By Austin Stanton
Nine local skaters took centre-stage on home ice as Ottawa hosted the 2017 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships from Jan. 16-22 at TD Place arena.
Struck by a sprained ankle in practice just days before her competition, the biggest star of the local bunch, Alaine Chartrand, wasn’t able to rise to the level that saw her win national gold last year, but she did manage to land on the podium for the third consecutive year behind champion Katelyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman.
“To come out with a bronze and (qualify for) Four Continents, I’m happy with that as much as I’m disappointed with my free program,” said Chartrand, who finished well back of the top-2 scores that qualified for the World Championships. “I’m proud of my fight and just being there.”
Chartrand hopes to be back healthy in time for the Feb. 14-17 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in South Korea.
Big novice/jr. men crew
Much like Chartrand, 16-year-old Matthew Markell spends some time training at his home club in Prescott, and some time in Ottawa at the Minto Skating Club.
Last year’s novice men’s silver medallist enjoyed the experience of a home nationals.
”It’s awesome to have lots of support from friends and family,” signalled Markell. “As many people came out to watch as they could.”
Markell earned a personal-best score in the short program and placed 15th overall against “great competitors” in his first season in the junior category.
“Everyone has improved at a tremendous amount,” he highlighted. “Getting the technical elements was a big struggle for me.
“Lately, in practice, everything has been going really well. It’s just having to do it when it counts that’s the biggest part.”
Fellow junior men’s competitor Josh Allen flipped around a poor short program to post the 5th-best free program score and finish 8th overall.
“The ranking won’t be quite what I hoped for owing to the fact this is a sport that puts two components together, but for (the long program) I am content,” reflected the Gloucester/Nepean Skating Club product. “I was able to put the short program behind me, but the judges won’t be doing that.”
Men’s singles skaters made up a majority of the local entries, including three in novice category.
Nepean skaters Daniel Rousskikh and David Birinberg finished 8th and 13th respectively, while 15-year-old Greely skater Evan Hopkins of the Rideau Skating Club was 18th.
New Jr. Dance Duo
Together for only 8 months since Kaitlyn Chubb, 15, moved to town to join Stittsville native Alex Gunther, 19, the newly-formed Minto ice dance pair was pleased to compete at nationals period, though they would like to move up from 14th place in the junior standings in the future.
“I’m happy with how our first nationals went,” indicated Gunther, a South Carleton High School grad now studying at Carleton University. “There were some hiccups here and there, but I brought this little one (Chubb) with me, so it was really fun.”
It was Chubb’s first time competing on Canada’s highest skating stage.
“It was a lot fun,” she recounted. “It was a really great experience to be here, and I enjoyed every second of it.”
One woman show
Fifteen-year-old Hannah Dawson had hoped to compete in both the pairs and women’s events at nationals, but an injury to her partner, Gloucester Skating Club-brewed Christian Reekie, just weeks before the competition forced them to withdraw from the pairs event.
It’s been a year of change for Dawson. The former Minto athlete no longer trains in Ottawa, instead making Varennes, Que. her home base alongside Reekie.
Dawson skated to an 8th-place singles finish in her first year competing at the junior level.
“I’m happy with where I was this weekend given all the change that’s happened,” she outlined. “It was a nice change to focus on my single skate instead of my pair as well.”
Though Reekie was unable to compete, he did watch from the stands.
“He was cheering me on right in the front row,” Dawson smiled.