It’s been a hefty competition season for Grande Prairie’s figure skaters as they return home from the Arctic Winter Games in Mat-Su Valley, Alaska.
Team Alberta North came home with 20 medals in total including ten golds, eight silvers, and two bronze medals.
Cheryl Jobson, Program Director for the Grande Prairie Skating Club, attended the event with the female figure skaters and says she “couldn’t be prouder” of their impressive showing on the international stage.
“We had amazing skates from the girls, they skated their hearts out,” she says. “It’s an international competition, so there’s athletes from around the world competing at the Arctic Winter Games, the level of competition is high, and the experience for the girls was amazing.”
According to Jobson, the past few weeks have been hectic for some of the athletes on the team, with two skaters competing at the Alberta Winter Games in Grande Prairie in February.
“We’re just getting through our competition season so we’ve been competing pretty much since December.”
Jobson says the team is shifting into a post-season training system after such a demanding season.
“The skaters are pretty tired right now, so we’re kind of going into a new phase,” she says. “When you’re training to compete it’s a different kind of training than training to learn new things, so that’s kind of where we’re at.”
The team is set to regroup this Spring to evaluate the previous season and look at programming for the 2025 skating season.