Local speed skater Jamie Macdonald, now based at the National Training Centre in Calgary, recently competed in the National Qualifier meet where skaters earn ranking points towards the Canadian team senior ranking.
It’s the first of three national selection meets and there were 60 female skaters.
Jamie got fourth in the 1,500 and then skated an impressive 500 metres against three skaters from Quebec to win the B final and earn fifth place points overall.
But she bettered that the next day when she skated three perfect 1,000 metre races and ended up winning the A final.
Importantly, she was able to skate with and finish ahead of two of the skaters who went to Junior Worlds last year.
This is Jamie’s last year as a junior and she’s hoping to qualify for this international event that she missed out on by one placing last year.
Locally the club started their practices last week and had several new skaters trying out the sport.
Club skaters are looking forward to several meets including the regional and provincial championships and, for teenage skaters, the B.C. Winter Games being hosted in Mission B.C.