With just a month and a half left until the Canada Summer Games in Regina, the Whitehorse Glacier Bears Swim Club has a jam-packed training schedule, starting this week.

The Bears left early this morning for the B.C. AAA championships in Prince George, where they will remain for a week after the competition for some training in a long course pool. Thirteen Bears will attend the AAA event, which is the largest squad the club has ever sent to an event at that high of a level.

Alexandra Gabor, Bronwyn Pasloski, Lynsey Pasloski, Erin O'Connor, Kayla Yeulet, Ariana Edelman, Tanner Cassidy, Alan Lebedoff, Francis Aubin, Spencer Edelman, Geoffrey Thompson, Brendan Zrum and Marcos Da Silva will hit the pool in Prince George. With the exception of Da Silva, the same squad will also represent the territory in Regina.

'This is kind of a tune-up for Canada Games,' said head coach Marek Poplawski. 'That's why we're staying there for a training camp after, because it's a long course pool and it's important for them to get good racing experience.'

The Bears will be renting time at the pool in Prince George for their camp after the AAA competition and staying at the university dorms.

While the swimmers have the ability to place in the top five as far as overall club scores at the AAA competition, Poplawski cautioned that the competition will be tough, with anywhere up to 50 different clubs taking part in the event.

'We will be in the top 10 for sure,' he said. 'That's a good goal because they've never been that high before anyway.'

Poplawski said he will be happy if the club finishes with a high percentage of best times, adding 'if it's a good swim and good time, the placings will come.'

The coach expects Gabor to be a strong contender in her freestyle events, perhaps bringing home several medals in the 12-and-under category. Bronwyn recently moved up to the 13-14 years old category, but should still place in the top three in her breast stroke events.

And distance swimmers Thompson and Zrum should place in the top eight during the 1,500-metre free.

Bronwyn picked up a bronze medal in the 100-m breast last year for the Glacier Bears.

After they complete the training camp, Bronwyn and Gabor will have just three days before they swim at club nationals in Winnipeg an event which the two posted impressive results at during their first time there last year. Gabor game home with two medals, a bronze and a silver, while Bronwyn also picked up a bronze medal.

While Bronwyn will be joining the rest of the Bears back in Whitehorse following nationals for some last minute training before Canada Games, Gabor has one more competition on her plate.

The young athlete qualified earlier this season for an international competition in California, which she will head straight to after nationals.

Once she returns from that, it will be back on the plane south for the Canada Games. While that sounds exhausting, Poplawski said it will good experience for Gabor, and her young body should adjust well.

'She qualified (for California), so she deserves to go,' he said. 'She knows all the kids here and in B.C., even in all of Canada, but going to California there will be a lot of American swimmers she doesn't know, and maybe even some other countries. So that will be good exposure for her, to see how she compares with them.'

Besides, he said, Gabor won't be expected to post topnotch results at Canada Games, since both she and Bronwyn will be swimming with girls up to seven or eight years older than them. There is only one age group for females and one for males, 18-and-under.

'We still will be swimming in every event (at the Games),' said Poplawski. 'It will be hard to compete with some provinces because they have so many clubs and we only have one. So we don't expect too many medals.

'It will just be a good experience for them. (Bronwyn and Gabor) are at the stage where in maybe one or two years, they will be going to senior nationals and swimming with older girls, too. So it will be a nice for them.'

This week's AAA event will be Brazilian exchange student Da Silva's last competition with the local swim club, as he heads back to his home country at the end of the summer. The Bears will also lose Lynsey, Yeulet and Spencer to university in the fall, which will leave them with a fairly young, but strong, squad.

'This is a very nice group,' said Poplawski. 'There are some younger ones and then some 15 and 16 year olds, and they should probably be in the top 10 in Prince George, so this is a nice group of kids to work with.'