Eight Canadians are sharpening their skills before competing in the 2020 World Butchers’ Challenge in Sacramento, California this September.

It’s the first time Canada will be competing in the bi-annual meat-cutting competition, which is billed as “the greatest butchery event on earth.”

Ontario’s Peter Baarda was instrumental in spearheading an initiative to bring together some of Canada’s top butchers for the event.

“It has to be open to any butcher that wants to apply. We had around 27 applicants. We brought it down to eight, so on that day there will be a team of six cutting, and we have two alternates,” Barda explained.

“I feel like we have a leg up [on the competition] because no one really knows what we’re going to bring to the table.” Tweet This

Story continues below advertisement

The team was in Calgary this week to practice at the Canadian Beef Centre of Excellence in the city’s northeast, and will meet several more times throughout the year at locations across the country before heading to Sacramento in the fall.

Team Canada prepares to compete in the 2020 Word Butchers’ Challenge. Global News / Matthew Conrod

Originally from England, Edmonton butcher Elyse Chatterton is one of three Albertans on the team and says she feels a sense of pride in being able to showcase Alberta’s rich history in the beef industry.

“I’m incredibly proud to be representing Team Canada,” Chatterton said. “Alberta’s [meat industry] is world-renowned as being fabulous, and I’m very lucky to be able to work with it. I’m also very happy to be presenting it on the world stage — just to show the rest of the world what Canada’s craft butcher scene is about.”

Story continues below advertisement

As many as 5,000 spectators are expected to visit the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Sept. 4 and 5 to watch the event, with 16 teams competing against each other over a three-hour and fifteen-minute period to find out who can present the best display using beef, pork, lamb and chicken.