CANMORE – The Bow Valley Riptides Swim Club’s Carter Beamish and Kahlen Anderson were decorated with gold, silver and bronze medals at provincials this month and altogether the club took home eight pieces of hardware from the competition.
Last weekend (June 14-16), about 30 swim clubs from all over the province gathered to compete at the Swim Alberta 2019 Provincials
Beamish, 16, won five medals – two bronze medals in the 50-metre back stroke and 200m freestyle, two silver medals in the 200m back stroke and the 200m fly, and a gold medal in the 400m freestyle.
“There weren’t very many kids in my age group, but the kids that were together, they were all packed really close, so it was a tight race,” Beamish said.
According to Beamish, the 200m fly race proved to be the most challenging for him and while he came in second, he managed to beat his personal best time.
“It was just such a hard race. I was kind of racing someone that was way faster than me so [my coach] said just race your own race and I did and I took time off even though it was really painful,” he said.
Beamish wasn’t the only Riptide who shined at the provincials this year. Kahlen Anderson, 12, won two gold medals in the 400m and 800m freestyle and a bronze medal in the 100m freestyle. As a result, she qualified for the upcoming summer swim championships in Edmonton.
“In my races, I just tried as hard as I could,” she said. “You need two times to go to championships. I only had one, so I knew I had to get it and I just tried my best to push myself.”
Anderson said she was happy with her result, as she trained nearly five times a week to prepare herself for the provincials.
With their success in the provincials, both Riptide swimmers were able to qualify for the championship races. Under the watchful eye Bow Valley Riptides coach Tom Shackel, they will be preparing for the next competition.
“Going into champs, we’ll do a bit of taper, so we’ll cut down the training a bit just to save up some energy for championships,” Beamish said.
Summer championships will take place from July 4-7 at the Kinsmere Sportscentre in Edmonton, Alta
