The third competition for the Cochrane Skating Club drew in a large number of competitors from all over the province.
Over 300 skaters showcased their skills at the Central Region STARSkate Invitational held in Rocky Mountain House last weekend (February 8-10), with a number of our local figure skaters achieving personal bests and podium finishes.
Coach Karen Allison shares although there wasn't a huge roster of attending skaters, those that did attend, did well. "We had a good showing, and we were super pleased. I believe we had ten skaters attend from the Club and with a couple of events each, it was a busy weekend. It was really good to see those girls get out there again and prepare themselves for upcoming Provincials in March."
Even though this competition was open to a large range of technical abilities, the cold weather and another upcoming competition, kept Club competitors on the low side. "It was one of those where they did offer STAR 1 all the way up to the gold events, however, we did see a slightly smaller attendance on our lower level STAR end just because we have the Lethbridge competition coming up and many have signed up for that one. There was a lot of competition withdrawls all weekend because the cold weather kept people at home indoors."
It is great to see the progress the girls are making, shares Allison, with some skaters moving up levels as they progress through the season. With the Lethbridge competition coming up March 1st through 3rd, and Provincials a mere five weeks away, the girls are inching towards their peak performance levels. "We are coming up to the point where we want all our skaters to have their best performance. I like to offer some clean program challenges and some other challenges just to amp up the intensity at the rink and keep the girls focused on their end goal which is to have their best skate or their peak performance at Provincials in Airdrie."
Looking forward to training hard, Allison is pretty proud of the Club's success to date. "Cochrane has been doing really well and it is so great to see us on podiums each weekend we attend so I am feeling really strong about the girls, their skating, and moving forward."
Below is a list of results from the Central Region STARSkate invitational:
STAR 1
- Laurel Bieber- Bronze ribbon
- Michael Iwanyshyn -Silver ribbon
STAR 2
- Feiyah McLean-Bronze ribbon
STAR 3
- Danika Jones-Silver ribbon
- Claire Moore-Silver ribbon
STAR 4 U13
- Alexis Brassington-Gold medal
STAR 5 U13
- Kaitlyn Eiserman-7th
STAR 5 13 & over
- Morissa Lloyd-4th
STAR 6
- Evelyn Archibald-Gold medal
- Taylor Kaarto-Bronze medal
- Abigail Cabot- Bronze medal
STAR 7
- Evelyn Archibald- Silver medal
- Taylor Kaarto-4th
Bronze Interpretive
- Kaitlyn Eiserman- Silver medal
- Alexis Brassington -5th
Silver Interpretive
- Abigail Cabot -Gold medal
- Morissa Lloyd-5th