The Williams Lake Skating Club was host to 175 young figure skaters who competed and had their skills assessed at the 28th Annual Cariboots ‘N’ Blades Interclub Competition.
Several clubs, reaching from Kamloops to Kitimat participated in the popular three-day event, which carried a theme of gingerbread this year.
The much anticipated competition was held at the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex, Dec. 7-9, with 10 members of the 100 Mile House Figure Skating Club showing off the fruits of their hard work.
It was the first competition of the season for most of the local skaters and they came home well-rewarded.
In Preliminary Elements, during which skaters were judged on the mastery of their skills, Giorgia Lanzoni was awarded gold and Mikayla Julseth earned bronze. Haley Plewes got a fourth-place standing and Kathrin Ricketts got seventh.
In Primary Spins, Julseth impressed the judges enough to earn gold and Plewes spun her way to silver. Tanisha Bali got fifth.
Preliminary Spins saw Michaila Robinson nab fourth, G. Lanzoni got fifth and Ricketts earned seventh.
In the higher level Bronze Elements, Brittany Boyd was awarded fourth and in Bronze Spins she got fifth.
In the Freeskate events, the lower-level skaters were assessed on how skillfully they skated their program and awarded gold, silver or bronze ribbons. In the Star 1 division, Bali, Alice Lanzoni and Janaya Gage were awarded silver and Leiah L’Heureux earned bronze.
Star 2 assessments saw Plewes and Julseth get silvers.
In Star 3A, it was silver across the board for G. Lanzoni, Robinson and Ricketts.
Boyd competed in the higher level Star 4 division, which was a judged event and placed fifth out of 10 skaters.
Club coach La Vern Howard accompanied her skaters to the competition and is thrilled with their results.
“They did super. They’ve been out there working hard for this.”
This is the first season for the new Star divisions and assessment system to be used in competition and Howard says it seems to be working out alright for her skaters.
“It was a new experience for them. Instead of medals, they get a sort of report card.”
Next on the club radar is the Okanagan Region Championships that takes place in West Kelowna, Feb. 15-17. For the first time, lower level skaters will be allowed to skate at the event, which Howard says has the focus of most of her competitive skaters.
