Arctic Edge skater Rachel Pettitt won gold over the weekend with plenty of room to spare.
The 15-year-old laid down two clean routines to claim the top spot in the novice ladies 2014 Super Series Victoria Day competition in Surrey, B.C.
Her routines were so clean, in fact, the second place finisher wasn’t even close.
“I had really good training leading up to it, probably the best training I’ve ever had,” said Pettitt. “It was very efficient. My training has been super good, so I was pretty confident going in. I had a really good short (program) I was happy with ...
“My long was just amazing, it was the best long I’ve ever had. I had a clean program, so I landed three triples. Overall it was so good, I was so happy.”
Pettitt, who was the only skater from Yukon’s Arctic Edge Skating Club, placed first in the short and in the long for first overall out of 14 skaters.
She posted a personal best in her long and in her combined score.
“I pretty much got my personal best by almost 15 points,” said Pettitt. “It’s a huge accomplishment.”
“I had two clean programs, which I’ve never done in competition,” she added.
Pettitt finished with a combined score of 109.15, almost a full 20 points ahead of second place’s Ajsha Gorman of Kelowna with an 89.20.
All her triples in both routines - including a triple-toe-double-toe, triple-sal and triple-toe in her long program - went off without a hitch. She also nailed double axels in both routines.
“I’m pleased she went out and was able to do what she can do,” said mom and Arctic Edge coach Trish Pettitt. “It’s a good feeling when they do. They work hard to train to do that under pressure.”
Rachel captured gold in novice ladies at the 2014 B.C. Coast Region Championships WinterSkate in February to start the new season.
She finished last season with sixth overall in novice women at the Skate Canada’s BC/YT Sectional Championships in November. By missing the top-four, Rachel didn’t qualify for the Canadian Figure Skating Championships.
“My jumps have been really consistent, so I had a lot of clean run-throughs in my practices,” said Rachel. “I haven’t had this in a long time, after how my season ended.”
Rachel was the first Yukoner to win Skate B.C.‘s Super Series season-long competition in pre-novice in 2012.
She qualified for the Skate Canada Challenge national championship after becoming the first Yukoner to win gold at the BC/YT Sectional Championships in 2012. She placed fourth in pre-novice against 55 skaters at the nationals that year, which marks the highest finish by a Yukon skater at the event.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com