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The Yukon was represented by three Marsh Lake brothers at a speed skating competition in Edmonton over the Remembrance Day weekend.

Micah, Cauis and Lucas Taggart-Cox joined more than 200 skaters from Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the N.W.T at the Edmonton Fall Classic.

Although the Yukon contingent was the smallest, its presence was felt. The meet was the first major competition of the season for the Yukoners. The competition was fierce as the three provinces were using the meet as an opportunity to select skaters for their provincial teams.

Micah, 14, had a successful competition, achieving personal best times in both the 200m (5th) and 400m (5th) distances. Sprint distances are not usually Micah鈥檚 strength but he鈥檚 worked to improve his starts and that work showed. The 1,500m distance is normally one of Micah鈥檚 strengths but he struggled with it in Edmonton and ended up 8th in his division with a far slower time than he normally skates.

鈥淚 thought I could have done better in some of the races, especially the 1,500m,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut overall it was okay. I鈥檓 looking forward to racing in Richmond in January.鈥�

The final race of the meet was the 3,000m points race and Micah skated a strong race to finish 3rd overall out of 77 skaters.

Caius, 13, achieved personal best times in the 200m sprint, the 1,500m and the 3,000m.

Caius has been focusing on his technique to improve his sprint times this season, and was happy with his 4th place finish in his 200m division to go with a new personal best. He was also successful in the 1,500m, taking more than two seconds off his previous personal best on the way to a 4th place finish in his division.

But it was the 3,000m points race that was the highlight for Caius.

鈥淚t was a personal best time, and Jack and I traded off the lead right through to the end,鈥� said Caius.

He ended up in 2nd place in his eight-person race (Jack Coombs of Yellowknife managed to squeak out the win) and his time put him 34th overall out of the 77 athletes who raced the 3,000m distance.

The youngest of the Taggart-Cox trio, 11-year-old Lucas, enjoyed the competition.

鈥淚t was fun to skate with a mix of people from all over. And being grouped with other skaters who have really close times is fun too,鈥� said Lucas.

He skated to a personal best time in the 200m sprint on the way to winning his division.

In the 400m, Lucas fell while avoiding running over another skater who went down right in front of him and ended up placing 7th in his division.

He skated an 800m race (a highly unusual distance) and took 1st place out of 70 skaters. Lucas was also very successful over the 1,500m distance, taking an extraordinary seven seconds off his previous personal best to place 2nd in his division.

Report prepared by Malcolm Taggart.