A trio of local Team Manitoba members are returning from the 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games with some hardware.

Rosetown's Jonah Ginter, Altona's Kira Owen and Winkler's Chelsea Budgen each snagged at least one medal while participating for the Manitoba snowshoeing team at the Thunder Bay event this past week. In fact, it was the first time each of the athletes had participated at the national games. 

Ginter brought home a bronze medal in the 100 meter and 400 meter snowshoe races, and gold with his 4x100 relay team. He admits the races were a bit difficult.

"I was nervous going into all of them, esepcially the four hundred considering I was second-last in my division. But when the final came, Coach had preached to me 'You need to come out high and hard', and that's exactly what I did and I came out in third," he explained.

That being said, Ginter says the 4x100 relay will be a special memory of his for a long time. 

Meantime, Kira and Chelsea were part of the snowshoe team that won silver in the 4 x 100 relay. 

"It was really good...it was kind of hard but not as hard as I thought it would be," said Kira when asked to reflect on the race. 

She added that meeting new people from across Canada was one of her highlights from the week. 

"It was really cool. It's nice to know how many people do the same sport as me. A lot of friend memories."

As for Chelsea, she says it was really exciting to win that silver medal. 

The Team Manitoba member adds she really enjoyed travelling to a different province as part of the national event.

"Representing Manitoba is the greatest thing that ever happened to me and cheering on our teammates and shouting "Toba!' all the time, it just cheers me up," she said. 

Shania Ginter served as an assistant coach for the Team Manitoba snowshoeing team. Coming off her first national games as well, the Rosetown resident says it was an intense, long week. 

"The experience was absolutely amazing. I cried a few tears seeing them get their medals, its eight months of training that we could say really paid off," she added.

In total, Team Manitoba is coming home from the Games with a total of 59 medals: 15 Gold, 15 Silver, and 29 Bronze. 

Photo provided by Shania Ginter. Jonah won a bronze medal in the 100 meter and 400 meter, and gold with his 4x100 relay team.