Shootist Danielle Marcotte has some competition.
Like her, the competition comes from the Yukon.
And, like her, the competition lives in Pelly Crossing.
In fact, they even share the same house.
Kyley Marcotte, 15, joined her sister at the 2011 Canadian Grande Prix air-gun competition
last weekend in Toronto.
The two brought home five medals, including a gold in the team event.
Worried about her younger sister, the event was more hectic than normal for Danielle.
“Honestly, it was more stressful,” said the 18-year-old. “Both days she shot two positions ahead of me. The first day, I was focused on my shoot, but I was also focused on her shoot, so I’d peak over to her targets, trying to watch her at the same time.
“It was her first competition, so I was seeing if she was having any problems. The second day she had a bunch of problems and that was really distracting. The range officers were calling her off the line and it was really hard not being able to go over there and see her.”
After two days of competition, Danielle won gold in the female international juniors category and also won gold in the finals, a10-shot match-up between the top eight shooters.
Danielle didn’t have her best performance in terms of points, scoring a 96.9, but finished with her highest placement in four trips to the competition.
As her first competition, Kyley had some nerves to overcome, but still finished first in the female sub junior category on the first day for a gold. She missed the finals on the second day by just two spots.
“It was really fun,” said Kyley. “I was scared at first, but it was cool. I was nervous, but then it was fun after the first part of it.
“I shot OK, but I usually get higher scores than that. I usually get 350s.”
The two sisters will be the only shooters to represent the Yukon at next month’s Canada Winter Games. Danielle competed at the 2007 Winter Games in Whitehorse, finishing 10th.
“It’s just like any other competition: I’m excited,” said Danielle.
“I think it will probably be a good experience,” said Kyley. “It’s bigger, and I’ll probably be a bit nervous, but hopefully I do well down there.”
Last February Danielle won gold at the 2010 International Grand Prix air-gun competition in the women’s international juniors division. At the event she logged the high score among all juniors competing in the two-day event.
In May she won gold at the Maple Leaf Open Air Gun Championships in Leduc, Alberta.
In August Danielle was the only Yukoner on the Canadian team at the first-ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore, finishing fourth in the junior women’s event.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com