WorldSkills Competitors were given the opportunity on Sunday, August 30, 2009 to tour through the beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains at Banff National Park- a truly unforgettable experience.

Loading into almost 30 tour buses, everyone was eager to experience a Banff expedition while visiting Canada. After gondola rides, museum visits, shopping in the downtown Banff area, even the Hot Springs- the WorldSkills Competitors were then treated to a welcome reception of live local music, and a gourmet BBQ meal at a nearby Ranch. WorldSkills Calgary 2009 Ltd. had organised a truly Western-Canadian spread of food, drinks, music, and hospitality to follow this exciting expedition.

Joe Astroth, Vice President, Autodesk spoke to the Competitors “You are all Champions or else you wouldn’t be here. I travel the world and meet people as a sponsor and I have never met any group of people as positive and friendly as you.” 

Tjerk Dusseldorp, President, WorldSkills International said “The most important thing about this Competition is; Friendship. Right now members from Team Macau, Australia and France are playing a friendly football game behind me and I would encourage everyone to not leave this reception before you have made at least one new friend from another team.” 

Competitors joined in on a group “yee-haw” under the setting sun. As they heard the cow-bell ring, they knew that meant only one thing- dinner’s ready!

Image gallery

Click here to see the pictures from the reception.