Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to use my Member's statement to talk about an outstanding young athlete from Hay River.
Mr. Speaker, Brendan Green completed his most successful competitive season so far with a series of incredible finishes in his first exposure to European competition. His crowning achievement was winning the German youth championships in the 15-kilometre individual event. Biathlon is a major sport in Germany, one of the top-ranking nations, and many of his German competitors attend special sports schools that focus on producing world-class biathletes. Their programs have developed a number of world champions. His win was the result of a combination of outstanding shooting and skiing against some of the top youth biathletes in the world today.
He followed up this victory with a silver medal in a 10-kilometre sprint race only four seconds behind the winner. Brendan also competed in the Europa Cup No. 6 in Arbersee-Langdorf, Germany. To compete, he had to move up an age category and race with the junior men who are two to three years older than him. He managed to place 15th in his first race, the 10-kilometre sprint, just one minute and 30 seconds behind the winner. Although it was a very difficult and challenging course, and he had to ski three penalties loops, he still managed to achieve a personal best time of 29 minutes and 30 seconds to break the 30-minute barrier.
In his final race, the 12.5-kilometre pursuit, he hit 18 out of 20 to tie for the best shooting in the competition and moved up to seventh place and top finish for the Canadian team. Although seven world champions were amongst the 25 entries, no one had better results on the shooting range.
Brendan is a member of the 2010 Olympic development program. He follows a training program that demanded 410 hours of physical raining and 200 hours of shooting this season. He got his start in biathlon with Coach Pat Bobinski who has supervised his training for the past eight years. Pat has developed many outstanding biathletes during his coaching career and has played a critical role in developing Brendan's marksmanship to the high level demanded for success in this sport.
Brendan assists with the jack rabbit ski program developed by the Hay River Ski Club for the Hay River school system. He has also managed to maintain his standing as an honour roll student in Grade 11 at the Diamond Jenness Secondary School.
I would like to congratulate Brendan and say that Hay River is very proud of this young man. Thank you.
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