Nico Hiller has put a little more iron into his diet this speed skating season and is reaping the rewards.
Fortified with a new weight training regime, the 13-year-old Prince George Blizzard Speed Skating Club member placed third overall in the country at the long track national championships in Winnipeg. He won silver medals in the 300-metre sprint, 1,200m and team relay, and bronze in the 1,200 and 1,500 events.
"I didn't think I'd do super-well at my first Canadians until my first couple races," said Hiller. "I did a lot of training and a lot of preparation for that meet. I've been weight training since the summer at X-Conditioning and that's helped me tons."
Now that long track season has ended, Hiller is targeting similar success in short track, starting with the provincial championships this weekend in Port Coquitlam.
"I'm going to try to place in the top three," he said. "I really want to go to the West Canadian championships [March 26-27 in Kelowna]."
This year, Speed Skating B.C. has incorporated the federal Long Term Athlete Development model into its competitions. What that means for skaters like Hiller, a juvenile skater in the Training to Train group, is he no longer has to compete with skaters years older than he is. "Last year, when I was 12, I was racing people who were 15, now all the people I'm racing are 13 years old," he said.
Hiller was among a field of 80 skaters from seven northern B.C. clubs who competed in the WorkSafe B.C. Northern Communities FUNale regional meet over the weekend at the Coliseum.
The inaugural event is geared toward skaters now aged 9-14 who will be eligible to compete in the qualifying events in the year leading up to the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George. Ten short track skaters and eight long trackers will form the B.C. speed skating teams for the 2015 Games.
Hiller's 13-year-old twin sister Carolina also excelled at the long track nationals. She was part of the gold-medal winning B.C. team in the female pursuit and won bronze in the 300m and 500m events. The highlight of her meet was beating heavily-favoured Quebec for gold in the pursuit.
"Quebec is really good and we're always trying to beat them,"said Hiller. "They won lots of gold and silver medals and they have these professional-looking racing suits. We had our old suits and we beat them."
Like her brother, Carolina is shooting for a top-three finish this weekend in Port Coquitlam and would love to have the chance to compete at home in 2015. But if she gets her way, she won't be racing indoors.
"I think it'll be long track," Carolina said. "I like long distances and endurance races."
She's currently the top-ranked juvenile girl in B.C. in long track racing and is ranked third in short track. Other Blizzard skaters entered in the provincial meet this weekend are Carley Budac, 16; Morgan Swan, 15; Callie Swan, 13; Lucas Hiller, 15; Kadeja White, 13; Sam Dalla Lana, 12; and Duane Swan, a masters skater.
Budac won four medals in Winnipeg (gold in the 1,500, silver in the 500 and 1,500 and bronze in the 3,000). Knowing she's competing in skaters as old as 30 in her class at the short track provincials, she's not concerned about placings, she just wants best times.
