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The Short Track Team performed
well and enjoyed the experience of competing in the 2011
Halifax Canada Games. Several skaters had PB's and all were on
TV coverage at least once. Hope you saw two of our familiar New
Brunswick skaters (Andrew Evans and Evan Brideau) earn a Silver
and Bronze Medal! Scott Beamish led our skaters with an
eleventh place finish and everyone looked good on television.
Jesse Francis made a great last lap surge in one of the most
exciting finishes of the games! Full results of the speed
skating in Halifx are HERE.
Only four more years till the 2015 Winter Games! |
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Speed Skate PEI 2011 Canada
Games Team: L to R; Jesse Francis, Clare Cullen,
Nathan Cudmore, Dan Cottreau, Thomas Trotter, Coach Phil Byrne, Taylor Johnston, Ellen Burnett and Morgan McGinn. The Team's fastest skater, Scott Beamish will join the team in Halifax but was not available for the picture.
The Short Track Speed Skating Events were held on the newly expanded Olympic ice at the Saint Margarets Center in Upper Tatalon, Nova Scotia. This was the site of the 2010 Eastern Canada Age Class Championships. Prior to the games, Nick Murray wrote this about the team in the Guardian: "One of the teams who was taking in the rally was speedskating, which will be competing in the short-track events in week one at the St. Margaret’s Centre. Speedskating can boast P.E.I.’s most decorated Canada Games athlete — the pride of Montague, Nancy White, who skated her way to one gold and four silvers in Brandon, Man, in 1979. Coach of the 2011 contingent, Phil Byrne, is realistic and doesn’t expect a similar haul from P.E.I. at this set of Games, but he is confident that our nine-athlete team will put in some solid performances on the ice. Likely to lead the way for our team is Warren Grove’s Scott Beamish, who has been training at the National Training Centre in Calgary, where he is attending university. Beamish is the oldest, and the fastest, on the team, having set numerous provincial records and constantly improving his personal best times. Beamish will be the one the rest of our skaters look too for fast times, but coach Byrne is expecting good things from all his athletes, with the goal set at personal bests and every member advancing through at least one qualifying heat. After that, the sport of speedskating is so unpredictable, anything can happen. All our athletes will be competing at every distance – 500, 100 and 1,500 metres and the relay, so there is ample opportunity to see good performances. We are sending a young team which will be in tough against the 18- and 19-year-olds from Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, while other provinces also have the advantage of training on the larger ice surfaces which is important for tactical race preparation. Our group, though, is ready, prepared and focused on what they need to do to meet their own goals, and after that, who knows! We wish them well." |
