Prince George should feel bad for Kathy Lewis and the devoted supporters of the Outdoor Ice Oval for the decision Monday morning to move the long track speed skating for the 2015 Canada Winter Games to Fort St. John.
Feel bad, certainly, for the hard work and countless hours this group put in over the past several years to convert the facility to an elite facility able to host national-level competition. But don't feel too bad. The community's first feeling should still be intense pride, both in the oval and in the incredible devotion of the volunteers.
Long after the Games are over, the facility will still be able to host top-level competitions while also serving as a first-class training track for a new generation of Prince George and regional skaters.
The oval was able to get in one event on Sunday morning, thanks to the clear skies and seasonably cold night Saturday, and the reviews from visiting athletes, coaches and officials were stellar. They will return to their home towns and provinces impressed with the Prince George oval and will share those impressions with others.
What's even better for Northern B.C. is these same athletes, coaches and officials will now head up to Fort St. John to compete in the Pomeroy Sport Centre, one of only three indoor long-track speed skating facilities in North America. They will be blown away by that incredible venue. No doubt many of them have already heard of it and have longed to compete there, knowing Denny Morrison, a four-time Olympic medallist in speed skating, hails from Fort St. John.
There is little Prince George or Games organizers could do about the weather. As a senior official with Skate Canada informed the media Monday morning, most long-track speed skating events, even at the international level, occur outdoors and sometimes, just like it does for skiing, the weather doesn't co-operate.
The official noted that this is the first weather-related problem with long-track speed skating at a Canada Winter Games since 1999, where the whole competition in Corner Brook, Nfld., had to be cancelled due to weather and there was no backup facility to host the skaters from across Canada. She went on to say that weather at the other end of the spectrum was a factor in Whitehorse eight years ago, when brutally cold conditions made for great ice but took its toll on competitors.
Canada Games CEO Stuart Ballantyne stressed that organizers always had a move to Fort St. John as an option, with plans and funds in place to make it happen. The 63 athletes will take a 45-minute flight to Fort St. John to race for gold in their events from Wednesday through Friday, returning to Prince George in time to depart on Saturday with the rest of their teams for home.
The challenge will be to get parents, most of whom have travelled a great distance to see their sons and daughters compete at what may be the pinnacle of their athletic careers, up to Fort St. John, as well, but Games organizers vowed to move the earth and sky to help. As any athlete knows, proudly competing under the banner of your province and/or your country is one thing but striving for excellence with the cheers of encouragement from the loved ones who got you there is what it's really all about. Hopefully, every parent will be able to see their child in action in Fort St. John.
The cancellation of the long-track competition in Prince George is unfortunate, no doubt, but hosting the Games means being gracious hosts and doing everything in our power to deliver the best experience possible to the visiting athletes. Thankfully, the Pomeroy Sport Centre in Fort St. John is a great standby facility close by. In other words, if you're hosting Christmas dinner and the stove goes on the fritz, there's nothing like a good neighbour to make things right. The show must go on.
So thank you, Fort St. John and thank you, long track skaters, for your patience. Good luck on the ice starting Wednesday. We'll be following all of your exploits and sharing them with our readers, thanks to the news team at our sister Glacier Media newspaper, the Alaska Highway News.
