Tom Henihan
Express Staff
Four members of Twilight Figure Skating Club competed at the “Skating on the Edge” competition in Manning on November 25.
The event, hosted by Manning Figure Skating Club had members from a number of skating clubs in the region, including Spirit River, Fairview, Peace River, Le Crete and Manning.
Approximately 60 skaters took part in the competition with Twilight Skaters coming away with an impressive number of medals.
Hannah Garant competed in the Canskate 3 level winning 2 silver medal in Elements and Creative.
Anya Smit, Brenna Garant and Téanna Campbell competed in Starskate 1 with the three winning individual gold medals in elements , individual silver medals in Creative and a silver medal as a team.
In the Skating on the Edge competition, the Twilight skaters were not in direct competition with other skaters but were graded on their techniques.
“How it works is they are graded on what they are doing: if they are doing their edges properly, they did their spin properly, they did their jump properly they get graded on that. And then they get leveled as to whether it is a gold performance, a silver performance or a bronze performance.”
When skaters reach the higher levels they began competing directly against each other, but at the present levels they are judge exclusively on their technique.
Board member Bridgette Campbell, parent of club members Tara Garant were among those who accompanied the girls to the event. Parents and skaters greatly appreciated that Twilight coach Josée Bouchard also took the opportunity to travel to Manning to offer her advice and support to the skaters.
The next confirmed event in which Twilight Figure Skating Club members will compete will be at the Totem competition in Fort St. John on the Family Day Weekend in February.
However, there will be an opportunity to see the club perform at the Family Skate Day on December 10, from 2pm to 4pm at the Donnelly rink.
This year, the federal government is promoting community skate days for Canada 150, so Twilight is holding a Family Community Skate for its Canada 150 event.
The event will feature open skating and a small presentation by Twilight star skaters with some former members of the club who are still in the community being invited back. Santa will also make an appearance and hot chocolate and cookies will be available at the free event.