Figure skaters move on to Eastern Challenge
Published Monday November 10th, 2008
Dieppe plays host to BMO Skate Canada Sections
It was a weekend of jumps, spins and spirals inside Dieppe's Arthur J. LeBlanc Centre as Skate Canada New Brunswick hosted the 2009 BMO Skate Canada Sectionals in Dieppe.
In addition to the Skate Canada New Brunswick competition, the same ice also held competitions for Skate Canada Nova Scotia and Skate Canada Prince Edward Island. Figure skaters from all over the Maritimes were competing for their own provincial figure skating champion titles while some were looking for a ticket to the 2009 BMO Skate Canada Eastern Challenge -- the qualifying competition for the BMO Canadian Figure Skating Championships and BMO Skate Canada Junior Nationals.
The 2009 BMO Skate Canada Eastern Challenge will take place Dec. 3-7 in Mississauga, Ont.
The top four finishers in the pre-novice, novice and junior categories qualified to go on to the Eastern Challenge.
Local skaters were well represented in that grouping.
Angel Howatt of the Petitcodiac Skating Club finished third in the Pre-Novice Women category, earning her a spot at the competition.
In the Novice Women category, Danica Gaudet of the Memramcook Skating Club finished with a gold, while Amy Thiffault of the Dieppe Skating Club came in second. Sarah Thiffault of the Golden Blades came in third and Caroline Pineal rounded out the top four.
In the Junior Women category, Maggie MacKinnon of the Mariposa-Moncton Skating Club finished first, with Gabrielle Anne Cormier of the Dieppe Gold Blades finishing second.
Chloé Richard of the Dieppe Gold Blades Skating Club got a first place in the Juvenile Women A category which means she gets a ticket to go directly to Junior Nationals in Calgary, Feb. 11-14, 2009.
Other local finishers included: In the Girl's Pee Wee A Group, Christine Davis of the Dieppe Golden Blades Skating Club who finished first in group one. In group two, Julia Short of the Dieppe Golden Blades came in third.
In the Pee Wee B Women category, Kristin Berry of the Petitcodiac Skating Club finished with a bronze.
In the Pre-Juvenile Women A category, Zoe Gilligan finished with a gold representing the Mariposa-Moncton Skating Club. Lexi McGrath, also of Mariposa-Moncton came in second while Estelle LeBlanc of the Dieppe Gold Blades brought in a bronze.
In the Pre-Juvenile Women B category, Natasha Davis of the Dieppe Gold Blades finished second, with Kaitlyn MacLellan of the Riverview Skating Club getting a silver.
In the Juvenile B category, Gabrielle Giroux of the Sackville Skating Club finished with a bronze performance.
The Dieppe competition was the first time skaters from N.B, N.S. and P.E.I. came together for this one particular event.
"It's a very expensive event to run and we have the same expenses with judges and officials, coming from outside the region," said Diane Duguay, the event's competition chairwomen.
"The complete skating community in New Brunswick isn't a very big group with maybe 75 skaters. We have a lot of expense so a combined event made more sense. It's been years that we've trying to convince all three provinces to do it but this year we finally did."
As for how the province did at the competition, Duguay said New Brunswick has a lot of talent to be proud of in the figure skating scene.
"Our New Brunswickers are very good skaters and it was very impressive to see the skaters who all did very well," she said.
"We've very proud of our skaters."
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