In the world of wall-crawling, the Canmore Youth Climbing Team is Rocky Balboa.
Continuously punching above their weight, a community of Canmore’s size has no business putting six climbers on the podium against the likes of Calgary and Edmonton.
But the CYCT did so again this weekend, this time at the Tour de Bloc competition on Saturday (Dec. 13) in Edmonton, proving pound for pound, they are the top club in Alberta.
Manon Mackasey, Simon Yamamoto and Becca Frangos were locks once again for top spot in their age categories, winning gold in the Youth B Girls, Youth A Boys and junior girls category respectively.
This week, they were joined by Albert Reed (second, Youth C Boys), Alex Fricker (third, Youth A boys) and Sara Frangos (second, junior girls) on the podium. Development team athlete Bryton Kapitza also grabbed silver in the Youth D category, while Patrick Gibeau also deserves an honourable mention, as his fourth-place finish in the junior boys division and 10th-place finish in the open men’s comp was a personal best.
“The team had an amazing day, we had lots of fun for sure and it was great to see Canmore representing with not just a strong turnout, but a strong performance as well,” said coach Sonnie Trotter.
Sending a full contingent of 16 climbers, the Canmore club excelled on the tough routes. The club’s goal is to excel at junior nationals, so the Edmonton competition was a good chance to gain experience.
“The gym in Edmonton is very steep and aggressive and our kids did a fantastic job of adapting to that terrain. With that being said, it was another great learning experience in what are our strengths and weaknesses and we look forward to getting back to work and preparing the team for nationals,” Trotter said.
“This year, they can compete in a junior national bouldering event (in February), as well as a junior national rope climbing event (in May). So there’s lots of excitement moving forward. We are extremely proud of our team of kids, they try so hard and yet they all have such a great attitude towards competition.”
Becca Frangos also finished fourth in the open women’s competition, and Sara Frangos was ninth. Coach Stacey Weldon finished first. Simon Yamamoto was sixth in the open men category.
Other top 10 finishers in Edmonton included Sam Birch, Hunter McLaughlin, Taevan Birch, Roche Lynx, Jacqueline Middleton, Alina Arvisais, Greg Sinclair and Morgan Bateman.
The team will get a chance to compete at Elevation Place in the new year, when they’ll host their first competition of 2015.
