The Burnaby Speed Skating Club used its swift blades to stride away with the first overall award at the B.C. Short Track speed skating championships in Abbotsford earlier this month.
Among the top finishers were a quartet who copped gold: Cormac Chui, Hao Chen Lu, Kim Reid and Mike Hagen.
Chui and teammate Bryan Leon placed first and third, respectively, in the 15 and up performance division, with national time standards. Chen Lu won the junior (15 to 18) male event, while Reid, in masters ladies 40 division, and Hagen, in males 60, were first across the line.
In the Training to Train category, with spots on Team B.C. as a carrot, five Burnaby skaters achieved their marks. Katherine Wagner finished first and Anya Liu placed second in the girls 12 division. Katherine Brynolfson placed third in girls 13, while Michael Oetomo, fourth in boys 12, and Hana Hoffman, fifth in girls 14, rounded out those who advanced to this weekend’s CanWest meet in Abbotsford.
The five, along with Hugo Zhou, had competed earlier at the B.C. Winter Games with strong results.
“I am, of course, tickled to win the (team) tropy, but so much more than that I am thrilled with how well my skaters performed at the championships,” Ariana Van Der Starre said. “I was so proud of the skill and maturity they showed in their racing.”
Here are more results from the B.C. Short Track championships:
Training to Train, Boys – Alex Lim, 13, 10th; Hugo Zhou, 12, 10th.
Learning to Train, Girls – Ally Hoffman, 10, 2nd; Gabrielle Oetomo, 10, 4th; Nora Wagner, 9, 4th. Boys – Nicolas Escobar Ballen, 11, 6th; Deryk Fong, 11, 14th; Brian Mi, 10, 11th; Zakary Sharp, 10, 1st; Aras Tran, 10, 7th.
