There were about 130 speed skaters at Planet Ice Maple Ridge last weekend, as the Ridge Meadows Speed Skating Club hosted its annual Jingle Bell Challenge.
"There were some really encouraging results," said club president Denis Boyer, noting the young skaters in the club showed "fantastic promise."
The club is known for sending skaters to nationals and even international competition, but has some of its up-and-coming skaters hitting more competitions, and posting good times, which is encouraging to their teammates.
"It lights up the younger group, when they see someone they've been skating with for a year or two starting to race, and post faster times," he said.
In the Division 4 group, his own son Dominic Boyer and Mariana Fiquitiva Duran both posted some good results. They raced at distances from 1,000m to 400m, and Boyer finished with two first place finishes and two seconds. Fiquitiva Duran had two first place finishes a second and a third.
Another Division 4 skater, Lily-Grace Bucknell, had a pair of third-place finishes.
Division 5 skater Abir Gill finished with a first, two seconds, and a third; Lydia Hannam had second and third place finishes; and Kao Antrobus had a pair of thirds.
Division 6 skaters are new to the sport, and Ara Chan won three races, and posted second in another, despite falling in a fourth.
Right behind Chan was August Zhao, who posted a first-place finish, two seconds, and a third – again with a fall.
Joining them in Division 6 competition was Felix Liu.
"It's magical for those guys," said Boyer. "They're all very small, and light right up, and are excited to be in a race."
The president gave a shout out to Fraser Valley clubs Sardis, Mission and Langley, who have partnered with Ridge Meadows, and the skaters train together at practices, support each other, and host events in the Fraser Valley Speed Skating Series.
