Twelve members of the Kamloops River City Racers took part in the New Gold November Chill short track speed skating competition at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre on Saturday.
The Racers were represented by nine young skaters in Division 1 with AJ Timewell leading the pack with two A final placings and three personal-best times. Alexander Willis also placed in an A final and had one PB. Finn Boggetti Smith had two PBs in this division.
Other racers in this division who set three PBs were Margaret Jean Willis, James Waterman, Sophia Pankratz,Oliver Stanton, Summer Boggetti Smith and Claire Riel.
In Division 2, Tim Mburu placed first in two A finals and second in his other A final. He had a PB in each distance he raced. Brett Riel, in this division for the first time, had PBs in all distances he entered.
In the Masters Division, the Racers were represented by Roman Hessel, who placed fourth in each of his finals, setting a PB at each distance.
Meanwhile, siblings Sara and Eric Spence took part in the Calgary series No. 4 short track competition.
Eric raced in the male B Division and placed fourth in the C final of the 1,000 metres with a new personal best. He was fifth in the A final of the 1,500m and fourth in the C final of the 500m.
Sara raced in the female A Division and set two PBs. She was first in the C final of the 500m with a personal best of 47.8 seconds, second in the B final of the 1,500m with a PB of two minutes 33.33 seconds, and second in the B final of the 1,000m. These times may qualify her for the Junior National short track trials in Toronto, Dec. 15 and 16.
Later this week in Calgary, Sara will join her sister Josie as a selected skater at the Regional Junior World Cup long track event. The top five junior female skaters in Canada in each distance qualified to take part in this event. Eric and Tori Spence will compete in the CANAM portion of the competition.
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Brook Mclean and Zach Morgan of the Kamloops Canoe and Kayak Club were saluted at the provincial awards banquet Monday afternoon as the female and male athletes of the year.
They were honoured mainly on the strength of their medal-winning performances at the Canadian championships.
They were in attendance over the weekend at a provincial training camp for sprint canoe and kayak racers at Burbaby Lake. The coaches at the camp were helped by three finalists from the sprint paddling events at the 2012 London Olympics — kayakers Brady Reardon and Hughes Fournel and canoeist Mark Oldershaw, who won a bronze in C1.
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Kala Stone of the Kamloops Track and Field Club has been named to the team that will represent B.C. at the Canadian cross-country championships at Jericho Beach Park in Vancouver on Nov. 24.
Teams will compete in junior, senior and masters championships.
Stone will compete in the junior women’s division. She is coached by Bruno Mazzotta, KTFC’s regional Interior coach.
