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This article was published 5/8/2017 (1141 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg has impressed visitors to the 2017 Canada Summer Games, and volunteers are a big reason why.

About 25 volunteers were on hand Saturday to shepherd athletes through Richardson International Airport on one of the airport's busiest days of the year.

It was turnaround day for the Games, the midway point when about 2,000 athletes ship out and at least as many ship in.

"It was amazing with the number of volunteers everywhere. It's only because of them that this could be what it was," said Sam Carmel, 19, of Quebec, who headed home Saturday with a bronze medal in the double sculls, won with teammate Quentin Basiren.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Sam Carmel, 19, a rower from Team Quebec, leaving Winnipeg at the airport after week one of the Canada Summer Games, Saturday.

"It surpassed my expectations," Carmel said of the Games.

That was a common theme. Three women from the British Columbia soccer team, despite a disappointing fifth-place finish, echoed those thoughts.

"I felt safe. I felt taken care of, and there was always a volunteer to lead us to our next event," said Anna Stephenson.

"The whole city seemed to come together for the Games," said Stephenson, one of 354 athletes from B.C. who will participate.

Teammate Jamie Foot said their female soccer team played in Winnipeg five years ago, but it was nothing like the experience at these Games.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Athletes from Team Quebec arrive at the airport to return home after the first week of the Canada Summer Games, Saturday.

"This time was almost completely different. We could tell Winnipeg was excited to have us," she said.

It's can be hard to make an impression on people from British Columbia, with their spectacular scenery and very cosmopolitan city, Vancouver, but the city surprised the B.C. soccer team.

"We went to The Forks and we were pleasantly impressed," said Foot.

The two women, along with a third teammate interviewed, Nadia Hakeem, said people at The Forks would pull them aside to talk, take a picture, and make them feel welcome.

"It was something I was not expecting," said Hakeem.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Team Alberta athletes arrive at the airport Saturday to begin week two of the Canada Summer Games.

The event "was an unbelievable experience. It's going to stay with me forever," she said.

Tatiana Aholou of Quebec won silver in the long jump but never got outside the athletes village at the University of Manitoba. She noted the work of volunteers, too.

"There were volunteers everywhere. I think the volunteers played an unbelievable role, and it wouldn't have been the Games without them," she said.

The airport was expecting 15,000 passengers on Saturday, 4,000 more than an average day. It had extra staff to handle the increased traffic.

The last day of the Games on Sunday Aug. 13 is expected to be another busy day.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Nadia Hakeem (from left), Jamie Foot and Anna Stephenson, all soccer players on Team B.C. leave Winnipeg at the airport Saturday after week one of the Canada Summer Games.

All track-and-field participants, baseball, basketball and beach volleyball players, divers, rowers, sailors, mountain bikers, triathletes and male softball and female soccer players are heading home. Arriving are canoe/kayak competitors, golfers, tennis, indoor volleyball, female softball and male soccer players, road cyclists, swimmers and wrestlers.

Week two of the Games kicks off Monday morning with action at the Manitoba Canoe and Kayak Centre, Winnipeg Lawn Tennis Club and the volleyball courts at Investors Group Athletic Centre, beginning at 9 a.m.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca