Cambridge club that's produced 7 Olympic speed skaters puts out a call for new racers
Cambridge club that's produced 7 Olympic speed skaters puts out a call for new racers
Blake Morrison has been coaching speed skating in Cambridge for 25 years, and says the sport deserves more attention.
“It’s a great organization, a great sport and it’s unfortunate that we just don’t get the exposure for people to really know that we are here,” Morrison told CTV News.
The Cambridge Speed Skating Club (CSSC) has produced seven Olympians over its 50 years.
“Number eight, I am hoping is in Calgary right now,” Morrison said referencing Aaralyn Mcgill who spent many years at the Cambridge Speed Skating Club before moving to Alberta to advance her training and attend post-secondary school.
“We are hopeful she might be in the next winter Olympics.”
Each Olympian who previously trained at the CSSC gets their banner hung inside Hespeler Memorial Arena.
Included among them is Amanda Overland, who won silver for short track at the 2006 Turin Games.
When asked why speed skating sees lower participation numbers, Overland couldn’t exactly say.
“It’s not as popular say as hockey or figure skating, even though it has amazing ratings at the Olympics and we do so well at the Olympics.”
She added: “I guess maybe because there’s no professional speeding skating?”
Overland still lives in Waterloo region and her young children have since picked up the sport.
A group of Cambridge Speed Skating Club athletes pose for a picture on ice at the Hespeler Memorial Arena. (Krista Sharpe/CTV Kitchener)
Despite their Olympic success, Morrison says the club still has a relatively low turnout.
He argues speed skating, at the fundamental level, is less expensive compared to other organized sports.
“In Cambridge we offer a four session, try-before-you-join package and the cost is $40, but it includes the speed skates. We have speed skates we provide for the younger skaters,” he said.
“Speed skates can be really expensive so this really helps.”
Morrison says the more competitive an athlete gets, the more the cost will rise as with any sport, “but at the outset of learning to skate, it’s quiet reasonable for the finances on the family.”
While training, current Cambridge speed skating athletes see those Olympic banners on the wall as motivation.
“I think that's awesome and I hopefully want to be on the wall,” 13-year-old Owen Donkers said.
“That's my goal, to be on that wall,” 14-year-old Allie Hubert added.
Hubert says she enjoys the sport because, “I love the community, I love travelling and making friends.”
Twelve-year-old Felix Paiement says he started his skating career in hockey skates but decided it wasn’t for him.
“What I like about speed skating the most, I like the going fast part,” Paiement said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he's been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
As wildfires rage across Canada in what’s being called an unprecedented season, one expert says there’s more that individuals and communities can do to adapt and prevent forest fires from causing widespread devastation.
The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the appeal of an Alberta woman who was unwilling to be vaccinated in order to get a life-saving organ transplant.
Rescuers in Washington state are praising the resourcefulness of a 10-year-old girl who survived on her own for more than 24 hours in the rugged terrain of the Cascade mountains after getting lost while out with her family.
Air pollution from wildfires remained well above healthy levels across much of southern and northern Ontario and several communities in British Columbia and Alberta on Thursday.
As bystanders screamed for help, a man with a knife stabbed four young children at a lakeside park in the French Alps on Thursday, assaulting at least one in a stroller repeatedly. The children between 22 months and 3 years old suffered life-threatening injuries, and two adults also were wounded, authorities said.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he's been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
The debate over firework displays is returning to city hall with two options for updating the fireworks by-law. A staff report recommends holding a public participation meeting later this summer to receive feedback on tightening backyard firework rules — or instituting an outright ban.
The second annual Wortley Pride Festival takes place June 10 in Wortley Village. During the inaugural event in 2022, a disruption occurred that led to charges against a London, Ont. man, and while off putting for organizers, they have learned from that experience.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump says he's been indicted on charges of mishandling classified documents at his Florida estate, igniting a federal prosecution that is arguably the most perilous of multiple legal threats against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House.
The grief-stricken parents of a young teen killed in his driveway in Barrie in 2021 delivered haunting victim impact statements in court Thursday, recalling the day their "world was destroyed."
A long stretch without rain combined with high temperatures and dry ground conditions has many municipalities across Simcoe County with an extreme fire danger rating and burn ban.
The shifting winds late Thursday morning are predicted to push high levels of air pollution over the City of Barrie and surrounding areas from smoke emanating from wildfires in Quebec and northeastern Ontario.
A $100 million class action lawsuit launched on behalf of alleged victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy on Manitoulin Island has been abandoned after the victims reached individual settlements with the church.
As interest rates continue to rise, the cost of buying a house in Ottawa and across Canada is becoming more expensive. Many homeowners are now forced to extend their mortgage payments.
Video has surfaced showing a Mississauga, Ont. transit bus plowing into stopped traffic in a crash that left one person dead and at least eight injured on Thursday morning.
Quebec's precarious wildfire situation is expected to remain stable over the next 48 hours but residents displaced by the raging forest fires likely won't be able to return home until early next week, Premier Francois Legault said Thursday.
An Ontario man charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Claudia Iacono, the daughter-in-law of the late Montreal Mafia associate Moreno Gallo, was arrested the day after the killing in Ontario on unrelated drug charges, public records show.
Former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, who spent his life in politics, collapsed and suffered a stroke on April 11, and even as he's slowly recovering, the fighter's instinct, that he's known for, is very much alive.
New Brunswick students under the age of 16 who identify as trans and non-binary won't be able to officially change their names or pronouns in school without parental consent.
The Halifax Regional Municipality says it will announce Thursday when more residents can return to their homes in communities impacted by the Tantallon wildfires.
The decision to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women and who will fund it remains up in the air a month after a feasibility study was completed.
Premier Danielle Smith says the government is bringing in arson investigators from outside the province to trace the cause of some wildfires during an unprecedented season in Alberta.
Tumbler Ridge, a community with a population of 2,400 in northeastern B.C., has been ordered to evacuate Thursday due to the danger posed by an encroaching wildfire.
With more festivals happening in Metro Vancouver this weekend than there are days to enjoy them, here’s a list to help you plan a packed two days of fun.
No one was harmed when a bus transporting elementary school children to a field trip in B.C. caught fire Thursday, with the flames fully engulfing the coach, spreading to an outbuilding and prompting wildfire concerns.
A group of Cambridge Speed Skating Club athletes pose for a picture on ice at the Hespeler Memorial Arena. (Krista Sharpe/CTV Kitchener)
