By: Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/2/2015 (2239 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Portage la Prairie’s Natasha Burton stands a good chance of bringing home a medal from the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
The 17-year-old will be competing in the female individual up to 57 kilograms event on Wed., Feb. 25 and will be one of five young women representing Manitoba in the team competition for that weight category on Sat., Feb. 28.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Natasha Burton, 17, from Portage la Prairie is competing in judo events at the 2015 Canada Winter Games.
"I have really high hopes," Burton said the week before she headed to Prince George, B.C. where the Games are being held.
Burton has been honing her skills for the past 11 years. She credits her father, Sean, with keeping her interest up for the sport.
"He was the one who got me started," she said. She now holds a brown belt in judo.
She divides her time between training at the Portage Judo Club and practising at the University of Manitoba. Her dedication has paid off, with a second-place win at the Judo Canada Nationals in Quebec last May. In 2013, she captured the bronze medal in her category at the national competition.
She also recently earned third place in the U.S. Open competition in Florida.
"It was a new competition and new faces," she said.
Burton believes that her odds of winning at the Winter Games are even higher because some of the girls she’s competed against in previous Canadian matches have moved into a higher weight category.
Results from the Canada Winter games are available at www.canadagames2015.ca
Facebook.com/TheHeadlinerWPG
Twitter: @CanstarHeadline
Andrea Geary
St. Vital community correspondent
Andrea Geary is a community correspondent for St. Vital and was once the community journalist for The Headliner.