Skip Mark Ideson has played 145 games of wheelchair curling internationally for Canada.
Surely you know or heard of Mark? The skip of Canada’s Paralympic wheelchair curling team who waited until there was 2.8 seconds left on the game clock to throw the stone that won Canada the gold medal in Milano Cortina, Italy, 4-3 over China, in March?
Well, Ideson has played 141 of those games – including the 11 wins without a loss that no wheelchair curler has ever done before at the Milano Paralympics – with Spallumcheen’s Ina Forrest, the most decorated wheelchair curler of all-time.
And while he wasn’t there in person, Ideson had Forrest’s coach Sharon Morrison deliver a message to her in front of more than 100 well-wishers at a meet-and-greet for Forrest Monday, March 30, at the Vernon Curling Club:
“She is the greatest, most professional teammate I’ve ever had the privilege of competing with,” said Ideson through Morrison, who has been Forrest’s coach for more than two decades.
“I’ve learned from Ina it’s OK to dance like nobody is watching; to wear your medal with pride no matter the colour; to never give up, even when you’re down 8-0. I’ve learned that humour and laughing get you through any stressful situation; and that traveling with family is probably one of the most precious life experiences, especially when you’re as cool as Ina’s family is.”
Accompanied by husband, Curtis, and daughter, Evany, Forrest was welcomed with a huge ovation at the curling club.
She was piped in by members of the Kalamalka Highlanders Pipe Band – including Morrison, who served as emcee for the evening – and rolled her way through an honour guard of local wheelchair curlers. Among them, the man who ‘discovered’ Forrest at an Okanagan grocery store in 2004, Eric Eales of Kelowna – he’s the man who encouraged her to try wheelchair curling – and her Team Canada Paralympic medal-winning teammate, Sonja Gaudet of Vernon, inducted into the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame in 2025.
“You are a legend, no doubt about it,” said Gaudet. “You were a rock on the team as a player, as a teammate, you always have been. “I’m super proud of your accomplishments and that I can call you my friend.”
Forrest was wearing a laurel wreath around her head as she entered the club lounge. That’s symbolic of what event-winners in the first Olympics in Ancient Greece received to take back home to their villages.
The Vernon Curling Club is Forrest’s village.
She curls in Tuesday and Thursday ladies play, and it’s where she learned the sport back in 2004.
Nearly 25 years, she’s become the most decorated wheelchair curler of all-time with five Paralympic medals, three of which are gold. She’s won a medal in every Paralympics competition she’s taken part in. She had her latest gold medal draped around her neck Monday.
“This is the 2.8 medal,” joked Forrest, referring to Ideson’s gold-medal winning shot. “If he’d waited any longer, this (medal) would have been China’s (in World Curling Federation rules, if a team runs out of time before it’s last rock is delivered, they lose automatically).
“It was amazing to us to see the support we received at these Paralympics. When I started, there was less media and people didn’t know we existed. We were so happy that people were enjoying our sport in Italy and coming out to watch, or volunteers and fellow athletes were watching us on the screens in the village…It was very cool to be the exciting sport.
“I also want to thank the Vernon Curling Club for the support we’ve had, for making the club accessible and for being involved as much as we have been. And to the Tuesday and Thursday ladies, thanks for welcoming Sonja and I so much in the early years, and through all of the years. It means the world to me. I’ve learned so much from the ladies and have enjoyed it tremendously.”
Congratulatory messages were extended in person by Vernon Mayor Victor Cumming; by video from Salmon Arm-Shuswap MLA David Williams; and by certificate from Vernon-Monashee MLA Harwinder Sandhu.
“Your dedication, perseverance, and excellence in sport have made a lasting impact on our community and beyond,” read Sandhu’s document. “It’s been an honour to celebrate your achievement as the most decorated wheelchair curler in history. Your leadership continues to inspire many.”
That includes Morrison, longtime Vernon curler.
“You have made these last 22 years so much fun and enjoyable,” she said.