Basking in the success of a massive medal haul at the Alberta Climbing Provincials in Calgary, the Canmore Junior Climbing Team is prepared for a massive push at the Western Regional Championships on April 19-20 and the Canadian National Championships on May 17-19 in Montreal.
Head coach Sonny Trotter said most of his athletes are currently scaling walls in warmer climes as part of their training, but they’ll be prepared for the march towards Nationals in five weeks time.
“I think a tremendous amount of success stems from (the athletes’) own passion for climbing. This is an amazing team to coach because they are all so self-motivated and want to improve on their own terms,” Trotter said.
The team’s passion was on display at the provincial championships, where four local climbers claimed gold and a grand total of 11 landed on the podium. Manon Mackasey, Jacqueline Middleton, Becca Frangos and Hunter McLaughlin all took top titles in their respective age categories, while Albert Reed, Andrew Huggill, Alex Fricker, Sara Frangos and Dexter Bateman all earned medals. Becca Frangos won the 16-17 year old girls title as well as the open women’s championship.
The team has made his job look easy, Trotter said, as the group’s dedication and commitment to improve is easy to see.
“I don’t feel like I have to encourage them to try hard because they have it all built into them. They are an inspiring team to work with,” Trotter said.
Despite their success, the team knows national titles won’t come easy, as the sport continues to grow across Canada.
“Our last leg, we really try to put everything together. We combine skill, power and endurance training to round it all out for nationals,” Trotter said.
