Gibsons resident Allan Harding has been selected to compete at the 2014 XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland this summer.
This will be his first Commonwealth Games event and the first time to the U.K.
Harding is currently travelling in Germany and Slovenia with Team Canada for the second and third stages of the 2014 ISSF World Cup Series. After returning home this weekend, it will only be one week before he flies to Beijing, China for the fourth and final stage of the World Cup Series.
The Commonwealth Games are being held in Glasgow with shooting events in Carnoustie and swimming events happening in Edinburgh.
Harding, who got back into pistol shooting in 2007 after a 12-year break, has been slowly climbing the ranks from a provincial champion to being on the national team and is the current number one ranked 10m shooter in Canada, and 59th in the world.
With the busy international stops before the Commonwealth Games, things won’t slow down this year until the fall. Harding will compete at the Canadian national championships in August, the 51st ISSF World Championships, held in Granada, Spain in September and the 11th Championships of the Americas in Guadalajara, Mexico in October.
Harding has his sights set on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, where he looks to break the 20-year drought of Canada being unable to qualify for men’s pistol events.
You can follow Harding’s progress on his athlete blog at www.allanharding.com, and on social media at www.facebook.com/allanharding and https://twitter.com/alharding.
