Smooth as a baby's bum. Like skating on glass.
Nico Hiller can't remember a time when ice conditions at the outdoor Exhibition Park oval were any better and with only a few days before his hometown plays host to the B.C. long track speed skating championships he can't wait to let it rip in his opening 500-metre race Saturday morning .
"The ice is amazing, better than it's ever been, the lines look awesome -- the whole thing has been done really well," said the 17-year-old Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club athlete.
Hiller raced last weekend in Calgary at a Canada Cup event, where he posted best times in all distances and shaved significant time off his previous best 500m and 5,000m races.
Hiller grew up skating short track at the Coliseum but shifted his focus to long track 1 1/2 years ago when he started posting impressive results. He topped the points list among B.C. skaters at the long track 2015 Canada Games trials in December in Fort St. John.
"Long track is a little more relaxed, but at the same time every race you do has to be your best race, it's not based on who the best racer in a race, it's based on who's the fastest," he said.
Prepared by volunteers from the Ice Oval Society, the ice looks just as nice to Nico's twin sister Carolina (Lina) who also made the B.C. long track team, qualifying third-best in the province.
"They just got the lines on the ice over the weekend and it looks so professional," said Lina. "It's an actual oval and we're going to race on it. We've had fun races but never really had long track races here at home and it's going to be really fun. We just have to hope it doesn't get too warm."
Lina and Nico will be the hometown favourites when Prince George hosts the Canada Games long track events, Feb. 14-22. Both also qualified for the short track provincial team. Lina decided to take long track road while she was in Montreal at the national short tack qualifier in early December.
"I thought I would have until the Monday [after the meet] to decide but I had to decide on the Saturday and I was going back and forth between long track and short track, but then I realized, truthfully, in long track I'm in better medal contention," said Lina. "I enjoy it more and I don't get as anxious for races. You don't have to worry about another person in the race. In short track, another person and how they skate can affect the outcome, but in long track it's really just you.
"It's going to be awesome to share the experience with Nico and race with him, I can't wait."
Lina's favourite events are the 1,500m and the 16-lap mass start points race, which features a points incentive to race to the head of the line every two laps.
"I like the mass start, said Lina. "Because of my short track background, the strategy and stuff transfers over into the mass start race and it's really fun."
Other members of the B.C. long track team for Canada Games are Jacob Graham (Dawson Creek), Tyler Hartleb (Nelson), Eric and Sara Spence (both of Kamloops), Abigail McCluskey (Kelowna) and Emilie Medland-Marchen (Fort St. John). Connor Johnson (Fort St. John) and Pauline Sutherland (Dawson Creek) are alternates on the team.
Ariana VanDerStarre of Burnaby is the B.C. coach and Richard Stickel of Fort St. John is the team manager. Next weekend in Quebec City at the junior national championships, the B.C. team will get a good look at the competition they're up against from other provinces coming to Prince George for the Games.
The age criteria requires Canada Games long track skaters to be under the age of 19 as of June 30, 2014. That meant 19-year-old Lucas Hiller, the older brother of Nico and Lina, was one month too old. Based on his results this season, that was all that kept Lucas off the B.C. team. But he will be racing this weekend and he'll likely end up going head to head with Nico.
"That's going to be fun," said Nico. "We're really close in the 1,500, it could go either way."
The three Hillers have plans to move to Calgary to take advantage of the Olympic Oval club program next summer, after the twins graduate from College Heights secondary school.
About 80 skaters, ranging in age from four to masters, are expected for the two-day meet, which starts at 9:15 a.m. Saturday. Medal ceremonies are planned for 3:45 p.m. on Sunday.
