(February 29, 2008)

Chilliwack, BC - The first gold medals given out at the 2008 BMO Skate Canada Synchronized Skating Championships went to festival teams from Ontario. The Ilderton Classic Jets, a synchronized skating team from the Ilderton Skating Club grabbed the adult festival national title on Friday, February 29, after scoring 51.25 points in the second free program for a total score of 76.01. Mississauga Ice Precise, from the Mississauga Skating Club, finished second with 72.87 points. Nova Spirit, from the CPA Boucherville, won the bronze medal with 65.82 points. Click here to hear Kathleen Higgins from the Ilderton Classic Jets comment on her team’s performance and what the gold medal represents.

The second day of competition was also very exciting in the festival novice division as the Ilderton Precisionnaires from the Ilderton Skating Club moved up from third place after the first free skate to capture the gold medal with a total score of 66.70 points. Mystic Motion, from the Mississauga Figure Skating Club, scored 63.04 points to finish second and Platinum Edge, from the Petawawa Skating Club, scored 59.45 points to win the bronze medal. Click here to hear Laura Holbrough from the Ilderton Precisionnaires comment on her team’s performance and what the gold medal represents.

The festival junior division also saw a team from Ontario be crowned national champion. Ice E-Motion, from the Mississauga Skating Club, was second after the first free program and scored 69.56 points in the second free program for a total of 104.43 points to capture the gold medal. Ice Image, from the Burlington Skating Club, won the silver medal with a total score of 103.09 points. Ice X-Treme from Lower Mainland BC took the bronze medal by scoring 102.55 points, 0.01 points ahead of Nova from CPA Boucherville who finished in fourth place. Click here to hear Stephanie Dobson from Ice E-Motion comment on her team’s performance and what the gold medal represents.

Friday also saw the start of the competition for the competitive junior and senior teams. Gold Ice from the Skate Canada Brampton-Chinguacousy Club leads in the competitive junior division after the short program with a score of 63.42 points. Defending champions Nexxice from the Burlington Skating Club and Kitchener-Waterloo Skating Club is in first place after the short program in the competitive senior division with 70.74 points. black ice from the Upper Canada North York Skating Club is currently second 1.32 points behind Nexxice.

On Saturday, the festival open short program will take place, the novice and adult competitive teams will skate their first free program and the junior and senior competitive teams will skate their free programs.

The competition will conclude on Sunday, March 2, with the festival open free programs and the novice and adult competitive second free skate.

Results will be posted at www.skatecanada.ca as they come available.