Speedskater preps for the big time
Jackson Christie headed to B.C. next month for national qualifiers
Sarah Ladik
Northern News Services
Thursday, October 29, 2015
INUVIK
It's not every speedskater who practises on lake ice, but Jackson Christie can tell you there are definite advantages.
Jackson Christie races at a meet in Calgary earlier this month. He came in ninth in his division and achieved some personal best times. - photo courtesy of Bill Christ
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"It's fun, I guess, a good way to change things up," he told the Drum.
Coach Paul MacDonald added to that sentiment, saying Christie can work on his straight-aways on the outdoor ice in a way he can't on the limited space of the arena ice surface.
Christie needs all the practice he can get. Although he is just back from a competition in Calgary, he is heading off to Richmond, B.C., at the end of November for national qualifiers.
While there are other skaters going from Yellowknife, Christie is the only one attending from the Inuvik club.
"I could use it as an eye-opener, I guess," he said.
"Like, this is the level of competition I'll be facing when I'm older."
At the meet in Alberta, Christie came in ninth in his division and 29th overall out of 46 competitors. He achieved some personal best times and hopes to improve on them at the meet in Richmond.
He clocked in at 2:25.4 in the 1,500-metre and 45.62 in the 500-metre. For comparison, Olympic skaters can do the 500-metre in 39 to 41 seconds.
"It's technique," Christie said when asked what he needs to improve to get closer to those times.
"I need to work on my technique a lot."
To that end, he trains two and three times a day generally five days a week, although not always on the ice. When not in skates, Christie does yoga and imitations, dry-land training which mimics the movements of speed skating. Other days, it's boot camp and circuit training.
"I'm proud of his times," said MacDonald.
"It shows that anyone from anywhere can do this."
He noted that while he doesn't want to knock facilities in Inuvik, they are far from ideal.
Also, getting Christie out to competitions is a chance for him to test himself against competitors.
"He's the best skater in the NWT right now, the best male anyway, so there's no local competition for him," MacDonald said, adding that he would like to see Christie take one second off his 500-metre time and between three and six seconds off his 1,500-metre time.
"I know he can do it," he said.
"He has deep power reserves; you can see him speeding up at the end of the 1,500 and that's what you want to see. He's not getting tired."
