Vermilion – Hunter Weatherly didn’t place in the steamfitter/pipefitter event at the national Skills Canada competition in Saskatoon, but he still gets to celebrate being Alberta’s gold medalist for 2015.
The 20-year-old apprentice got to the nationals held May 27-30 by placing first in the category at the provincial skills competition in Edmonton May 13-14.
The back-to-back competitions capped off Weatherly’s first his first period of steamfitter-pipefitter apprenticeship technical training at Lakeland College in Vermilion last fall.
No matter how he fared in Saskatoon, Weatherly had planned to return to the Vermilion campus in June to show his provincial gold medal to current steamfitter-pipefitter students.
“I told him if he placed in the top three at provincials he had to come back to the college to show his medal to the students. Hopefully, he’ll have two medals when he comes back,” said Magas prior to the nationals.
Weatherly lives and works in Hardisty, Alta. and entered the provincial competition because he wanted to see how his skills measured up against competitors from other colleges throughout Alberta.
During the two-day provincials, competitors had 12 hours to fabricate a piping system. They were judged on the quality, workmanship and accuracy of their work.
“I thought I’d done pretty well but you never know. It was great to win gold and earn a spot at nationals,” said Weatherly in a feature report by Lakeland College.
Weatherly went into the nationals going for gold.
“It would be cool to be able to say I’m the best steamfitter/pipefitter in Canada,” he said fresh from his win at the provincials.
If he couldn’t win gold at nationals, he said he at least wanted to make it on the podium to honour Magas and his other instructors including Graham Hammel and Joe Laurence.
“They deserve to have the program and the college well represented at nationals,” said a grateful Weatherly who will take his second period of technical training at the Vermilion campus this fall.
Weatherly was one of five Lakeland students in the provincial skills competition in Edmonton.
For the second consecutive year, Jeremy Blanchette of St. Paul, Alta., won silver in the auto service event. Blake Robley, of Metiskow, Alta., won the bronze medal for carpentry.
About 700 high school and post-secondary students from more than 80 communities throughout Alberta competed in the Provincials. There were 45 trade and technology events.
