Skip to content

Whitehorse Glacier Bears Swim Club finish eighth in national virtual event

Glacier Bears swimmers finished eighth at during the virtual Swim Canada Race Again Challenge as well as set many club and personal best times
25917935_web1_210723_YKN_sports_GlacierBears_439-web_1
Glacier Bears swimmer Hannah Kingscote competes at a 2017 meet. Kingscote finished in the top three of Swim Canada’s virtual Race Again Challenge in 2021. (Tom Patrick/Yukon News)

The Whitehorse Glacier Bears swimmers will get a much-deserved break after training for a year-and-a-half.

“The athletes are tired,” said Glacier Bears head coach Maria del Carmen Escobar. “They are taking a much deserved break to recoup and recover.”

The COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges for the club, Escobar said, but the swimmers remain “ahead of the game and ready for next year.”

To make up for the lack of local, provincial/territorial and national competitions, Swim Canada launched the race again challenge.

Swim clubs across the country were encouraged to safely hold events in their jurisdictions then submit results to Swim Canada.

“There were events in the winter, spring and summer,” said Escobar. “The Glacier Bears were always in the top 10.”

The club placed eighth at the virtual competition.

“This was a hard challenge to complete and our consistent efforts paid off at the end,” said Escobar.

River Powel and Mahee Patera remained in the top 10 in the U10 age group after the final Race Again Challenge.

Hannah Kingscote placed top three and Mia Barrault finished in the top four in the 16 and over female category.

Alex Petriw finished in the top 10 in the 17 and over male category.

“June and July were solid for training,” said Escobar. “I’m very proud of the swimmers and coaches.”

The Glacier Bears are also excited to announce that two of the club’s older swimmers, Kingscote and Aiden Harvey will be swimming for university teams come the fall.

Kingscote will be attending the University of North Colorado and Harvey will be going to Guelph University.

Escobar said it’s great to see swimmers take the next step in their swimming careers and that it’s inspiring for the younger members of the swim club.

“People see there is more beyond high school,” said Escobar. “We are very proud of both of them.”

The swim season will restart in September and Escobar said there are big plans ahead.

“It’s going to be an exciting calendar for the competitive swimmers,” said Escobar. “September to April there will be lots of training camps and competitions. It looks far away but it will come fast.”

Escobar said it looks like Swim B.C. and Swim Canada will be set to return to a normal competition year. When they do, the Glacier Bears will be ready.

“The swimmers and excited and set for that,” said Escobar. “We’ve done good base training and will hit the ground running.”

Contact John Tonin at john.tonin@yukon-news.com