Smiles and laughter filled the Williams Lake Bullets Speed Skating Association’s dressing room Saturday when the club proudly hosted its first-ever home meet — the Central Short Track FUNale.
On the ice, however, the competition was fast and furious as speed skaters of all ages raced in 1,500-metre, 400-metre, 200-metre, 200-metre relay and 2,000-metre points races.
Teams travelled from Fort St. John, Prince George, Vanderhoof and Kamloops to take part.
Bullets head coach Tania Lauren said 18 of the club’s skaters competed.
“It was the first competitive competition for four of our skaters and, in a FUNale, medals are not awarded but personal bests are recorded and our skaters all skated to personal bests in many of their races,” Lauren said.
“The competition was a very positive experience for all our skaters and our club.”
For Lauren Swan, 16 — the Bullets’ oldest skater — she said having the opportunity to have a meet in her hometown is something she’s been looking forward to since she started training in the sport four years ago.
“It’s really cool,” she said. “Pretty exciting. It’s nice to be able to skate on the ice you know.”
Olan Grady, 9, was competing in his very first meet since he started in the sport three years ago.
“I like the races,” he said. “And the candy cane relay race was fun.”
Twelve-year-old Colby Bennison said he had fun hanging out in the dressing room and meeting all the out-of-town skaters.
“I like the games, and racing against your buddies … and beating them,” he joked. “My favourite race is the 1,500-metre. I like the long ones.”
Following the home meet, Lauren said the club hopes to send five skaters to the B.C. Short Track Provincial Championships next weekend in Abbotsford.
Skaters qualify based on their times posted at sanctioned events throughout the skating season.
Several of the Bullets who posted personal bests also posted qualifying times Saturday to earn their spot at the provincials.
Lauren said she’d like to thank all the volunteers who gave up their time to help make the meet possible.
“We had amazing support from the community,” she said. “Some of our volunteers who came out to help officiate were community members with no children involved in the sport. They came out to help in the development of our club and it was amazing to have that support as we couldn’t have run a meet without them.
“I know the kids loved racing at home and getting the hometown support, and we all look forward to hosting another meet next year.”
VIDEO: Speed skaters from Williams Lake, Fort St. John, Vanderhoof, Prince George and Kamloops compete in a fun, candy cane relay race where participants race one on one in the form of a candy cane.
