The new and improved Kin 1 arena is expected to open sometime in late December or early January and Lina Hiller can hardly wait.
For Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club skaters like Hiller, a 16-year-old nationally-ranked short-track speed skater who stands a good chance of competing for B.C. in the 2015 Canada Winter Games, racing the wider corners and longer straightaways of an Olympic-sized ice surface in Kin 1 is like discovering another passing gear in a sports car.
The big ice at Kin 1 will be the site of the 2014 Canadian age class short track speed skating championships, March 14-16, which will serve as a test event for the 2015 Canada Games. All 10 provinces and three territories will send athletes aged 15 and older to the age-class finals.
"It gives you more confidence to get going at higher speeds, because here the arena is so small and if you make one little mistake or pass wrong you could end up in the boards with a serious injury," said Hiller, prior to a Blizzard practice at the Coliseum.
"Having Olympic-size ice just gives you more reassurance that you can make those passes."
Finding room on the ice wasn't a problem for Hiller two weekends ago at the 400-metre oval in Calgary at the long track time trials, where she skated a personal best time of 2:12 in the 1,500m event as was the top-ranked B.C. girl. She was ranked 29th among Canada' junior skaters in short track last year.
"It was a good first long-track meet, when you get a PB it says that everything we worked on the off-season paid off," said Hiller, who is torn between making the choice between short track and long track as her primary focus.
"It goes back and forth," she said. "Last year, every time I'd skate a long track meet I'd favour long track more, and then I'd go to a short track meet and like short track more. I'm going to try to qualify for both for the [2015 Canada Winter] Games and hopefully I'll make both and then have to make a decision. "
Lina's twin brother Nico figures his best prospects for making a national team are in the long track. Nico, a Grade 11 student at College Heights secondary school who stated speed skating at age 4, spent a month this summer in Calgary at the Olympic Oval with the regional training centre team. He skated a qualifying time in the 500m event two weeks ago in Calgary, clocking faster than the 39.5-second standard, and was close to qualifying times in the 3,000- and 5,000-metre events. He's now among the top-five long track skaters in Canada for his age group and next summer plans to train with the Olympic Oval junior program.
"It just means I'll be skating with the high-ranked, older people, I'll be skating with tons of faster people," he said. "I did a lot of training over the summer and I'm real excited about the events coming up. It's awesome to be able to skate at home [for the age group meet] because we usually have to go places like Calgary or Quebec. I haven't had that home-field advantage."
Nico is among a group of eight Blizzard skaters entered in the Can-Am long track meet in Calgary, Nov. 22-24. The Blizzard skaters will see how they stack up nationally on the short track horizon when they compete in Winterfest in Calgary, Feb. 22-23. Most of the skaters destined for the age group meet in Prince George in March will be there. If either of the Hillers qualify for the world junior team they would miss the age class national event.
The big event of the year for Blizzard short-track specialist Callie Swan, 15, is B.C. Winter Games in Mission, Feb. 20-23. She dominated her age category at the 2012 B.C. Winter Games with three gold medals and two silver and this time wants a five gold-medal haul from Mission.
"I kind of know my competition because I've been skating with them for two or three years now and you can tell where you are in the group," said Swan. "I'm in the top and I know what to do. I had a good summer training all summer at the Northern Sport Centre and in Richmond so I think I'm ready."
Swan was four years old when Prince George last hosted the age-group nationals in 2001 at the Coliseum. She's competed in three Western Canadian short track championships and one national event in long track but the March event will be her first age group nationals.
"It's all of Canada, not just Western Canada, and I'm excited to have all of Canada come to our town, it doesn't happen very often," said Swan, a Duchess Park Grade 10 student.
Swan won't be at the B.C Games trials in Dawson Creek, Nov. 16-17, but instead will be in Richmond for a Western Canadian short track single distance championships, where she'll get a sneak peak at some of the skaters who will compete at the 2015 Canada Games in Prince George.
Blizzard skaters Landon Young, Eric Orlowsky, Sylvia Masich, Morgan Aucoin, Sam Dalla Lana and Ali Desmarais of Vanderhoof are all heading to Dawson Creek for B.C. Games trials.
