which didn’t send athletes.

“I want to congratulate Team Woodland for placing first overall,” said Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) Chief Tammy Cook-Searson.

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“I also want to congratulate all of the athletes for coming to La Ronge to compete in the Tony Cote First Nations Summer Games. We’ve seen so much amazing talent out there with all the different sports. The kids played their hearts out and it was just amazing to see.”

The torch was extinguished during the closing ceremony on Friday. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

The LLRIB was asked to host the Tony Cote Summer Games on short notice with planning starting only eight months ago. It was a huge undertaking for organizers and a large amount of funds were spent preparing facilities for the sporting event. One particularly large project was the upgrading of the running track at Senator Myles Venne School, which now meets provincial codes.

Cook-Searson explained the amount of time and resources poured into hosting the Tony Cote Summer Games will prove to be a long-lasting legacy for the band. She’s hoping one day in the future an Olympian will emerge from the LLRIB or Team Woodland.

“We wouldn’t have been able to achieve what we did without team work and collaboration. It took a team effort and everyone working together,” Cook-Searson said.

“It brought out the best in our community members. People just came together to make sure we put our best foot forward and to make sure our Games were a success.”

The Tony Cote Summer Games attracted an estimated 5,000 people to the tri-communities, nearly doubling the normal population of about 6,000 residents. It proved to be an economic boom for businesses and local leadership believe it will be a benefit when it comes to future tourism.

Northern hospitality was on full display during the last five days. It was a chance for the LLRIB to showcase the area and tours were arranged to the Churchill River, Nistowiak Falls and the historic Holy Trinity Anglican Church. The band also hosted a fish fry on Wednesday and served about 2,200 guests with a total of 3,500 including those who had burgers and hotdogs.

“There are so many things that us as locals take for granted. We can go out and jump in the lake at any time. We can go out and fish whenever we can,” Cook-Searson said, noting many of the people who travelled to La Ronge had never been to the region before.

“It’s such a beautiful place that we have here and beautiful people. The people make it what it is and so many memories have been made.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com