The Border Blades will be looking to pick up more medals when they host Fire on Ice XV at the Servus Sports Centre on Nov. 25. At the Red Deer Central Lions annual Short Track Meet on Nov. 4, young skater Adeline, second from left, won gold with Gage, fourth from left, winning a silver and Gracie left, in second group on the right, earning gold. Supplied Photo
Young short track speed skaters are in no danger of a meltdown when they compete at Fire on Ice XV in Lloydminster.
Fire on Ice is just the catchy name of a sanctioned Speed Skating Alberta (SSA) short track ability meet to be hosted by the Lloydminster Border Blades at the Servus Sports Centre on Nov. 25.
Blades’ head coach, Kristal Meyers, is hoping for a turnout of about 60 kids including some of her 24 club members for the 15th edition of the competition.
“At the moment, we have kids registered from Regina and Saskatoon, and Prince Albert, and then Edmonton, Calgary, Grande Prairie and Peace River,” said Meyers.
At stake are gold, silver and bronze medals for beginners up to six years old and age groupers up to 14 and over.
The gun goes off at 8:30 a.m. for the 50m beginners’ race.
Fire on Ice is the club’s only home tournament of the season and Meyers is expecting some good results from her skaters, who have tasted competition already.
“We have already done a meet in Saskatoon in October where I think we had four medals come home,” said Meyers.
“We did Red Deer last weekend (Nov. 4) and we had three kids medal as well.”
Meyers says the club has a couple of athletes who are eligible for the this year’s Alberta Winter Games in Grande Prairie in February.
She and assistant coach, Taylor Luchynski, get their skaters ready with two indoor practices a week, with some potential outdoor skates on the Oval with a dual focus in mind.
Meyers says keeping it fun is important as the club continues to rebuild membership and interest in the wake of the pandemic
“I think we just encourage a lot of fun learning to skate through games. We do a lot of club racing at our practices too, just to encourage the sport side of racing,” she explained.
Meyers’ own daughter Grace is in her fifth year with the Border Blades with two nephews Grady and Gage in pursuit.
The club’s new publicist, Amy Pierce, will be cheering on her 12 year-old son Nathan, who made the switch last year from hockey to speed skating
“He got tired of hockey because it was too busy. He wanted to try something different and he’s liking it so far,” said Pierce, who is circulating flyers.
She is also working on attracting some sponsors as Fire on Ice is the club’s main fundraiser of the year, mainly from registration fees.
There will also be a silent auction at the club meet.
“There is quite a cost running the meet with ice time and bringing in the officials. We are looking at bringing in volunteer positions to keep our costs lower,” she said.
Fire on Ice will also conclude with the 3000m Devin Racz Memorial Relay final in recognition of Racz’s ability as an outstanding relay competitor with the Border Blades.
The youth anchored the bronze medal winning Zone 7 Relay team at the 2004 Alberta Winter Games.
His life was cut short by a motor vehicle collision east of Lloydminster in 2007.
