INUVIK
On a morning when the Canadian Olympic figure skating team took silver, all was golden for the Inuvik Figure Skating Club.

Kiersten Rogers, Maddysen Kingmiaqtuq-Devlin and Talia Engram celebrated their medals at the NWT Territorial Figure Skating Championships Feb. 8 at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex. Kingmiaqtuq-Devlin took the gold in her under-13 division. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The club hosted the 2014 NWT Territorial Snowflake Championships at the Midnight Sun Recreation Complex Feb. 8 and 9. The number of skaters was down somewhat from other territorial championships, and that helped leave the door open for skaters such as Maddysen Kingmiaqtuq-Devlin to take home a gold medal.

Maddysen has been a regular winner in figure skating, boasted proud father Tony Devlin, who could barely contain his excitement.

"It's another gold medal for the Devlin clan," he said with unrestrained enthusiasm after Maddysen was presented with a gold medal, making her the territorial champion in her class.

That's not to say, though, that the medal count was strictly a result of a numbers game.

Leslie Lawrence, a Skate Canada judge who was helping to officiate the championships, said she was "pleasantly surprised" at the quality of skating she was seeing.

"We don't get an opportunity to see them at all," she said, referring to skaters from the outlying Northern communities in the NWT. "It's honestly surprising to see such a high calibre of talent here.

"This is exactly what you'd expect to see in a more populated area down south," she added.

Typically skaters from more remote and unpopulated areas such as the NWT are challenged by a lack of access to good competition, Lawrence said. It's harder to get to meets and championships from locations such as Inuvik, she explained, adding to the already-high costs of a sport such as figure skating.

"It's not a cheap sport," she said. "And a location like this can be a bit of a disadvantage."

Helga Sawkins, an executive member of the Inuvik Figure Skating Club, pointed out the travel costs are huge for skaters wanting to compete in the south.

However, the club also makes an effort to send its skaters to competitions as money allows, she said.

Tammy Rogers, the acting president of the club, said 25 skaters took part in the CanSkate portion of the meet, while 19 skaters registered for the territorials.

"I think things are going pretty well," she said. "Our numbers of skaters registered for Inuvik are pretty consistent."

Katelyn Crocker, a 12-year-old skater in the Star 4 class, also took a gold medal. She's heading to the Arctic Winter Games, as well.

She's been skating for about seven years, she said.

"When I was younger I started playing ice hockey, and then someone told me it was a dangerous sport. I didn't want to be in a dangerous sport," she said shyly.

That's when she took up figure skating, which attracted her with its "jumps and spins."

"I just think it's fun," Katelyn said. "I skate because I love it, and I'm very excited to go to the Winter Games."

Alexis McLeod, a skater originally from Inuvik now living in Yellowknife, was happy to return home to compete.

She's been skating competitively for about two years with the Yellowknife Figure Skating Club.

"I just one day decided I wanted to go into skating," she said.

Alexis took a silver in the Star 1 juniors class.

She's dreaming big, and has her eyes set on skating in an Olympics at some point.