Great news for the Spence sisters!

Saskatoon – Josie Spence, a speed skater with the Kamloops River City Racers Club, secured a spot on the Canadian Junior Long Track Team this past weekend at Junior Nationals and will be representing Canada at the Junior Worlds in Obihiro Japan on March 3 and 4th.

At the Junior National Championships this past weekend Josie raced to personal best times in all of her four distances skated. She was a double silver medalist, once in the 1500m with a personal best time of 2:15.47 and a second time in the 3000m event with a personal best time of 4:49.92. She placed fifth in the 500m event in a personal best time of 43.55 and sixth in the 1000m event in a personal best time of 1:28.60.

The top 4 male and 4 female skaters from this event were named to the World Team. Joining Josie on the female team are Kate Hanley of Alberta, Heather McLean of Manitoba and Meryem Labidi of Quebec. Josie’s next competition will be the Junior World Cup event in Calgary this coming weekend.

Younger sister Sara also qualified to compete in the Junior National Championships in Saskatoon this weekend and placed 13th overall with personal bests in all four distances she skated: 45.53 in the 500m; 1:33.86 in the 1000m; 2:29.57 in the 1500m; and a whopping 26sec personal best in the 3000m for a new time of 5:10.89.

Tori Spence, the eldest sister, was racing in the Canada Cup division of the Saskatoon races and finished with a first place in the 3000m event in a new personal best time of 4:39.87. Tori was second in the 1500m with a new personal best and provincial record of 2:14.39. She was 5th in the 1000m event and 7th in the 500m. Sara and Tori will be competing in the North American Championships this weekend in Calgary. Tori will be racing her second World Cup event in Heerenveen, Netherlands the same weekend her sister Josie will be in Japan, March 3 and 4th.

Results from Calgary, January 5-8

Results from Calgary Canadian Single Distance Championship and Canada Cup #2

Tori Spence of the Kamloops River City Racers qualified for her second World Cup this season. She placed 4th in the 5k Canadian single distance Championships in Calgary which earned her a spot on the World Cup team to Hamar, Norway on February 11 and 12th.

In the Canada Cup competition, Josie Spence finished at the top of the leader board setting a personal best time of 1:21.1.

Sara Spence finished in 15th spot. This is the first time Sara has qualified for a Canadian single distance championship.

Tori Spence qualifies to compete in her first World Cup event

October 30 – Calgary Tori Spence of the River City Racers Speed Skating Club, (and beginning her second season of skating at the Calgary Olympic Oval), qualified for her first World Cup Speed Skating event and is off to Heerenveen later this month. Tori competed in the World Cup Trials which were held in Calgary over the weekend. This was the first time Tori qualified to participate in the world cup trials and was entered in three events - the 1500m, 3000m, and 5000m. The top 5 women in each distance qualify to race at the Fall World Cups. Tori placed 8th in the 1500m, setting a new provincial record and personal best time of 2:03.00. In both the 3k and 5k events she placed 4th. Tori secured a world cup spot in the 5k event. Because two skaters requested a buy in the 3k event it is as yet undecided which skaters will be named to participate in the world cup 3k events.

RCR skaters - fantastic performance at recent events!

Monday March 14, 2011

Matej Pederson (9yrs) of the Kamloops River City Racers Speed Skating Club picked up six first place finishes at the Funale meet in Vernon on Saturday. Tim Mburu (9 yrs) came home with two seconds, one third, two fifth and one 6th place finish. Siblings Margaret Jean (6yrs), Alexander (8 yrs) and Delray Willis (11yrs) were also in action at this competition. Margaret Jean skated to four first place and one 2nd place finish, Alexander had four second place and one fourth place finish and Delray raced to two second and two fourth place finishes. All skaters were skating in their respective age divisions.

In other action, the River City Racers came out on top in the Handicap 500m team competition. This regional event was held in Salmon Arm this weekend. River City won with 5235 points, Long Blades were second with 4375 points, in third was Salmon Arm 3110, Nelson with 360 points was fourth, and in fifth was Vernon with 240 points.

This event was organized by the Salmon Arm Club. Each skater raced a 500m and their individual time was compared to their personal best and then tabulated with other team member’s performances. River City Racers coach, Cathy Turnbull Spence stated ” This was a great initiative by Salmon Arm and a great way to build club team spirit. We had Canada Winter Games medalists entered along with first year skaters. Each contributed equally to the team results. In fact the younger skaters had a better chance of earning more points for the team”.

The River City Team was composed of Roman Hessel, Anneke and Matej Pederson, Margaret Jean, Alexander and Delray Willis, and Josie, Sara and Eric Spence.

The following is a quote from the Salmon Arm Coach, Mike Hall:

 “ Congrats to the River City group, your club participation and enthusiasm serves as a lesson to us all. We will have your cup delivered to you on our next trip to Kamloops.”

Provincial Work Safe Short Track Championships

Four River City Racers Speed Skaters competed at the Provincial Work Safe Short Track Championships on the weekend in Port Coquitlam and four skaters came home with medals. Sisters Sara (15 yrs) and Josie (17yrs) each skated to gold medal finishes and were crowned provincial champions in their respective age divisions. Brother Eric (12 yrs) and teammate Anneke Pederson (15 yrs) placed second in their respective age divisions and came home with silver provincial medal. Eric set three new personal best times while Sara and Anneke set personal best times in each of the four distances skated.

