Mark Dennis wins two competitions, comes close in several others

A6

By Craig Babstock
Times & Transcript Staff

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Moncton teen Mark Dennis had a chance to test his skills against international competition in Denver last weekend and he stacked up well against the world.

Mark is a competitive sport stacker, which is a sport where participants take stacks of plastic cups, build them into pyramids, tear them down and leave the cups neatly stacked. It's a sport that takes lightning-fast reflexes, incredible hand-eye coordination and a passion for stacking.

Mark, a 13-year-old Grade 7 student at Hillcrest School, has been stacking for two and a half years and travelled to Colorado as part of the Canadian team for the World Sport Stacking Championships. He made his first trip to this event in 2008 and finished second and third in competitions in his age division but he improved on that this weekend.

Mark placed first among 13-year-olds in the 3-3-3 competition with a time of 2.02 seconds and was also first in his age group in the cycle stack pattern with a time of 7.28 seconds. He also may have set four new Canadian stacking records in different events, but the video has to be verified to check the times. He already holds three Canadian record times in the 11-year-old age group.

"I was a little more confidant this year, so it was a bit easier," says Mark.

He admits he can be nervous competing against top talent from all over the world, but he was able to maintain his focus and brought home several trophies and medals to represent his two first-place finishes and several top 10 and top five finishes.

"The competition was a little easier this year," says Mark. "A lot of people tended to mess up, but I didn't mess up too much."

Approximately 700 participants competed in Denver, ranging from four years old to adult. Mark says a freak snowstorm dropped a pile of snow on Denver heading into the weekend, so a couple hundred kids couldn't get there in time to compete.

The competition featured participants from 12 countries and was held at the Denver Coliseum.

During a break in the competition, Mark practised with Steven Purugganan, of Massachusetts, who set three world records in Denver in individual and team events. When asked if he picked up any tips from the 11-year-old, Mark said it's hard to teach someone else how to get better. You just have to practise a lot.

"You always ask people how to get faster and they don't know how (they do it)," says Mark. "It's just the more you do it the faster you get."

Mark's mother Jan also went to Denver last weekend as a coach, participant and supporter for her son. She and Mark finished fourth with a time of 11.78 in the parent-child doubles competition.

"It was nerve-wracking," she says, of watching her son in action.

Jan says aside from the competition, the kids have a lot of fun because they all know each other and many are friends. Her son keeps up with many of them on YouTube, where they all post video of their latest stacking successes.

Jan says Canada doesn't have a sport stacking governing body and there's not a lot of organized competition in this country.

"It's just starting to grow in Canada," she says.

When asked if he thinks he's reached his full potential as a sport stacker, Mark says he hasn't peaked yet.

"I think I can improve, especially in tournaments," he says.