Five members of the Whitehorse Rapids Speed Skating Club hit the short track and produced a long list of accomplishments at the Edmonton Fall Classic over the weekend in Alberta.
“It was pretty good. We got a few personal bests ... and got some good experience racing, for sure,” said Rapids head coach Phil Hoffman.
Marsh Lake’s Lucas Taggart-Cox was the youngest from the bunch - the only in the L2T division for 11-and-under skaters - and came out on top.
The 10-year-old, who was slotted in Division 2 based on previous times, took first overall. He set personal best times in the 200-metre, 400-metre and 1,500-metre races en route to winning all three.
He also notched second in the 1,000 after taking a fall in the final, which was “not good,” he said in a news release. “I started thinking about something else.”
Taggart-Cox’s older brothers, Micah and Caius, and teammates Michael Ritchie of Haines Junction and Tristan Muir of Whitehorse, competed in the older T2T division for skaters 12-15.
Muir also posted three personal best times in three events en route to placing 17th in the overall rankings and second for his age.
The 13-year-old twice set personal bests in the 200 - once in the heats and again in the final - taking second. He also placed third in the 400 and second in the 1,500.
Micah Taggart-Cox had an “epic” skate in Edmonton. He PB’d in the 200 and 400, cutting more than three seconds off his previous best with a time of 39.75 in the latter.
“It was epic, a really epic PB,” he said.
Micah took first in the 200, second in the 400 and third in the 3,000 - with another PB - to place fourth in the 13-year-old category.
Ritchie - the oldest on the team in Edmonton at 15 - secured personal best times in every distance he raced.
He snatched third in the 400 and 1,500 finals to place fifth for his age and 11th out of 49 skaters in the T2T division.
“I had some ups and downs, I felt that my weight was a little too far back, and it was a challenge to correct that,” said Ritchie.
Competing in the T2T division for his first time, Caius managed to take 24th overall out of 49 and fifth for his age.
The 11-year-old claimed second in the 200 and 400 and third in the 3,000, slicing a huge 70 seconds off his previous best.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com