Eight members of the Bow Valley Rugby Club are in Toronto this week to represent Cochrane on a national scale.

Five U18 boys, two U16 boys, and one U16 girl have made the Prairies Wolfpack team which will face off against the top teams in Canada at the Canadian Rugby Championships.

AJ Mears, U16 girls, said it's her first year ever playing rugby, and it's been a long process to make it to the Wolfpack.

"I gave up most of my summer for this. It was driving out to Red Deer on Sundays, going to every one of my club practices, going to regional practices, so I would say I worked extremely hard for this."

Austin Dixon, U18 boys, said it's a big accomplishment for those who made the Wolfpack.

"We've all been grinding since the beginning here," he explains. "Ever since high school, we tried out for all these regional teams, we've been to tons of tryouts, long days, long hours, and just putting in the work to get to where we are now so it's a pretty good feeling."

He is confident everyone heading to Toronto will represent the prairies well.

The following Cochrane athletes will head to the Canadian Rugby Championship:

U18 boys:

  • Branden Mangold
  • Rylen Waugh
  • Austin Dixon
  • Craig De La Mare
  • Brennnan Bourchier

U16 boys:

  • Oscar Holbrough
  • Isiah Springer

U16 girls:

  • AJ Mears