A total of nine members of the Meadow Creek Vaulting Club will be attending the Alberta and Saskatchewan provincial championships as well as the national championships in Ponoka on Oct. 13 and 14.
The competitors from the Meadow Creek club that will be competing at the events range in age from nine to 25.
“Our younger members are competing at the provincial championships which are part of the event and then our more experienced competitors are competing at the national event,” said Jeanine Van Der Sluijs, one of the club's coaches, who will be doubling as a competitor at the national competition. She will be joined at the national event by Angelique Van Der Sluijs.
This will be the first time the national championships will be held in Alberta. A total of four clubs from Alberta will be represented at the provincial championships.
There was no qualifying for the events because the sport is still in its infancy in Canada, Van Der Sluijs said.
“Because the sport is very small (in Canada), we're able to combine the two events into one bigger event, which will draw more (of an audience), more participants,” she said.
Van Der Sluijs said 44 competitors will be competing at the events. The national championships will draw competitors from the three westernmost provinces.
Van Der Sluijs said the club is hoping for some excellent results.
“We're hoping to perform well and have a successful competition (from the national competitors) and the rest of the members are competing at the provincial level at various (stages). But they've all been doing very well throughout the year, so we're hoping to put down some solid results,” she said.
