麻豆社区

Eight Yukon speedskaters enjoyed personal successes on Calgary's Olympic Oval last weekend.

Of the territory's skaters attending the annual RU Fast meet, two skated in the Masters class, four entered the younger T2T races, and two were in the youngest L2T races.

Masters skater Phil Hoffman of Whitehorse won all of his heats and finals in his 500-, 1,000-, 1,500- and 3,000-metre races, while Malcolm Taggart of Marsh Lake alternated between second- and third-place finishes in all of his races of the same distances.

In a heartbreaking 1,000-metre race, Lethbridge skater Rick Dempsey drafted behind Taggart for the first 980 metres of the race, before sneaking around him just before the finish line.

Taggart would finish third. Yet, in spite of the setback, he still managed to set personal bests in all four of his races, finishing second overall in the Masters division.

In the T2T races, Whitehorse's Hanna Wirth placed 13th out of 16 skaters, Marsh Lake's Micah Taggart-Cox finished sixth of 12, while Haines Junction skater Christopher Ritchie was fifth out of 12 skaters in his division.

Christopher's brother Michael Ritchie won a divisional bronze medal for his skating.

"Thanks to all the coaching that they've received over the last year or so, all the Yukoners skated really well at the meet,鈥� chaperone Mark Ritchie told the Star.

The slew of personal best times meant each Yukon skater finished with a final ranking better than their initial seeding, he added.

In the 1,500-metre skates, Wirth placed fifth in her division's B final with a time of 3:00.56 鈥� a new personal best. Taggart-Cox won his race in 3:09.67, while Christopher Ritchie placed third in his, in 3:04.33.

Michael Ritchie won the C final in a photo finish.

The 400-metre heats were very fast, and Christopher Ritchie managed to survive a crash to finish first and qualify for the B final, where he came in second with a new personal best time 鈥� 24.95 seconds.

Not to be outdone, Michael Ritchie also finished second in the 400-metre A final in 47.54 seconds 鈥� another personal best.

Wirth finished third in her 400-metre try in a time of 46.44. Her race actually took two takes, after officials miscounted the number of laps the skaters had completed.

Meanwhile, Taggart-Cox beat his nearest competitor by the narrowest of margins in his race, setting a new personal best by launching ahead of his competitors at the finish line for a win by just two hundredths of a second.

Sunday's 200-metre pursuit races weren't as successful for local skaters, with Wirth finishing 11th of 16, Taggart-Cox eighth of 12, and Christopher Ritchie fifth of nine.

Michael Ritchie won his race, however, in a time of 24.06. All three male skaters also set personal best times with their skates.

Finally, in the 3,000-metre points race, Wirth finished third in the B final, Taggart-Cox placed fourth in the A finals, while the Ritchie brothers Michael and Christopher finished third and fourth in their respective races.

Meanwhile, on the L2T track, Marsh Lake's Caius Taggart-Cox brought home a divisional bronze medal, while his brother Lucas had a spectacular meet of his own.

The Yukon's youngest skaters took on competitors from Alaska, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Caius finished third in his 200-metre A final, while Lucas placed fourth in the B final. Both skaters set new personal best times.

Caius picked up another third-place finish in the 400-metre, while Lucas placed fifth in his race with another two personal best skates. Caius knocked more than four seconds off his previous best time.

The two youngsters final races were a thigh-burning 1,000-metre final 鈥� a distance they had never before skated.

Caius finished second in the A final with a time of 2:13.50, while Lucas finished third in the B final in 2:15.34.