Nanaimo Gymnastics School athletes Abi Harris and Blake Fudge celebrate outstanding achievements at the Western Canadian Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Saskatchewan. (Nanaimo Gymnastics School)

By Dan Marshall

Western Excellence

Nanaimo Gymnastics athletes put in top notch performances at Western Championships

Apr 30, 2025 | 10:22 AM

NANAIMO — A pair of Nanaimo Gymnastics School students had impressive showings with Team BC at the Western Canadian Artistic Gymnastics Championship.

Coach Tracy Welbourn said Abi Harris and Blake Fudge had amazing performances at the Thursday, April 24 through Saturday, April 26 event in Saskatoon.

“I am so proud of both of them, they have worked extremely hard and both athletes were the highest contribution scores for the Level 8 Team BC group. They took home the silver awards in both of their age categories.”

Fudge was a part of the 13 and under team while Harris was in the 14 and up age group.

Welbourn said both athletes have had the goal of making it to the Westerns since the start of their respective competition years.

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Fudge captured the all around gold and was first on floor, third on vault and beam and fourth on bars with a silver team standing.

Harris earned bronze all around finishing first on floor, sixth on bars and eighth on vault and also had a silver team finish.

“I don’t think either of them thought they would be taking home an all around medal,” Welbourn said. “It wasn’t until they placed well at the trials event that they began to realize they could do well at this big event. Our coaching team likes to keep the athletes focused on just doing consistent training and keeping a healthy physical and mental state.”

Welbourn added it was the first event of this size for both athletes.

Now Harris and Fudge have had success at the Level 8 difficulty, they are both looking to challenge themselves even further next season.

“Now they really want to work hard to move up to Level 9 next year so they can attend Westerns and Nationals, which is a Level 9 and up event. Myself and coach Anna Mataganova were Team BC coaches for the Westerns teams and we were thrilled with our athletes performances.”

There are still two more competitions in the Nanaimo Gymnastics School season, including one the school will host.

It will be at Nanaimo Ice Centre on June 14-15.

“Our last event of the season will be our first “Island Time” competition and we have many clubs attending including one for Alberta. I have wanted to host an annual event for years and this is the first of what will be a great annual competition. With it being an end of season event I wanted the atmosphere to be fun and inviting where athletes can try new skills and just have fun.”

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