Hunter McLaughlin and Becca Frangos led the Canmore junior climbing team with gold medal performances on Saturday (Nov. 30) in the second bouldering competition of the season.
Bow Valley athletes snagged 11 of a possible 24 podiums on the day to dominate the Calgary Climbing Centre competition, where they were among the strongest 240 climbers on the day.
“Everybody just climbed really, really well,” said head coach Sonny Trotter. “They all fed off each other’s energy. Climbing is really fun to begin with, so when there’s a new climbing area and problems for them to try, that elevates them. It’s inspiring. They’re like kids in a candy store.”
Albert Reed, Manon Mackasey, Jacqueline Middleton and Alex Fricker all won silver medals in their respective categories, while Tula Sherkat, Andrew Guggill, Simon Yamamoto and Sara Frangos won bronze. Becca Frangos also managed to win a bronze medal in the open women’s category.
“The team continues to punch above its weight class. Little Canmore is doing very, very well,” said team president Steve Frangos.
Both Frangos and Trotter note Canmore has a strong climbing history and the successes built in the old Vsion Climbing Gym have carried on with the youth climbing team.
“We have a very dedicated group of young athletes,” Frangos said. “The team has 22 members. Sixty-five per cent are male, but we’re working on that. We have lots of age groups covered as well.”
Canmore has a tradition of producing strong climbers, and the current youth team has plenty of role models to chase. The team’s main goal is to reach the 2014 world championships in New Caledonia.
Elevation Place has raised the team’s profile, Frangos said, and the club is excited to host its first home meet at the new wall on Jan. 11. The competition will be open to the entire community.
“The space and visibility at Elevation Place is really helping the sport grow. It will bode well for the younger generation,” Frangos said.
