Skaters ready for BCs
It was smiles all-round at a recent Sandy Shores Skating Club practice, as the young athletes basked in the glow of a strong showing at the annual Lynn Hetherington Memorial Competition in Duncan.
The biggest figure skating competition on the Island calendar, some 400 skaters representing 17 VI clubs were on hand for this year’s Lynn Hetherington at the end of January, which is also a qualifier for Pacific Skate — Star Skate’s provincial championships slated for Cranbrook next month.
Qualifying for the BCs in Duncan were SSSC’s Indianna Berg, Olivia Bau, Katie Haddad, and longtime member and standout Joelle Burrows.
According to SSSC president Launie Elves, little Olivia placed second out of 17 skaters at the LHMC to earn her spot at Pacific Skate.
“She is one of the hardest working and happiest skaters, and this has paid off for her,” said Elves, adding, “it is wonderful to see her finally have some success in competition this year, in the past she has not had the results that we knew she was capable of.
“She is quite the performer.”
Olivia, who turned nine on Wednesday, will be up against the top 20 skaters in the province in Cranbrook.
Katie Haddad had to miss BC/YT Sectional Championships last November, but this allowed her to compete at LHMC, where she won the top spot in Junior Silver Ladies. There will be 15 skaters in her group at Pacific Skate.
Indianna and Emily both placed first in their respective groups and moved on to the final at the LHMC. Indianna placed third overall to qualify for Pacific Skate, where she’ll be competing in a pool of 20 skaters, while Emily came in sixth and just missed the cut.
Burrows, a Grade 12 student in Parksville, will be part of a strong pool of six Gold Ladies skaters competing in Cranbrook.
IN OTHER NEWS
Sandy Shores will be hosting VISI — the Vancouver Island Skate International — April 15 to 17. According to Elves, this event will bring close to 600 skaters and their families from all over to Oceanside.
“We will be using both ice sheets, but Meeker Arena will have the glass taken out (and the) boards covered,” she said, adding this is the first event of the new Pond to Podium Super Series.
Anyone interesting in helping sponsor or volunteer for this big event can e-mail Launie at sandyshoressc@yahoo.com.
sports@pqbnews.com
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