Ridge Meadow Racer Matthias Daniels took first place at the B.C. Winter Games Zone Three qualifier in short track speed skating, and will be going to the games.

The qualifier was held on Nov. 3, and Daniels and teammate Finley Ludeman were the Ridge skaters who competed for just three available spots to represent the Fraser Valley in the upcoming B.C. Winter Games, coming to Fort St. John from Feb. 20-23.

Daniels finished first in all three distances and posted a personal best time in the 400m (45.63), and took four seconds off his 1,500m time (2:53.91). Ludeman also skated well, finishing in fifth place with personal best in this 1,500m (3:05.88) – six seconds faster than his previous time, and 400m (47.32) events..

During the interclub portion of the meet, Willa Ludeman had a solid skate in T2T Div. 2, while in T2T Div. 3 Tyler Prior posted a personal best in his 400m distance. Mattias Weisenborn, also in Div. 3, had a fantastic meet by taking over 20 seconds off his last seasons 400m time (1:29.21) and 16 seconds off his 200m time (40.96). In Div. 5, Landon O’Neil posted a personal best in his 1,200m by gaining eight seconds (2:57.75), and Emmet Proud also took of eight seconds off his 400m time and three seconds (1:04.53) off his 200m time (32.81). Nathan O’Neill also posted personal best in Div. 6, taking four seconds off his 400m distance (1:20.02).

In out-of-province competitions, local club member Samuel Green raced in the ST Canadian Cup 1 as one of the youngest skaters (15 years) in Sherbrooke, Que. He did well, finishing 25th in the juniors and 36th overall.

The Ridge Meadows Speed Skating’s Jingle Bell Challenge will be on Nov. 30, at Planet Ice in Maple Ridge.

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B.C. GamesMaple Ridge News