Kamloops is one step closer to winning the $100,000 Gamestown 2010 top prize.

More than 100 communities across the province took part in the competition and the Tournament Capital was among 10 finalists announced Tuesday.

“We’re totally ecstatic,” said Jeff Putnam, sport development and business operations manager with the City of Kamloops.

“We’ve been working really hard on this both as a community and as a municipality.

“This is a big first step.”

Putnam said Kamloops had a definite upper hand in the preliminary round of the competition, during which communities submitted “healthy living pledges” and attempted to garner votes in their respective population categories.

“As a city, we’ve definitely embraced the spirit of 2010, which is what it’s all about,” he said.

“Showing your healthy living and sport was easy for Kamloops because we’re already doing it with the Tournament Capital program.”

Gamestown 2010 spokeswoman Trish Fougner said there’s still more for River City residents to do.

“The Top 10 communities right now will have an opportunity to rally for the next [two] days,” she said, explaining that a midnight Jan. 7 deadline has been set up for all entries.

“The judges are looking for creativity, enthusiasm, sport, focuses on healthy living, spirit, the Games.

“Maybe it’s a big event, maybe it’s a small event.

“Now that you know you’re in the Top 10, now you think, ‘OK, I’m really going to go for it.’

“So maybe there’s something they can put together in the next [two] days.”

Putnam said he’s sure the community support will keep coming.

“We’ve been getting half a dozen pledges every day up until [Monday, when first-round voting closed],” he said.

“I think people will continue to do that.”

But Putnam said he hopes to see more support from local schools.

“One thing I would love to see is all of the schools in School District 73 to go about entering a pledge on behalf of the school,” he said.

“And we’ll continue to encourage people to make sure that, if they’ve got any entries they haven’t submitted, to do so prior to the deadline.”

Fougner said the list of 10 will be whittled down to three by the end of the month, with a winner announced shortly after.

The winning community will receive $100,000 to upgrade sports or recreational facilities. The runners-up will receive $50,000 and $25,000 respectively.

Other communities in the Top 10 are Houston, Princeton, Smithers, Quesnel, Salmon Arm, Dawson Creek, Prince George, Kelowna and Coquitlam.

For more information or to submit an entry, log on to gamestown2010.ca.

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