Meet Denny and Jay Morrison!

Vancouver 2010 Olympic Gold Medalist Denny Morrison and his brother Jay Morrison are coming to Kamloops!

The Kamloops River City Racers will be hosting the Morrison brothers during their visit. This is an opportunity for speed skating enthusiasts to meet Denny and Jay, get some autographs, and have a picture taken with an Olympic Gold medal! You will hear about their journey to the National Team and Olympic Podium and keeping fun in the sport.

All members of the River City Racers and River City Racers ‘learn to’ skaters are welcome to join the Morrison brothers on the ice. Other speed skating clubs have also been invited to attend so we can demonstrate some team drills and games on ice for the public.


When:
Sunday April 11, 2010

Where:
McArthur Island Park Sports Centre Arena. The 'meet and greet' will be held in the Curling Lounge, and we will use the international sized ice surface for skating activities.

Schedule:
2:00 – 3:00: Meet and Greet

3:00 – 3:15: Celebrity race!! Maybe Mayor Milobar and the Blazers Digger will try out speed skates in a fun race against our club’s very own 11 year old 2010 Canadian Champion and 8 year old 2010 provincial champion. :-)

3:15 – 5:00: Club skaters will join the Morrisons on the ice. Denny and Jay will demonstrate some of their favourite skating drills and games on ice, as well as the ‘team’ approach to speed skating competition. They will also review the skill of starting and shooting the blade at the finish!

For information contact Cathy Turnbull Spence, Kamloops River City Racers Speed Skating Club Coaching Coordinator at speedskatingkamloops@shaw.ca or 250 374 5430.

Photo from Life.com

For BCSSA member clubs: Skate at the Richmond Oval!

photo by janusz l

 

A Truly Memorable Once in a Lifetime Event!

One final chance to skate on the ice at the Richmond Oval!

The City of Richmond is offering the speed skating community one last opportunity to skate on the long track ice at the Richmond Oval. The event will be on Saturday, April 3rd between 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

THE RULES:

1. The event is by invitation only through BCSSA and our clubs.
2. Only speed skates are allowed.
3. Speed skating helmets are permitted in addition to certified bicycle helmets.
4. Cost is $2.00 per person and parking will be $2.00
5. No rental skates are available at the oval.
6. Any skaters must be members of BCSSA member clubs. (Special Event registration will suffice) Families are most welcome.

Congratulations to Matej and Anneke

River City Racers Skater skates to Provincial Title and breaks Denny Morrison’s records in the process!

Matej Pederson (8yrs), a member of the Kamloops River City Racers Speed Skating Club raced to two new provincial records and the provincial championship title in Peewee Boys division at the Provincial Short Track Championships in Dawson Creek over the weekend. Matej’s provincial records came in the 333m with a new time of 41.14 (old time 41.53) and in the 222m with a new provincial record time of 27.92 (old time 27.99). Of interesting note these provincial records that Matej just broke have been held since 1994 (i.e. held for 16 years!!) and were set by Denny Morrison – member of Canada’s Olympic team and gold medalist at the Olympics in Vancouver last month!

Matej skated to personal bests in all distances skated. In addition to the above two distances he set personal bests in his 111m (14.92) and 500m (1:04.51) event.

Sister Anneke Pederson (15 yrs) competed in the Juvenile girls division placed 3rd in the 500m (51.92) and 3rd in the 666m (1:07.91) event, 4th in the 1000m (1;48.38) race and 5th in the 777m.(1:21.86) All times skated were personal bests for Anneke. From this competition Anneke qualified to compete at the National Age Class Short Track Championships in Cambellton, New Brunswick March 27 and 28th.

Results - BC Winter Games

Congratulations to our club’s BC Winter Games Athletes – Anneke Pederson, Sara Spence, and Josie Spence! All three participated in the short track speed skating action in Terrace, BC over the weekend.

Sara Spence - photo by Kevin Bogetti-Smith

Anneke and Sara came home with a gold medal in the Juvenile mixed relay along with Chris Nekov of Kelowna and Dominc Villeneuve from the Long Blades. Sara also skated to an individual gold medal in the 777m event and silver medal performances in the 500m, 666m, and 1000m events. Anneke qualifed for 3 of the 4 A finals (finals for medals) placing 4th in the 666m, 5th in the 777m and 6th in the 1000m event. Josie Spence picked up a gold medal in the Junior mixed relay along with three Kelowna skaters and won an individual gold in the 777m event. Josie also skated to a silver medal in the 1500m, a bronze medal in the 500m and a fourth place finish in the 1000m A final.

Congratulations and good luck to Anneke and Matej Pederson who will be competing in the Provincial Short Track competition in Dawson Creek this weekend.

Coaching at the BC Winter Games

This photo of coach Cathy Turnbull-Spence giving tips to Sarah Spence at the BC Winter Games in Terrace was passed along by Kevin Bogetti-Smith. Today is the final day of the events. You can search on the results as they become available here.

Bring a Friend Nite

From River City Racers Web Album

‘Bring A Friend Nite’ was a big success! We had 50 plus out on the ice.

Thanks the coaches who helped make the event a success, and a special thanks to Mark for fitting so many into speed skates for the evening.

Our mini Olympic theme went well!

• Stacie assisted at the ‘Luge’ venue
• Brian ‘Hockey’
• Eric ‘Biathlon’
• Josie 'Figure Skating’
• Anneke ‘Parallel Snowboard Cross’
• Diana ‘Curling’
• Sara ‘Ski Jump’
• Mark ‘Speed Skating’

Speed Skating Results: Southern Regionals

Congratulations to all the skaters who competed at the Southern Regionals this past weekend in Kamloops!

Alexander W. won a silver medal skating personal best times in all of his distances. He came second in every race. Alexander smashed his pb's.

Gillian won a gold medal skating personal best times in all of her distances. She skated to 2 first place finishes and 2 place finishes. Gillian took off up to 5 1/2 seconds off of her previous times.

Calvin skated to a 7th place finish skating personal best times in 3 distances (222, 333, and 666), taking off up to 3 seconds off his previous times. 222 - 4th place, 333 - 5th place, 500m - 9th place, 666m - 7th place.

Alex skated to a 5th place finish skating to a personal best time in the 777m removing 6 seconds off of his previous personal best time.

Anneke Pederson and Sara and Josie Spence will be competing at the BC winter games this week!