Canada's long-track speedskating team is chasing ice up Highway 97 to B.C.'s north.
World champions Ivanie Blondin and Graeme Fish are among 50 people, including coaches and support staff, heading to Fort St. John for a 15-day training camp starting Nov. 1.
"I'm super-thankful that Fort St. John and their community is allowing us to do this," said Fish, who holds the world record in the men's 10,000 metres, as the country's top speedskaters have been without ice in Calgary's Olympic Oval since September because of a mechanical failure.
The team is set to operate with COVID-19 restrictions to avoid the spread of the virus.
Skaters and staff will travel by vehicle, and they'll be tested before and after their arrival and will wear masks on the ice if distancing can't be done.
"They won't be going out for dinner," Speed Skating Canada CEO Susan Auch said.
"They might go for a jog outside. They're going to minimize any community interaction."
If training camp is successful, Auch says the national team could return to Fort St. John again later this winter.
The Pomeroy Sport Centre hosted long-track speedskating races for the 2015 Canada Winter Games as warm temperatures in Prince George closed the city's outdoor ice oval to competition.
Fish, now 23 years old, won a silver medal in the 5km and a bronze in team pursuit during those races at the 10-year-old facility, which is only one of four across North America to feature a covered speedskating oval.
"The ice is not as fast as it is here in Calgary, but it does the same thing," he said.
"It's a nice oval and I'm pretty excited to get the long-track blades on again. [...] It's super-important. You need to get that feeling back in your skates in long track. For me especially it takes me a bit longer than most to kind of feel the ice."
Fish, Blondin and teammates have been in-line skating on the Calgary oval's concrete floor or short-track speedskating at another facility for substitute training since the oval's ice plant shut down Sept. 5.
Not only is their international season delayed until 2021 because of the pandemic, but access to ice for long-track training was cut off.
Ice isn't expected to be restored in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games venue before January, which is just over a year out from the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Blondin, the reigning world champion in the women's mass start, says some of her international competitors are training and competing in domestic races. She doesn't want to fall behind.
"Definitely anxious," she said. "The European countries, yes the cases are rising there. They haven't been impacted as much as we have as Canadians for training.
"They're still training together like normal, they're in the gym together, they're not wearing masks. They're able to go on ice and compete in Saturday-morning races.
Canada's short-track speedskating team has been forced out of its Montreal national training centre because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Quebec.
The provincial government extended a ban on organized sports or recreational activities in "red zones" until Nov. 23 earlier this week.
Fort St. John's facility can't accommodate the short-trackers because its hockey rinks aren't big enough.
- with files from The Canadian Press
