Local figure skaters in hunt for national podium

Their goal was simply to qualify for the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. But thanks to their silver medal performance at last month’s Skate Canada Challenge in Regina, novice ice dancers Samantha Glavine and Jeff Hough of the Minto Skating Club suddenly find themselves as one of Ottawa’s top medal threats for the Jan. 16-22 nationals in Moncton, N. B.


“Last year, everyone was just so strong in novice. I didn’t think we were as good as the other people,” admits Glavine, a 14-year-old Mother Theresa High School student. “I was definitely surprised.”

Hough, who also qualified for nationals on his own in the freeskate event, recounts how coach Darryl VanLuven took them back to skating basics to help build greater speed and launch them towards the new heights they’ve achieved.

While the top-notch result at Challenge was unexpected for the pair who only moved up into their category from pre-novice this season, it’s now changed their outlook towards nationals.

“It gives us more confidence,” Glavine explains.

“I want to win,” Hough adds bluntly, noting they were less than a point behind the first-place score with their total of 89.90 at Challenge, which featured a nationwide field.

“We can make that up,” Glavine continues.

While Hough and Glavine view a single point as peanuts, Elizabeth Comeau of the Gloucester Skating Club was thanking her lucky stars for the .16 points that allowed her to claim the final nationals qualification position in the junior women’s category.

“I knew I was lucky, but I just want to get to nationals now and show everybody what I’ve got,” recounts Comeau, who wasn’t really expecting to make it to Challenge, let alone nationals, since she’s nursed a foot injury all season long. “It’s my first year of junior, so I’m just happy to have gotten this far.”

Despite her good fortune, Comeau couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for Minto’s Anna McCorriston, who wound up on the wrong side of the equation just one place back in 19th. Lisa Nasu-Yu, who represents Minto while training in Toronto, advanced in novice women, but Minto’s Zoe Gong also missed the nationals cut by a narrow margin.

“It’s a little heartbreaking that they were so close and didn’t make it through,” notes VanLuven. “But I think both of them came back learning from their mistakes. They’ve already setup their goals on how they’re going to attack next season.”
Big stage looms for Ben Guthrie
In his second season competing at the senior men’s level, Benjamin Guthrie qualified to take part in the main event with a 12th-place finish at Challenge, earning the right to compete alongside Patrick Chan for the first time since age eight when they were both at the same invitational.

“You see the boards and all the signs and the judges and the cameras, and you think some day I want to be out there,” says Guthrie, who moved to Ottawa from the northern Ontario community of Marathon over five years to pursue figure skating. “And now that that’s happening, I’m really excited just to be there, really.”

Guthrie doesn’t feel much pressure heading onto the big stage since his expectations aren’t terribly high for his senior nationals debut, although the long-term goal remains to some day move up into the top five or six.

“I would definitely like to be in that top area to get an international assignment,” highlights Guthrie, who was able to book the whole ice to himself for cheap when he went home during the holidays. “I really like to travel, so that would be awesome.”On the road again for out-of-towners
Guthrie is one of many skaters headed to nationals who have converged on Ottawa from smaller communities.

Hailing from Maitland, Ont. and competing under the Nepean Skating Club banner, 15-year-old Alaine Chartrand broke through to land on the senior women’s podium at Challenge, while junior skater Jennifer Pettem also travels most days to Ottawa from the same town near Prescott to train with Gloucester.

“They grow up a lot faster,” notes Gloucester director of skating Darlene Joseph. “They do learn to manage their time and their energy a lot better.

“They may have to sit in the car for two or three hours, but when they get on the ice, they just go. They don’t have the luxury off all that ice sometimes, so it gives them a bit more of a killer instinct.”

With junior ice dancers Sarah and Steven Clarke also headed to Moncton, the quintet of Gloucester skaters is the largest number of athletes the club has sent to the big show in quite a few years.

“We’re very excited about that,” Joseph smiles. “The kids have worked really hard, and the coaches and the club has worked really hard to continue to develop competitive skaters, and I think now we’re starting to see the results of all that hard work.&rdquo