Moorefield area resident Kathy Cowper returned from Europe recently with a gold medal and a world championship title.
Cowper won all five of her squash matches at the World Masters Game in Torino, Itay, defeating a competitor from Auckland, New Zealand in the final to claim the gold medal in the 50-plus division.
Cowper took up competitive racquet Sports while attending the University of Waterloo. She was on the varsity badminton team in her first year of school but switched to squash in her second year and played varsity the rest of the way.
For the past dozen years she has played out of the Elora Racquets and Fitness Club.
Cowper was a Canadian Masters champion in 2010, a U.S. Open champion in 2012 and a runner up at the competition in 2011, so she was confident she could be competitive in Torino.
Cowper noted there isn’t a qualifying process for the World Masters Games, “but usually people don’t enter unless they’re at a certain level of play.”
The event wasn’t Cowper’s first endeavour at global competition, but it was her most successful. Last year she entered the World Masters Squash competition in Birmingham, England, but broke a bone in her foot during her second match and had to withdraw.
“The most important thing in masters Sports is to keep injury free, that’s everybody’s aim,” she noted.
Injuries kept Cowper’s husband out of the games in Italy this year. Bruce Cowper was set to compete in triathlon and duathlon events, but tore an Achilles tendon before the games.
“So he had to relegate himself to the sidelines on this trip. It would have been exciting for us both to have competed.”
The World Masters Games are held every four years and involve about 20,000 competitors in 20 different Sports.
“Canada was well represented. It was really kind of neat to walk down the street and see someone with a Canadian hat or shirt on,” said Cowper.
“We had a pretty good cheering squad with the support of other Canadians.
“The whole city was pretty much overrun with masters athletes. It’s a pretty big competition.”
Cowper said she enjoyed both the games and the opportunity to get to know other competitors.
“It’s really nice to have people that can compete on the court, that will also relax and socialize after. So you end up meeting a lot of like-minded people with similar interests.”
The next World Masters Games will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, with Cowper hoping to be a part of that experience as well.
