麻豆社区

The Whitehorse Glacier Bears swim club's season gets serious this weekend 鈥� and a special guest will be on hand to spur the team on.

Canadian national team member and former Glacier Bear MacKenzie Downing is flying in from Victoria, B.C. to participate in the meet named in honour of her late brother, Ryan. Downing also attended last year.

Sanctioned by SwimBC, the 2012 Ryan Downing Memorial Swim Meet runs tonight and tomorrow at the Canada Games Centre pool.

Glacier Bears head coach Stephanie Dixon said having the national swimmer in attendance is an inspiration to the current Glacier Bears squad.

"She's a big inspiration to everyone from the Yukon, just to show what a small-town kid can do if they really want something,鈥� Dixon said. "They all look up to her, and we're really excited to have her here.鈥�

The meet marks the first competition of the season for the Glacier Bears, and Dixon referred to it as a training meet for the club, whose membership tops 100 athletes.

The first session gets underway today at 4 p.m. and the meet will wrap up Saturday at 5 p.m.

Alaska's Haines Dolphins swim team will also compete at the meet.

Ryan Downing 鈥� a Glacier Bears swimmer since the age of four 鈥� died in 1996 of heart complications. He was only 13.