THUNDER BAY — It's been decades since Thunder Bay has hosted a regional gymnastics meet, like the one happening Saturday.
“I think it’s been over 20 years since we’ve had something like this here,” Thunder Bay Gymnastics technical director Marguerite Gagnon said.
Like many sports in the region over the last few years, gymnastics took a bit of a hit in Northwestern Ontario in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID really had a big impact on gymnastics, along with so many other things, so everybody’s just trying to get back into action," said Gagnon.
The Thunder Bay Gymnastics Association is hoping to get things going in the right direction around the district this weekend.
The club is welcoming Sunset Gymnastics Club from Dryden and Rainy Lake Gymnastics Academy from Fort Frances to the Claydon building at the CLE grounds on Saturday for the Budner Cup, which is named after club founder Cairine Budner.
“We want to help support gymnastics development in the region and we’re hoping to expand it a little bit more for next year. We know that Red Lake and Kenora are interested in coming here in the future, which is great.”
The one-day competition will also allow local gymnasts to show off their skills to their family and friends. The majority of their meets during the course of the season happen in southern Ontario.
“I definitely think this weekend is going to be an eye-opener for everyone that’s going to be watching us,” said Orryn Pudden, who has been competing for eight years.
“It’s a really great experience for our parents and everyone else to come here and see all the things that we’ve been doing.”
The CEO of Gymnastics Ontario, Dave Sanford, is also coming up to Thunder Bay for the meet and will be running a training camp for the northwestern Ontario gymnasts on Sunday.
“That’s a huge deal because Dave isn’t able to go to a lot of meets with his schedule,” Gagnon said.
“I think this is the first time that he’s made his way up to Thunder Bay as well, so we’re just thrilled that he’s going to be here.”
Saturday’s event will see female gymnasts competing in the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise events.
The male gymnasts will showcase their skills in vault, parallel bars, pommel horse, rings, high bar and floor exercise.
The opening session begins at 8:30 a.m., with the second session starting just before noon.
There is an admission fee of $5 for the day, which is used to help offset the costs of running the meet.
