40th Anniversary Children's Games
On Sunday, November 10, 2024, the Durham Regional Police Service (DRPS) Children’s Games held their 40th anniversary games at Durham College.
The DRPS Pipes & Drums piped in the guest speakers and special guests before each team walked in to their chosen team song. The excitement was contagious and the cheering could be heard through-out the venue. The top male and female athletes from 2023, Adalyn Cawwood-Lawrence and Sebastien Rousell joined Chief Moreira and Mini Chief Hryniewski for the ribbon cutting to mark the official start of the games.
DRPS would like to extend heartfelt thanks to Stewart Giffin and Henry Otter for attending the event to commemorate the 40th anniversary. It was their vital work and partnership with then DRPS Chief Jon Jenkins in 1985 that started these games to provide a fun and inclusive sporting opportunity to children with a variety of physical disabilities.
Sixty-one athletes registered to attend and were divided into eight teams: Public Safety, Traffic, Detectives, Patrol, K9, Forensics, Auxiliary and Tactical. The teams rotated between eight different sporting events, and members of each team kept score. At the end of the events, the points were and the winner of the games and Chief's Cup Award was announced and the winner was…………………the Tactical team!
Athletes on the winning team were presented with trophies at the closing ceremony, and all athletes received a medal of participation. As well, the DRPS Children’s Games announced the renaming of their spirit award to the “Laura and Walter Zutell Award” in honour of past long-time committee member Laura Zutell and her husband Walter Zutell. This award is presented to an athlete from each team for true sportsmanship through their enthusiasm and support for their fellow participants.
The 2024 top female was awarded to Madison Brown and top male was awarded to Ethan Konecy. Congratulations!
At the games, athletes were able to pose for photos with special guests, including the Durham College mascot Louis the Lord, Geoffrey the Toys R' Us giraffe, Tessa the Fire Dog and more. Several of the DRPS Police Service Dogs; Pixel, Summit and Taz were also in attendance for some furry high-fives, putting big smiles on the faces of the athletes.
Many of the athletes and their families came with bags full of pop tabs. REMINDER you can still collect and donate pop tabs to any DRPS division until the end of the month to help DRP Children’s Games support a local organization.
A huge thank you to committee members for all their hard work and dedication, DRPS Auxiliary Officers, DRPS members, all of their sponsors, volunteers and the athletes and their families.
Save the date for the 41st DRPS Children’s Games: October 25, 2025. For more information on the DRPS Children’s Games please visit www.drpchildrensgames.com
See below for more images from the event.
