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Skating into Christmas
The Inuvik Figure Skating Club puts on a holiday show for the community

Miranda Scotland
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, December 20, 2012

INUVIK
The Inuvik skating club carved up the ice at the Midnight Sun Complex Friday as skaters showed off their talent to the community.

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Winter Ross transfixes the crowd as she skated to O Holy Night, Dec. 14 at the Midnight Sun Complex. - Miranda Scotland/NNSL photo

Mae Cockney said it was nice to see the hard work her daughter, Halayna Cockney-Goose, has put in pay off. Since the figure skating season started, the 11-year-old has been on the ice practising at least three times a week, Cockney said.

"It was a great show," she said, adding she enjoyed everything about it. "Even just to see the little tiny ones, that's fun."

The event was also enjoyable for the skaters.

Annika Krizan, who skated beautifully to Silent Night, said although there were a few hiccups during the program, she loved being a part of the gala.

"It felt good because Christmas is my favourite holiday," she said.

Club president Theresa Ross said events like the gala are important for the athletes because it gives the competitive skaters another chance to practice in front of an audience, and at the same time it inspires the younger kids.

"The little guys can see they can achieve that," she said.

The 50 or so skaters in the club will get a little break over the holiday to rejuvenate. But once practice starts up again, Krizan said she plans to work on cleaning up her program by making little changes, such as straightening her legs.

"I want to work on presentation," she said.

Meanwhile, Ross said she hopes to see the level of skating improve across the board.

"In the past we have kind of flown under the radar of the standards of Skate Canada because we have had trouble getting certified coaches," she said. "But since Danyelle (Ellis) has been here we've been slowly building and now we can look how proud we are and our kids are achieving all of these things."

Ellis committed to being the club's coach in 2011. So far she has been spending the winters working with the skaters in Inuvik and during the summer she travels with some of them to Ontario to continue working on their skills.

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