Invictus excitement builds in B.C.

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In less than a year, Vancouver and Whistler will welcome ill and injured military athletes worldwide for the Invictus Games 2025.

To celebrate the upcoming games and help boost awareness of its mission, a group of 60 military athletes, competitors, coaches, and managers from 19 nations worldwide gathered in mid-February for a Participating Nations Winter Camp.

“The purpose of the camp is to help participating nations build year-round adaptive sports programs,” said Scott Moore, CEO of Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025.

The participants spent the week receiving instruction in adaptive sports such as alpine snowboarding and skiing, Nordic skiing, biathlon, and skeleton and wheelchair curling at former venues of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Moore says the camp was the first chance for many participants to try the new winter sports coming to the Invictus for the first time.

“Their experience truly demonstrated that through the power of sport, the Games will inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for those who have served their country,” he said.

The games focus on recovery for the wounded, injured and sick armed forces personnel. It’s a process that past Invictus Games competitor Major (ret’d) Nick Holyome of Comox, B.C., fully buys into.

The former Regular and Reserve Force member served 24 years in the Navy, Army, Air Force and Special Operations Forces as MARS Officer and then an Intelligence Officer. He was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression in 2015, stemming from four tours of Afghanistan. Holyome competed in wheelchair rugby, indoor rowing and cycling at the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany last September.

This time, he tried his hand at wheelchair curling for the first time.

“It was very challenging, but I really enjoyed the experience,” he said. “You can’t show up on the ice with any frustration and you need to be calm and cool when you release the rocks.”

Holyome is an experienced Nordic skier and coach but won’t compete as an athlete at next year’s Games. Instead, he hopes to participate as a member of Team Canada’s coaching or support staff. In recent months, he has visited local community organizations in Comox to speak about his Games experience and help spread awareness.

 

Sliding with Prince Harry

To help blow their horn and trumpet the virtues of the Games, organizers also enlisted one of its founders and most prominent supporters – Prince Harry. In a strong show of support for the Games, The Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, attended multiple events at the camp.

The Duke spoke to approximately 200 attendees at a fundraising dinner in Vancouver,  B.C., climbed aboard a tiny sled, and completed two head-first runs down a skeleton track at the Whistler Sliding Centre, where he reached speeds of nearly 100 km/h. Then, on the ice at the Vancouver Curling Club, he and singer-songwriter Michael Bublé threw a few rocks and competed against each other in wheelchair curling.

During his visit, the Duke reiterated his support for the Games while celebrating its mission.

“Invictus is not necessarily about winning a medal but about the bonds built between nations, about the shared journey of recovery that competitors and their families are part of,” he said. “The Games provide a platform for you to showcase your abilities, inspire the world and honour the sacrifices of those we have lost.”

Presented by title sponsors ATCO and Boeing, the Invictus Games Vancouver Whistler 2025 is an international adaptive sporting competition for wounded, injured and sick military service members and veterans.

The seventh Invictus Games is Canada’s second to be hosted after the 2017 Games in Toronto. Invictus Vancouver Whistler takes place Feb. 8 to 16, 2025, and will bring together 550 competitors from 25 nations. Athletes will compete in newly introduced winter sports and the more traditional Invictus competitions of indoor rowing, sitting volleyball, swimming, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair rugby.