Speed skaters from the Pacific Blades speed skating club continued their strong season, earning several top finishes at recent events.
At the southern regional championships March 1 to 2 in Port Coquitlam, Isabella Roeleveld finished first, winning a gold medal in midget girls. This was the second straight year that Isabella brought home a medal from the southern regional competition. She will move up to the juvenile age group (ages 12 to 13) next season.
Reid McNevin just missed earning a medal, finishing fourth in the boys midget age group.
He skated very well, achieving personal best times in all four distances he competed in, with his top finish in the 777 metre.
Also in midget boys, Ondra Maseja finished seventh, also achieving several personal best times, including breaking his 500 metre time by a minute, finishing at 59:97.
The provincial championships were up next, March 8 and 9 in Kelowna.
Willie Daigneault finished fifth in bantam boys. He missed fourth place by just 69 points and achieved personal best times in the 222 metre, 333 metre and 500 metre. All the times were around the 113.29 per cent of the Canadian record in his age group. "If Willie continues skating the way he was skating this season, we will see him in the national short track championship next season," said Pacific Blades spokesperson Diaya Maseja. "Willie not only finished fifth overall combining all distances, but he was third in the 500 metre distance in the province in bantam boys.
Former Pacific Blades skater Nicole Maseja also had an excellent showing at the provincials. Nicole has been living and training in Mission this season. She finished eighth at the B.C. Winter Games, achieving personal best times in the 777 metre, 1,000 metre and 1,500 metre distances.
She followed up those great results at the provincials, skating with some higher calibre skaters in many of the events."In some races Nicole was ahead of skaters who were in past years faster then her, but since she moved to Mission and was training four days a week, she has improved a lot," said Diaya. "Overall, her improvement in the 1,000 metre and 1,500 metre is more than seven seconds, which is significant in her junior age group for skaters ages 14 to 15."
With the new arena opening up this weekend in Gibsons, the club is expanding. The first practice is this Sunday, March 30, at 3 p.m. Anyone who is interested in learning about the club is welcome to attend.
