The toll was measured in hours, aches and expectations.
The payout for some was in opportunities down the road.
The ice dancing teams from Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe’s Burnaby-based Vancouver Ice Dance Academy exited last week’s Canadian Tire national skating championships with various medals, momentum and heartbreak.
Making the medal podium were a pair of teams – novice pairing Miku Makita and Tyler Gunara, and junior dancers Ashlynne Stairs and Lee Royer.
Makita and Gunara picked up silver and were less than two points from gold, getting edged out by Ontario’s team of Nadilia Bashynska and Peter Beaumont. A couple of spills knocked off enough points, with the gap merely 1.74 from first.
“(Makita and Gunara) sort of underperformed, but they were still less than two points away from winning,” said Lowe. “It was pretty encouraging, knowing all they had to do was stand up and they would have won the event.”
Skating before a home crowd, with the championships unfolding at UBC, seemed to add extra weight to the impressive competition.
The teams also call Burnaby’s Champs International Skating Centre of B.C. as their home base.
For Stairs and Royer, a bronze was a disappointing result after the pair had taken silver at last year’s nationals, and collected gold at the Skate Canada Challenge this past fall. It also cost them a chance at representing Canada at the Junior World championships.
They took their main hit with a fall in the short program that was key in their posting the eighth-best score. Although they finished with a very strong performance in the free skate, earning the second-best score, the damage was done. They placed three points out of second, and 20 points from first.
“They did fall down and the end result was deserved,” said Lowe. “But not being selected to go to junior worlds I think weighs heavy on them. Knowing they beat (Ontario’s Olivia McIsaac and Elliott Graham) throughout the year a couple of times and had a bigger international score than them and not being selected still, it sort of bugs them.
“They understand you can’t fall and expect to be selected, but at the same time they were hoping some of their international results and reputation could hold them up.”
There were some international assignments handed out, however. Makita and Gunara are slated to compete in a few weeks at an international novice event in Italy, while the senior dance teams of Sarah Arnold and Thomas Williams, and Haley Sales and Nikolas Wamsteeker are both jetting to Taipei this week for the Four Continents competition, drawing in for the Olympic-bound skaters.
Arnold/Williams placed fifth last week, with 158.53 points. Right behind them were Sales/Wamsteeker,
with 154.74 points. It was a mirror image of last year’s result, when Sales/Wamsteeker placed fifth, one spot ahead of Arnold/Williams.
“They flip-flopped in results from what has been happening the last two years, but at least both are off to Taipei this week for the Four Continents. … They were pretty tight in their scores, too. It was good. That was the goal, to be fifth/sixth and try and get on the Four Continents team because we knew the Olympic team wasn’t going to be going.”
In ninth place were Ravie Cunningham and Cedar Bridgewood, who Lowe said wanted to cap their skating careers with a strong showing at the nationals.
“(Cunningham and Bridgewood) had two good skates for themselves and they can go out on a good note knowing they put everything into it,” said Lowe. “For them, they skated great, they had the moment and they are stopping now. They are done, their skating careers are over, and that was the plan all season.”
Junior dancers Nina Mizuki and Burnaby’s Veniamins Volskis saw their run halted due to injury. The coaches altered the short program to help Volskis, but he was unable to continue after finishing 10th.
“Even just to come 10th and do that short dance was a miracle. (Volskis) hadn’t skated for 10 days and comes out and does the short dance, that’s how bad it was,” added Lowe.
