The Williams Lake Bullets Speed Skating Association hosted a mini-meet Thursday for its skaters who don’t regularly compete at out-of-town competitions.
“It gave them a taste of what competition is like,” head coach Tania Lauren said.
For a bit of fun, speed skaters raced against bantam rep hockey players from the Williams Lake Timberwolves, who volunteered as track stewards for the meet.
“We decided to have a little fun to see how the hockey players matched up to the speed skaters,” Lauren said.
The club is now training for competitions in Prince George and Fort St. James in January. Its next short track meet is in Kamloops at the end of January.
They will then prepare to host the club’s first sanctioned speed skating meet in Williams Lake on Feb. 25.
“It will be the central (zone) final for short track and will have regular age-specific races for the skaters, as well as some fun race events,” she said.
Skaters from Prince George, Vanderhoof, Fort St. James and Williams Lake, which make up the central zone, will be competing, as well as some skaters from the interior zone (Kamloops).
“We look forward to showing the community an exciting speed skating event,” Lauren said.
Anyone interested in finding out more about speed skating is invited to come out to watch a practice, which run Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 until 5:30 p.m.
“It takes a lot of volunteers to host a meet as about 40 officials are needed to run just one race,” she said.
“You get front row seats and are right in the action as timers and place judges. No training is required. We can teach you.”