Yellowknife, NT (December 10th, 2013) - The Multiplex was full of festive, excited energy over the weekend as the Yellowknife Speed Skating Club celebrated 35 years of speed skating at their annual ability meet. The club has been collecting stories from people involved over the years, and celebrated with a cake and cupcakes made by YK club alumni Aimee Yurris.

There were 56 skaters and 7 rockets from Yellowknife and Hay River who raced on Saturday and many personal bests were achieved. In an ability meet, skaters of all ages race together against other skaters of similar abilities which makes for exciting racing for everyone.

One standout was Daphne Cloutier. This 13 year old has been working hard this season and it paid off when she achieved her Canada Winter Games 2015 qualifying times. This means that she is now eligible to train with the 2015 Canada Winter Games training squad and will be considered during team selections. There are 19 girls who qualify by age for the Canada Games, but the team will be selected only from girls who have achieved the qualifying times.

Wren Acorn from Yellowknife also had a great weekend. Only 10, Wren kept winning races and moving up to skate against older athletes. While still too young for the Arctic Winter Games, Wren will keep working towards the NWT Championships in March.

At the end of the competition, there was some extra ice time left over and all of the kids did laps for Skate to Sochi. Jesse Karp from Hay river did upwards of 75 laps, that’s over 8 kilometres of skating, all after a full day of racing! And 10 year old Olivia Talen used her focus and work ethic to slap down over 50 laps. In total over the weekend Ability Meet participants did 3,575 laps - that’s 397 kilometres all dedicated to skating from Yellowknife to Sochi in time for the Olympic Games.

For more information contact
Jill Gilday, NWTASSA Sport Director
nwtspeedskating@gmail.com