A tree-climbing championship held in Olds this past weekend went extremely well, according to competition chair Gerard Fournier. However, local climbers didn't quite make it to the podium.
A tree-climbing championship held in Olds this past weekend went extremely well, according to competition chair Gerard Fournier.
However, local climbers didn't quite make it to the podium.
The championships, staged by the Prairie chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), took place June 18 and 19 at Olds College. Arboriculture is the management and study of trees and shrubs.
"It was wonderful; absolutely fantastic," Fournier, an Olds College instructor and president of For Trees, a Didsbury-based tree care company, said.
"We had the biggest turnout ever in the history of the Prairie chapter having these tree-climbing championships."
A total of 37 climbers participated, the highest number since it started in about 1992, Fournier says. It also featured the highest number of female competitors – nine.
Kali Alcorn of Olds, the defending 2015 female champion, lost her title to Emily Michaelson of Winnipeg, who won the female side of the championships while fellow Winnipegger Jesse Antonation won the men's side.
"Winnipeg cleaned up," Fournier said. "Team Winnipeg smoked us."
Alcorn and Charlene Scott of Torrington, who works at Olds College, both made it through the preliminary round on Saturday, qualifying for the master's round on Sunday.
But that's where they ran into problems.
"Charlene ran out of time and Kali – we have a rule that if a branch over a certain size is broken that's a disqualification -- and that's what happened. Unfortunately, her rope became tangled in her dismount and broke a sizeable branch," Fournier said.
"It was a big disappointment for both local girls – Charlene and Kali."
According to the ISA, four local women competed: Alcorn, Amy Provencher, Toni Marie Newsham and Zoe Reimer.
On the men's side, former Olds High School running back/receiver D.J. Neustaeter competed for the first time ever.
Fournier said Neustaeter is studying at the University of British Columbia.
In addition to being the lone local male in the competition, Neustaeter was the youngest competitor, Fournier said, listing his age as 19.
"He competed in his first competition ever and he got first place in one of the preliminary events – the speed climb," Fournier said.
"He did a phenomenal speed climb. I think he had the fastest time overall, which was a climb of 50 feet, straight up a spruce tree in 12.9 seconds, I think."
The oldest man in the competition was Cyrille Reboullet, 49. Originally from France, Reboullet has been working as an arborist in Canada.
He won the award for best exemplifying the spirit of the competition. That award, worth about $1,200, was provided by Arboriculture Canada Training and Education, a company run by Neustaeter's father, Fournier said.
"He was a riot; people loved him. He was hilarious. It was really fun to have him around," Fournier said. "He was constantly cracking jokes about his French accent and how Canada is a bilingual country and he needs an interpreter."
The weather looked threatening late Saturday afternoon and Sunday as great black clouds kept looming overhead. But Fournier said it wasn't a big factor.
He said weather wasn't a problem at all on Saturday.
On Sunday it caused a bit of a problem.
"We had some thunder in the sky. We could tell it was going to blow over, but for a short period we had a delay because of bad weather and thunder; lightning of course being a hazard to people working in the trees," Fournier said.
In the end, "about 25 drops of rain fell; that's about it," he added.
Fournier said this marks the second time Olds College has hosted the ISA tree-climbing championships. He says it will likely return to Olds some time in the future, but likely not for a while because it rotates between provinces. He suspects it will be in Saskatchewan next year.
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