Skating isn’t about the medals.
It’s about the memories.
Medals are a bonus though.
During the Arborg Skating Club‘s 1988/1989 season, our coach produced three successful synchronized (precision) skating teams. I was on the eight-member senior team, winning two silver medals. Two competitions, two silver medals. Not too shabby.
We won our second silver medal at the 1989 Interlake Winter Games in Arborg, Manitoba – our home club. Runners up to the St. Andrews Precise-ettes Novice team, who were heading to the Canadian Precision Championships in Edmonton, Alberta at the end of March.
However, the competition wasn’t an advancer. That year, most regions held winter game trials to prepare their athletes for the upcoming 1990 Interlake Winter Games. Each region of Manitoba – such as Interlake, Eastman, Westman – would send a contingent of medal winning athletes to Carman, Manitoba for the 1990 Manitoba Winter Games.
Gimli, Manitoba was chosen to play host for the figure skating portion of the 1990 Interlake Winter Games. The gold and silver medallists in singles, and the gold medal synchro team would advance to the province-wide games.
However our coach, Joanne Hough, explained while the St. Andrews Precise-ettes Novice team were expected to win the 1990 Interlake Winter Games, they would (most likely) pass the torch to the silver medallists for Carman.
According to the 1989/1990 rules, a team was prohibited from competing at the Manitoba Winter Games and the provincial championships in the same year. No doubt St. Andrews would rather compete for another ticket to the Canadians at the 1990 Manitoba Precision Championships in Carberry, Man., rather than attend the 1990 Manitoba Winter Games.
Ergo, we were aiming for that silver medal.
It wasn’t that simple. First challenge – our eight-member team. We were so small, two sets of sisters made half our team – and I was part of that half. The smallest team allowed at the 1990 Manitoba Winter Games was eight. That season, our coach wanted the maximum amount – a 16-member team.
However, it wouldn’t be the so-called easy breezy 1988/1989 season.
In September 1989, before fall skating school, we were on two missions: finding eight skaters and choreographing our program in the elementary school gymnasium. We recruited two skaters from our middle-age Arborg team and a singles skaters. One member of our Arborg Junior team pulled triple duty, skating on the Juvenile team and acting as their captain.
In the gym, eleven of us sashayed to “The Doctor” by the Doobie Brothers, “Thru These Walls” by Phil Collins, and “Come Dancing” by The Kinks, and we’d pitch names to Joanne of skaters with previous synchro experience who may want to compete.
Who wouldn’t want to compete at the Manitoba Winter Games? Yes, I’d already pre-punched my ticket to Carman.
During fall school, we were still struggling to expand our team. Luckily, two “retired” Arborg skaters with synchro experience jumped on our team. Today, one doesn’t quit skating, they retire. Age isn’t a factor. I almost choked on a gluten free cracker when some said a skater retired. Sounds better than quitting, that’s for sure.
Our club was tapped out after an exhaustive search. According to the rules, teams could have skaters from different towns. A skater from Inwood joined our team since Joanne was her coach. Then, Joanne said, “There’s two girls from Riverton.” There’s been a rivalry between Arborg and Riverton since the 1950s, and no one knows the reason. It made for interesting hockey games. But this was figure skating. Yes, approach them!
And we were sixteen. Then another issue.
Two team members are missing from this photo. I’m third from the left in the back row.
According to the rules for the Winter Games, members of the synchronized skating teams must be seventeen or under. One of our skaters wouldn’t be able to compete at the Games. Our backup plan competing at the Manitoba Championships in a category that didn’t have an age cap. The Interlake Regional Precision Competition were a given.
If we didn’t make it to the Winter Games in Carman.
We were the double silver-plated the last season though. Runners up to St. Andrews at the previous Interlake Winter Games. They were the unbeatable team. We were on the judges’ radar for the silver. Plus we were once a mighty team of eight, and we’d grown into a powerful 16-member team. Why wouldn’t we win silver?
Because life doesn’t happen as planned.
We didn’t advance to the 1990 Manitoba Winter Games. We won the bronze medal at the Interlake trials.
In fact, we almost didn’t medal after placing fourth in unexpected compulsories. Expected, but not the formations we’d be practising. After the free program – despite two falls – we placed third and won the overall bronze.
When the results were announced, I believe I was the only team member who cheered. I turned and saw one of my teammates, and she looked so sad. As expected, the St. Andrews Precise-ettes Novice team won and passed on the Manitoba Winter Games, giving the opportunity to the silver medallists – the Gimli Glaciers, who placed fourth overall in Carman.
On the upside, the medals at the 1990 Interlake Games and 1990 Manitoba Winter Games look the same. They’re heavy and similar in size to an Olympic medal.
That bronze pushed us though. Those Interlake Winter Games were in January, and our season was far from over. We worked hard. Triple run throughs. Pushing each other, yelling at each other. There were tears, drills, falls, and laughs. And all worthwhile.
That February, we won the gold medal at provincials. And today – March 9, 1990 – marks 29 years since we won the 1990 Interlake Precision Regional Competition over the St. Andrews Precise-ettes Novice team.
No one beats the St. Andrew Precise-ettes Novice team.
During the 1993 ice show – Aladdin on Ice – I skated a synchro exhibition performance with the senior CFSA skaters. We even reused some of the choreography from my former Junior team’s 1989/1990 season. But nothing matches the excitement of competitive synchro.
I’m proud to be part of the legacy of Arborg’s Precision teams. Our team skated for two seasons, and we never left a competition without hardware – amassing five medals.
Two seasons doesn’t sound like a long time, but in synchro years those memories last forever.
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A modified version of this post will be included in a memoir about my figure skating career and published in 2025
Photo Credits:
Interlake Spectator (Clippings)
Sooters Studio – Team photo
Skating Scene 