The hard work of figure skaters Heather Nunn and Benjamin Vatcher paid off at the ice dance pair's most recent competition, Sept. 27 and 28 in Okotoks, where they earned gold medals in the pre-juvenile ice dance competition at the Competitive Fall Invitational.
"The more they skate together, the more they’re blending two people into one person, so to speak," said Lynnell Moss, director of skating for the Airdrie Skating Club and one of the pair's coaches. "That takes a lot of time and they’ve had a lot of patience throughout this process. They’re obviously reaping the rewards of it.”
The two 13-year-olds have been skating together for a year and a half, according to Moss. She added Vatcher and Nunn are currently training for their most important competition of the year – Skate Canada's Sectional Championships for Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. This year, sectionals will take place Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 at the Sarcee Seven Chiefs Sportsplex, on the Tsu T'ina Nation.
“We’ll take whatever feedback we got from this past competition…[and] make any modifications we may need," Moss said, adding the pair will move up to the juvenile age class following sectionals.
Vatcher will also participate as a solo skater in the pre-juvenile men's class.
“This will be the first time he’s doing this – it’s new to him – so that should be fun for him,” Moss said.
