By Staff
Melissa Cason
Franklin County Times
The Burns Seniors Golden Games Team walked away from the annual Golden Games last week with several medals, including a gold, two silvers medals and a bronze.
Activities Director Terina McGalliard said the residents went to the Games as a team, and all the medals were won as a team.
"It's really important to our participants that it is known that the team won and not an individual resident," McGalliard said.
The event consisted of several individual games like bowling, the 25-yarn dash, and the wheelchair races. The lone team event was volleyball.
"The 25-yarn dash is the best game," volunteer and dietary manager Carol Jones said.
Participants in the 25-yarn dash had to roll up 25 yards of yarn. The first one to collect their strand was the winner.
"What makes the 25-yarn dash so fun is that the yarn criss-crosses and you have to be careful not to run over anybody," McGalliard said.
Vernon Stegall won the silver medal in the 25-yarn dash. John Foster was awarded the gold medal in the wheelchair race. Billy Duncan took silver in the basketball throw and Maviena Baker was given the bronze medal in the bowling competition.
"The great thing about this was that we had residents who usually don't want to go anywhere asking to go again," McGalliard said. "They are very competitive and they keep asking if they are going back this week."
Another fun aspect of the Golden Games is the team themes. Burns Seniors had the Git-R-Done theme with John Deere green shirts, posters and hats.
McGalliard said that resident Dicky Holt's screen printing business, ran by his wife, Carolyn, printed the team's shirts.
"Carolyn is great," McGalliard said. "We couldn't have done it without her."
Gordon Crosswhite, a friend of Holt's who works for the John Deere factory, donated the team official John Deere hats for the event.
Jones said. "We have next year's theme picked out but we can't tell you because that is top secret information."