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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Members of the Fort Simpson Speed Skating Club brought back a wealth of medals from the NWT Speed Skating Championships over the weekend.

The club sent its strongest representation ever to the competition in Yellowknife that was held from March 7 to 8. All 16 members of the club, except for one who's been sidelined by an injury, competed on the ice.

"They all did great," said Val Gendron, the club's coach.

Madison Pilling led the team in the standings, winning gold and becoming the territorial champion in the midget girls division. This is the sixth consecutive time that Pilling has finished first in her division.

Many of the club's speed skaters also achieved personal best times at the competition, Gendron said. Alex Roche broke the one-minute mark for his first time in the 500-metre juvenile boys race. Gendron also made special mention of Harley Betsedea who woke up feeling under the weather on Sunday morning but still found the energy to race.

"All the kids, when they fell down they got back up and kept on going," she said.

The Fort Simpson skaters showed good sportsmanship by cheering on their teammates as well as skaters from other teams, said Gendron.

The championship was a lot of fun, said Sarah Verge who won silver in the D division of the bantam girls.

Verge, 10, who was competing at the event for the first time, said she enjoys racing other skaters.

Meeting skaters from other communities and racing against them is also what Robert Harold enjoyed about the weekend.

Harold, who finished with a bronze in the B division of the midget boys, said there were strong competitors at the championship.

"You have to stay very close to them when you pass them," he said.

If you went too wide in the corners the other skaters would just speed up to prevent you from passing, Harold said.

The Fort Simpson speed skaters had a lot of competition. With approximately 122 skaters in attendance from across the territory it was the largest championship yet, said Gendron.

Speed skaters from Hay River, Fort Smith, Norman Wells, Inuvik and Yellowknife all competed.

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Results:

Bantam girls:

Lia Fabre-Dimsdale- gold, C division

Sarah Verge- silver, D division

Harley Betsedea- bronze, D division

Midget girls:

Madison Pilling- gold, A division

Aleyx Smith- silver, C division

Tiffany Larter- bronze, D division

Angela Lu- gold, E division

Juvenile girls

Nikita Larter- bronze, B division

Peewee boys

Sage Fabre-Dimsdale- bronze, A division

Allan Menicoche- silver, B division

Thaddeus Kotchea- bronze, B division

Midget boys

Robert Harold- bronze, B division

Michael Gast- gold, F division

Juvenile boys

Alex Roche- silver, B division

Junior boys

Tyler Pilling- gold, B division