Prince Albert's Taryn Bennington (left) and Brooke Magee are off to Kamloops next week to represent the city and province at the Canada Youth Short Track Championships. Here, the two are seen practicing at the Art Hauser Centre in Prince Albert on Mar. 19, 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

National Spotlight

Pair of P.A. speed skaters to represent city, province at Nationals

Mar 23, 2025 | 8:00 AM

Two local speed skaters are straightening out the final kinks as they get set to head to Kamloops at the end of the month for the Canada Youth Short Track Championships.

The event will be held Mar. 29-31 and features skaters aged 11 to 13, serving as an introduction for developing skaters to represent their province or territory on the national stage.

Prince Albert’s Speed Skating Club will send Taryn Bennington and Brooke Magee to the games, something coach Lambert Schwartzenberger said was impressive considering they didn’t know they qualified for the Championships until after their last meet.

“I’ve got lots of hope for them, they’re going to have their eyes opened up at a national level meet and it’ll be great experience,” he said. “It’s a big process to qualify and they didn’t know they were qualifying until two weeks ago. It was something they were aiming for throughout this year. There was enough kids competing for those spots [at the Canada Youth Short Track Championships] that it took right till the last provincial meet to sort out who the team was going to be, and they managed to get one of the final spots.”

Bennington is 11 years old has been skating for six years while Magee is 12 has been at it for two. Either have never competed at a national meet before, let alone a provincial one, where they said they’re both excited and nervous for the opportunity in B.C.

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“My goal is to just have fun and meet some new people,” said Bennington on his expectations. “I know I’m not going to be the fastest, so just keep up with the pack and get some [personal best’s].”

Bennington has been skating since she was in the Grade 1. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

“It’s scary because a lot of the kids are a lot faster, have been doing this for longer,” echoed Magee. “[I’m going to] push myself hard and keep going, even if I’m way behind just keep trying and not to stop.”

Magee has been skating for just two years. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

Schwartzenberger said he admires their work ethic.

“You have to do a lot of work on your own and you have to be pretty dedicated, even from a young age.”

“Taryn is super motivated, dedicated. She [broke her leg] this year which took her off the ice for six weeks and she came back and had kept herself in shape through that time. Brooke, she’s only been in the sport for a couple of years, but she really decided this year was, I think, something that she wanted to get good at and started to put in some extra work and do some extra training. That’s really paid off for her and for Taryn too, so both are really dedicated.”

As mentioned, the championships will begin on Mar. 29 with skaters competing for individual distance titles in their respective age and gender category. The event also focuses on the development of the athletes, while touching on the physical, cognitive, mental and social aspects of skating.

More information, as well as schedules and results, can be found here.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social