National speed skating competitions return to Fort St. John

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Fort St. John is among 11 communities across Canada that will be hosting national-level speed skating competitions for the 2024-25 season.

Speed Skating Canada in conjunction with local organizing committees, made the announcement in a statement on Friday morning. 

A total of 16 events – ten in long track, six in short track – will take place throughout the season.

With the club’s 60th anniversary set for this upcoming year, Fort St. John Speed Skating head coach Richard Stickel says bringing events to the city shows the vitality of the local speed skating community. 

Stickel has been the coach of the team since 2000. 

“It’s been a big part of the community for a long time,” said Stickel. “We’ve had national events before we had an indoor oval, but we’ve had many of them over the last few years.” 

“We’ve really developed a lot of people who are competent of putting on this level of competition. It’s been gratifying to show off what we can do as a community.”

Newcomers to the calendar include Newmarket, Ontario, and Kamloops, B.C., who will host the short track Canadian Junior Cup finals and Canadian National Short Track Championships West, respectively.

Prince George, which hosted the 2015 Canada Winter Games, will also showcase an event for the first time in a decade: the Junior Short Track Open, scheduled for January 11th and 12th, 2025.

Fort St. John will host two races this winter: The Canadian Junior Long Track Championships from December 13th to 15th, and the Youth Long Track Championships from February 7th to 9th, 2025, both hosted at the Pomeroy Sports Centre.

Stickel feels that several of the club’s skaters, notably Maria Hanson, Tara Ashrafi, and Austin MacGregor, will eventually impact the World Cup and Olympic speed skating scene.

“We’ve got a lot of good young skaters again,” says Stickel. “A lot of them train during the summer. They’re trying to get better themselves and get faster.”

“Some of these skaters can be competitive on the world front.”

More information about Fort St. John Speed Skating Club can be found on its website.

The full schedule for the speed skating season can be viewed below: