Local athletes prepare for Gymtrix Sunshine Classic

Stretch! Gymnast Robyn Grigg and younger sister Erin (background) stretch during a training session at Gymtrix Monday afternoon. They are preparing for a provincial meet taking place this weekend in at the local facility. Photo by Chris Dawson.

For Erin and Robyn Grigg, the sport of gymnastics has almost become a full-time job. The sisters train 20 hours a week stretching their gymnastics skills to the limit.

“My mom used to be a gymnast and she kind of put us through gymnastics when we were little and it’s a real challenging sport and it’s really fun so we’ve just kind of stuck with it and I really liked it,” said 19 year old Robyn Grigg, a two-time provincial vault champion.

For 17 year old Erin Grigg, who toured with an Ontario Gymnastics team last year which traveled to meets in Arizona and Texas, the opportunity to compete on home turf means a lot.

“It’s a great sport it’s fun to have a competition at home, we usually don’t have competitions here we usually travel a lot so it’s good, it helps the city get recognized, like get the sport recognized in the city and it’s just fun to have people from other places come here for once,” said Erin Grigg.

Meet director Nicki Chretien-Ranney believes the sisters have become important role models for the many young gymnasts at Gymtrix.

“We’re very happy with how well they’ve done, and they are the first for this discipline, artistic women, nobody in this city has ever gone as far as they have in women’s artistic gymnastics they’ve flew by everyone else before them,” said Chretien-Ranney.

The sisters will take part in National Open portion of the event which takes place Saturday afternoon between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., with the event officially starting at noon on Friday.

The invitational competition will host more than 400 athletes from across Ontario and Quebec. Now in its 7th year, organizers say it’s become one of the most popular competitions in the province. Gymtrix has expanded their facility by another 5500 square feet which will create more space for fans just in time for the meet.

”We’re hoping because of the extra space we are promoting it to the public, but we’ve never done that,” said Chretien-Ranney.

The competition is open to the public and tickets can be purchased at the door on the day of the event.