B.C. Winter Games participants gathered inside the B.C. Winter Games Event Centre at Mission Raceway Park Sunday afternoon to share stories and relive their experience of the past few days.

Many also used this opportunity before the closing ceremony to proudly show off their medals and snap photos with their new friends.

“It was a great experience,” said Langley’s Hannah Woodman, who won a bronze medal with her ringette team. “It was fun playing with a group of different people.”

Her teammate, Ireland Bellsmith, agreed and added, “This was the best team I’ve ever been on.”

All competitors worked hard to get to the games and many were sad to leave.

“It was fun fighting new people,” said Invermere’s Mackenzie Dubois, who competed in judo. “It’s cool to travel to different places.”

A medical emergency briefly delayed the official closing ceremony to mark the end of the 2014 Mission B.C. Winter Games.

Master of ceremonies Roy Hafeli introduced the dignitaries and congratulated all the athletes, coaches, officials and volunteers for contributing to the event before inviting Mayor Ted Adlem, school board chair Edie Heinrichs, Mission B.C. Winter Games president Brian Antonson, and Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Marc Dalton to make their speeches.

Dalton and Abbotsford-Mission MLA Simon Gibson presented Langley’s Tyler Tardi with the William R. Bennett Award for athletic excellence. In addition to making his mark in curling, Tardi is also an active community volunteer.

Tardi received a $2,500 bursary to pursue sport or a post secondary education.

Antonson dutifully passed the B.C. Games flag to Jeff Lott, president of the Nanaimo Summer Games. The 2014 Summer Games will take place from July 17-20 in Nanaimo.

Dalton and Gibson put out the flame from the Games torch to officially draw the 2014 B.C. Winter Games to a close.