Arborists competed at Kildonan Park this weekend for a spot in the World Tree Climbing Championships. 

27 people from the Prairie Region of the International Society of Arborculture competed in a number of work-style events over the weekend, with the top man and woman moving on to the big competition in 2019, which will take place in Tennessee. 

"If you ever get a chance to watch something like this you should," Dwayne Neustaeter, the event's head technician said. "It's the greatest outdoor competition in the world and its worth watching." 

The first day on Saturday, Aug. 25 featured a number of different events for the competitors, that simulate work and rescue scenarios for arborists. 

The following day was the Master's Challenge, which was the finals for the top three men and top two women from the first day of competition. 

"The typical job of an arborist would be removing a tree or removing a dead limb of a tree that could possibly fall and damage things on the ground," Neustaeter said. "They have to enter the tree safely and once they ascend into the tree they go through various stations."

"They are judged on how safely, smoothly, and efficiently they move through the tree." 

Neustaeter says this is an event that is growing across the world and particularly in the prairie region. He says right now their region only has qualifying events once a year that rotate between cities in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, but there have been discussions about expanding the number of events. 

"There's about 60 competitions in a year so they're really happening all over the place if you really wanted to get into it," he said. "Our chapter is growing so there has been talk of having more regional events."