Based on these results, Eric, Sara and Anneke qualify to skate at the Western Regional Championships in Kelowna on March 26 and 27th. Josie qualifies to compete at the Canadian Championships in Montreal March 19 and 20th.

Canada Winter Games in Halifax

From River City Racers Web Album

RCR Speed Skating Club will be participating in the Canada Winter Games in Halifax! Tori and Josie Spence qualified to skate long track. In addition, Tori will be carrying the flag and leading the procession as Team B.C. enters the Halifax Metro Centre during the opening ceremonies on Friday evening. That's quite an honour and we're very proud!

The Canada Winter Games will take place February 11 - 27, 2011.

Chevrolet's Making Dreams Possible

Kamloops River City Racers Speed Skating Club is the recipient of a Chevrolet's Making Dreams Possible Coaching Grant!

News for RCR

Three River City Racer Speed Skaters ranked top 16 for the fastest female short trackers in the province and qualified them to vie for a position on the Canada Winter Games Team to be held in Halifax in February 2011. The first of two qualifying rounds was held this past weekend in Abbotsford at BC Cup #1. The top five females and top five males out of the pool of top 16 skaters will be selected to represent BC at the Games. Josie Spence (16yrs) and River City Racers best bet to make the team had a difficult weekend. She fell in two of her distances and was disqualified in the third placing her in 8th spot overall however Josie continues to hold the fastest 1500m time in the province. Anneke Pederson (15yrs) skated well moving up from an initial ranking of 15th to end in 11th spot and with a new personal best in the 1500m. Sara Spence (14yrs) finished 12th overall with a personal best coming in the 1000m.

In other action on the weekend Matej Pederson (9 yrs) participated in the interclub portion of the competition and finished his division with a first place and two second place finishes finishing second overall. Eric Spence (12yrs) won his division with first place finishes coming in the 10 minute and 2 km relay events and the individual 3k points race and a third place in the 400m event.

Next up for several of the Racers is the first of two qualifying rounds for the Canada Winter Games long track speed skating event. Sara and Josie Spence will be joining their sister Tori in Calgary to compete at the CanAm Olympic style speed skating event November 19 – 21 in Calgary.

News from RCR

Tori Spence, a member of the River City Racers Speed Skating Club, set a new provincial record with a time of 2:15.66 in the 1500m at the Oval Invitational Long Track Competition in Calgary over the weekend. She also raced to season best times in the 500 and 3000m events.

In action closer to home her sister Sara Spence set three new personal bests at the October Chill Short Track event held in Kamloops this weekend. Her personal bests came in the 500m, 1000m and 1500m events. Anneke Pederson, also of the Kamloops River City Racers, set personal best times in the 500m and 1500m events. Margaret Jean Willis, 5 years of age, and Matej Pederson, 9 years, came first in their respective divisions. Tim Mburu, Eric Spence, Alexander, and Delray Willis established new times in each of the distances they raced as their competition was held on a 100m radius track rather than the traditional 111m track.

Next up for the racers is BC Cup #1 at which Anneke Pederson, Josie, Sara and Eric Spence have all qualified to compete.

Josie Spence Qualifies for Junior Nationals

River City Racer sisters Josie (16 yrs) and Sara Spence (14 yrs) competed at Oktoberfest, an international short track competition, held in Calgary over the weekend. There were 60 female competitors at this event. Both Josie and Sara raced three different distances and both set personal bests in all three distances skated. Sara skated to personal bests in the 500m (50.7), 1000m (1:46.5) and the 1500m (2:44.2). Josie’s personal bests set on the weekend were 48.6 in the 500m, 1:39.4 in the 1000m and 2:28.4 in the 1500m. Josie’s times qualify her to skate in the Junior Canadian Short Track Championships held in Chicoutimi Quebec this December 11th and 12th.

Kamloops River City Racers' True Sport Community Give-Back

This is Kamloops River City Racers Speed Skating Club submission to True Sport Community Give-Back Challenge 2010

October 7th is voting day! Go to the Sports Day in Canada website and choose the Kamloops River City Racers video. Vote as often as you want and help the club to win $5,000 or $10,000! Please spread the word!




This video was created by the talented Anneke Pederson.

Intact Speed Skating Challenge

The deadline to submit a video for the Intact Speed Skating Challenge is January 17th! This is the Third Annual Search to Find Canada's Best Speed Skating Story. River City Racer Tori Spence was the runner up in last year's competition for her video "Owen's Oval".

Along with Catriona Le May Doan, we're searching for Canada's best speed skating story. We're looking for hilarious, inspirational, action-packed, and just plain fun videos from skaters telling us about the person who inspired them to go beyond, both on and off the ice. And even if you don't have a story (and we doubt that), you can still vote for your favourites.

Check it out for yourself at http://www.intactspeedskatingchallenge.com/

And if you know of a skater, or fan of skating that would enjoy the Intact Speed Skating Challenge, please let them know what's going on.

Sincerely,
The Intact Speed Skating Challenge Team

No practice Thursday

Due to a scheduling conflict there is no practice Thursday, January 15th.

RCR welcomes new president Diana Coder

Kamloops River City Racers now has a new president! Diana Coder has been involved in the sport of speed skating for many years. She has been a competitive speed skater, a coach, a mother of two competitive and accomplished speed skaters, a club founder, a club president, and served on various speed skating committees at the provincial speed skating level.

She's a little camera shy so this is the best we could do! :-)