When it comes to the junior national judo championships, getting there will be half the battle for a group of nine Prince George athletes.
The trip involves a series of flight connections to get to Quebec City, followed by a nine-hour bus ride to Sept-les, Que., on the north end of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Prince George Judo Club coach Aline Strasdin, an assistant coach for the B.C. team, is looking forward to the tournament, July 1-3, but not the travel.
"Nine hours by bus? How how ugly is that," joked Strasdin. "It's like Planes, Trains and Automobiles to get there."
Three PGJC members have qualified for the event, including Kristen Yawney (U-15 women, -63 kilograms), Elijah Zwiers (U-20 boys, -90kg), and Quinn Clemas (u-20 men, -81kg).
The 40-member B.C. team also includes Brandon Slooyer (U-17 men, -66kg) of the North Capital Judo Club.
Representing the Hart Judo Academy are: John Rustad (U-20 men,-60kg), Lavanna Laass (U-17 women, -53kg) , Sabrina Mori (U-17 women, -63kg), Mark Whalley (U-20 men, -60kg) and Byron Laass (U-15 men, -42kg).
Hart Academy head instructor Bruce Kamstra is the B.C. team head coach.
The event has 415 athletes entered in three age categories.
"B.C. had a page-and-half of entries and Quebec had five-and-a-half pages of entries," said Strasdin. "They're taking advantage of home advantage.
"B.C. usually finishes about third, behind Quebec, which is way ahead of everybody. B.C., Alberta and Ontario usually vie for second and third places."
