Since the inaugural Junior World Championships in Korea in 1994 our club members has been representing our country and, in more recent years we have had skaters qualify, and selected for the Junior World Championships .
Our first representative at the inaugural competition was Bridget McCallum. During this time we also had our Ladies and Men representing New Zealand at both the Senior World Championships and the World Cup Competitions. Once again, Bridget McCallum and Mark Stanaway were the first of our juniors to compete in senior competitions. The ultimate goal has been achieved by Mark, a skater with in excess of 13 years experience, qualifying for the 2002 Winter Olympics. The club is very proud of Mark's achievements and looks forward to many more of our club members following in his foot steps in the future. He certainly shows and demonstrates to the younger and development squad skaters what can be achieved from an introduction by a family friend to a wonderful sport.
Another example of our excellent development programme has been our junior skaters both male and female having been selected on many occasions to represent New Zealand as part of the Tasman Cup Team. This is a Junior Competition held annually between New Zealand and Australia, in association with the respective nation championships alternating between either country. Our young junior skaters have upheld a very proud past and continue to hold National and Australian titles. In 2004 the competitions in Australia were the most successful for our club members for many years. I was so proud of all of our skaters, there were several excellent achievements with one in particular being our Senior Ladies winning the Ladies' Open Relay and making them "Australian Champions", creating a new Australian record! These ladies have also made the final selection for the '2005 Sir Richard Hadlee Canterbury Sports Team of the Year'. This achievement has certainly given the skaters a taste of success and will encourage their long term involvement in our club and the sport of Short Track Speed Skating. Our skaters also represented the club at the 2004 Junior British Open Championships on the 28th & 29th December in Nottingham. Fran Jackson followed this achievement by winning the Brittish Open in the Under 19 division. |
