Bright and Early Start for Over 50 Cochrane Athletes

From team sports like baseball, football, lacrosse, rugby and soccer to track and field events and paddling, Cochrane has a huge contingency of athletes competing in the Alberta Summer Games that kicked off in Grande Prairie tonight with a Torch Run and lead into competitions that begin Friday.

The Zone 2 buses leave bright and early July 19 from Airdrie for Alberta's northwest capital and over 50 of those athletes are from Cochrane. That doesn't include others from nearby Rocky View rural areas and communities like Bragg Creek, Springbank and Bearspaw and Water Valley in Mountain View County.

St. Timothy High School track and field head coach Travis Cummings, who is the Zone 2 distance head coach, is thrilled with the number of athletes coming from his school and is equally excited for athletes from other schools he has helped prepare for the games. 

Trenton Spademan, 13, will be competing in the discus throw, long jump and triple jump. He's excited to be in the games.

"I'm going do my best and try to place well and meet new people, but mostly I'm going for the experience," he says.

Brock Gilbert was introduced to triathlon at Cochrane's Footstock when he was six. He's looking forward to the experience offered by the Alberta Summer Games. (Photo contributed)

Brock Gilbert, 11, was introduced to triathlon through Cochrane's Footstock and he's excited to represent Zone 2 at the games in a sport that combines swimming, running and cycling.

He may be young, but he can be considered a bit of a veteran of the sport. He's been competing since age six.

"I like how it has all my favourite sports. I like swimming, I like biking and I like running."

Since qualifying at a Calgary Kids of Steel trial, he's continued his training for what will be his biggest competition to date.

Outside of field events, he also really enjoys running the 800m but won't be competing in that event this time around.

Well known their curling prowess, Julianna Mackenzie and Zoe Cinnamon are both heading to Grande Prairie. Julianna is competing in the U 17 throwing events; discus, javelin, shotput and for the first time will be competing in the hammer throw. Zoe is a distance running in the U17 female 1,500, 3,000m as well as the distance relay.

It was only in February the two competed in the Alberta Winter Games in the mixed curling event in Fort McMurray and are now venturing north again to experience a different season.

Now entering grade 11, Julianna started track and field at St. Tim's in grade 7.

"I wasn't really into the running events so I decided to do throws and I liked it more," she says.

"It's my first time in the summer games. It's a different competition than I'm used to so I think it will be a really good experience."

Julianna has also enjoyed the opportunity to see some of the northern reaches of Alberta and still has a vivid memory of viewing some of the damage that remained from the wildfire that ravished Fort McMurray in 2016.

"I had never been to Fort McMurray or Grande Prairie. It's a long drive but it's nice there."

Last year curling out of Airdrie she was part of a team that came third in the 2018 provincial championship.

Both Julianna and Zoe remain among the top youth curlers in Alberta and both are part of teams that have qualified for the trials for Team Alberta's entries into the 2019 Canada Winter Games being hosted by Red Deer. The Cinnamon rink is based out of Cochrane and Julianna is part of an Edmonton team in the hunt

The Bow Valley Rugby Club will be representing Zone One in the 7s event and have been making adjustments to their strategy because they normally play 15s.The Bow Valley Rugby Club will be representing Zone One in the 7s competition at the Alberta Games. They're using a combination of U15 and U17 players and have been adjusting their strategy for the 7s version of the sport. They normally play 15s and 7s is a completely different game, explains head coach Gary Lewis, who is joined by manager Andrew Baak.

Cochrane Minor Soccer is playing a large role in coordinating the Zone 2 entries. Rhonda Carr is the zone coordinator and is also managing the boys' team. Technical Director John Castrillon is coaching the girls' team.