The 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George might seem quite distant in the future, but a group of Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club athletes have already begun training.
Some of the work on that project took place last week at the Elksentre, site of a five-day training camp offered by Susan Ellis, former head coach of the U.S. national short track speed skating team. Twenty-eight skaters from as far away as the Northwest Territories were at the high-intensity camp, which taught the same dynamic pressurized skating technique adopted by world skating powers, China and North Korea.
The pressurized technique requires skaters to load more weight on their heels at the beginning of each push by driving their lead knee forward to a point where the ice meets the blade.
"It's a very different technique and it's very effective," said Blizzard club secretary Duane Swan. "You need to be very fit and very athletic but you also need to be able to apply pressure through the ice. These new techniques are very particular and the core muscles and muscle memory have to trained to re-create the same thing every time. It's a very technical sport.
"We all came and learned about the possibility of getting this new technique introduced into this area, hoping it's going to help us when we lead into Canada Winter Games."
Ellis, a Level 4 coach from New Brunswick, coached the American team from 1999-2002. To help her teach the Ellis Edge camp, she brought to Prince George U.S. national team skater Robert Lawrence of Salt Lake City.
All of the Blizzard coaches, as well as club coaches from Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Kelowna, Kamloops Fort St. James and Vanderhoof attended the camp free of charge.
The 12-hour days included two ice sessions at the Elksentre, as well as dryland training and classroom instruction of the camp. Each camp skater was videotaped going through the skating motions in dryland drills and the goal was replicate that same body positioning on the ice.
Swan says the camp is an extension to the services at available in the city through PacificSport and X-conditioning, which cater to the development of high-performance athletes.
"We have a lot of tools in Prince George to build fitness and a lot of people in place but [teaching] the technique is really difficult, and that's why I'm excited that the coaches have engaged [in the camp]," said Swan.
"I think we can really do something in four years. Prince George has five skaters that are training really well who are Canada Winter Games-eligible. How many times in the history of the Canada Winter Games has the host city had one club put five skaters on the B.C. team, then possibly win medals on top of that?"
That is a real possibility, based on last year's results from Blizzard club skaters Carolina Hiller, Nicolas Hiller, Callie Swan, Rylan Gaudet and Kadeja White, and that of newly-arrived Prince George resident Anneka Pedersen, formerly of Kamloops. Prince George was 29 medals last year at the Canada West short track championships in Kelowna. Callie Swan, Nico Hiller and Carolina Hiller all won their respective age group categories.
The club plans to bring Ellis back to Prince George in November.
The Blizzard club will host a B.C. Cup No. 1 races at CN Centre, Nov. 12 to 13. Club registration will take place on Thursday, Sept. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Coliseum.
