2026 September Games Wrap Up

Written by Event Assistant, Ashley Wallace

The 2026 September Games brought people together from all different backgrounds and industries through friendly competition. With 134 companies participating across 24 sports and games, the September Games provided opportunities for colleagues to connect with coworkers they may not see often, build new relationships, and bond with people they might not get the chance to connect with otherwise. Participants really enjoyed meeting people from other companies, organizing joint practices through networking, and sharing laughs and positive experiences with fellow competitors. Not only do the Games help build a sense of community, but they also encourage teamwork, and increase engagement in the workplace. We hope you left this September feeling closer to your colleagues and with new connections and memories to take back to the workplace!

As always, we could not do this without the ongoing support of so many volunteers. We had over 700 amazing Company Volunteers, helping out with registration and check- in, scorekeeping, marshalling and so much more! We had 48 amazing Primary Volunteers this year and 13 new volunteers that supported us with over 900 volunteered hours!

Now on to the exciting stuff! We’ve rounded up some of our favourite moments from the 2026 September Games that show what a great community we have!

Highlights

• For the first time since 2009, someone got a perfect hand in Cribbage. There is a 1 in 216,580 chance of this happening and many players have never gotten a perfect hand. Congratulations to Joe from Trafigura! 
• Tamarack Valley Energy successfully defended their Horseshoes Gold despite at least one of their two-person team playing horseshoes for the very first time ever at the event!
• SLS Centre and Excel Homes had a very entertaining and friendly rivalry that culminated in a giftbox for losing to the other by one point. This was very reminiscent of the giftbox that Obsidian received from ISL Engineering when they moved up a division. 
• CEO Teams really showed up this year! Team members earned points by cheering their teams on, participating, volunteering and supporting charity partners. This year we had 21/79 companies receive perfect scores. If your company has not joined the CEO Challenge, 2027 might be the perfect opportunity to join!
• This year, we saw a 50% decrease in defaults compared to last year. We love to see increased participation and engagement!

Spirit Awards

Spirit Awards are given to companies that have gone above and beyond in demonstrating teamwork, enthusiasm, sportsmanship and participation during the September Games. In each division, one company was selected to receive this coveted award.

Vivo for Healthier Generations (Purple Division) was selected as a Spirit Winner for their special event involvement, participation in all events as a new company and being our honorable mention for the design challenge. We loved their enthusiasm throughout the Games and at the Closing Ceremony, this is what we love to see from a first year company!

360 Engineering & Environmental Consulting Ltd. (Blue Division) won the Spirit Award in for their great volunteers on site, supportive CEO team, their support on site and their excellent company captain. A special shoutout to their Company Captain Ilish, who always had a friendly smile and really embodied great team spirit!

Cedarglen Homes (Green Division) took home the Spirit Award for their amazing team support, company volunteers, charity challenge support and for attending all special events and Human Bonspiel. Woo!

Woods Homes (Red Division) secured a Spirit Award for their great volunteers, engagement, having no defaults or forfeits and for having an almost perfect score for the CEO challenge. We especially loved the mental health buttons they were giving out to our volunteers and participants on-site!

Lastly, Pembina Pipeline Corporation (Orange Division) was recognized with a Spirit Award. They had great volunteers at events, positive team spirit onsite at Badminton, supportive CEO team members across all events, and great Off-Season and Special Event participation and engagement. 

Design Challenge sponsored by Elite Promotional Marketing

The Design Challenge allows us to celebrate the creativity of the companies that participate in the September Games. Companies design something that best represents our theme for this year and/or their company. This year, we have seen no shortage of creativity, and sometimes abstract designs and we love seeing so many companies wearing their designs at the events. 

Our winner for the 2026 Design Challenge is POD Marketing! Their submission was an animated video featuring Podrick, their famous company mascot fighting and defeating 5 physical representations of the opposite of their core values. Several contributors were involved, including writers, designers, a motion artist, and the Project Manager. They were evaluated on creativity, execution and storytelling and POD Marketing had the highest score for all 3 combined. Click here to see their submission.

CCC’s Got Talent

CCC’s Got Talent is an opportunity for companies to produce something or show off a talent, record it and submit it to our famous (to anyone paying attention to CCC) panel of judges. This was not only a creative way to showcase different talents, but the process of reviewing them was a very entertaining experience for us all at the office and had us laughing out loud! From singing and dancing to eating competitions, sports, and more, we loved seeing the wide range of talents on display. 

Our winner for the 2026 CCC’s Got Talent was awarded to a company that displayed the highest average score based on teamwork, creativity and execution. We were all impressed with the creative choice for their talent, a virtual theme park on Zoom and their collaboration and teamwork to coordinate the perfect song. This was rewarded to Tri Innovations, who took home the trophy in 2025 as well! Click here to watch their submission. 

Charity Challenge

Each year we are impressed by our community for providing so much valuable support to our Charity Partners. Each charity selects Giving Opportunities to make an impact on their community within Calgary and beyond. Check out the incredible results of the Charity Challenge in 2026: 

The 2026 September Games were a celebration of community support, connection, team building and competition. Thank you to all the companies, volunteers, participants, supporters and sponsors who helped make the Games possible. We can’t wait to see everyone at the 2027 September Games!

To see how your team placed, check out the Overall Results here.