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LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
Speedskating has taken Madison Pilling a lot of places in the past eight years.

In her short career, the 14-year-old Fort Simpson resident has travelled to Grande Prairie, Alta., Edmonton, Calgary and Kelowna, B.C., to compete.

Now, she's making an even bigger – and slightly more permanent – move.

Until the end of January, the Grade 10 student will be living, studying and training in Prince George, B.C., in an effort to take her competition to new heights.

"Other coaches talk very highly of the club (in Prince George) so I knew that it would be a very good opportunity," she said.

Until she returns home to Fort Simpson to train with her Deh Cho team, Pilling will train with the Blizzard skating club, study at College Heights Secondary School and live with a family friend. Her grandparents are close-by, her new teammates have been welcoming and kind, and she has already seen a huge improvement in her skating times and technique, she said.

"Normally at home, we're not even thinking about getting ice yet, so it's really different," she said.

"The people I skate with are at my level and higher so it allows me to rise up."

Not only has Pilling had to adjust to the more intense training, but also adjust to life in a bigger town and a much bigger school, she said.

Pilling's long-term goal is to compete at the Canada Winter Games in Prince George in 2015.

In the short-term, she wants to make it into B Finals, the second-best competition level in speedskating.

Pilling said her attitude toward skating is to never give up on your goals or yourself, which she said her role model, former NWT speed skater Jill Gilday, embodied.

"She never gave up in anything," Pilling said, recounting a story where Gilday threw up right before a race at the Arctic Winter Games, went out and won the race, and then got back off the ice and kept vomiting.

"That's so motivational to me and it really just gave me that mindset that it doesn't matter what's going on.

It's what's in your head and what's in your heart," she said.

Since Pilling began speedskating in Grade 2, following in the footsteps of her brother and mother, she has won her age division in the NWT every year.

At the Oktoberfest Short Track Speed Skating Competition in Calgary last month, she skated her personal bests in the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-metre races, but failed to medal.

"It was a lot different than competitions I've been to before," she said, adding that it pushed her to train even harder in Prince George.

Her next big competition will be at the Arctic Winter Games in Whitehorse this coming March.

She'll be chasing more personal bests and more medals, but also something that can't be quantified with fast times or first-place finishes.

"I like the adrenaline rush when I race," she said. "It's just so amazing."

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