Moore-Towers and Marinaro take gold at Skate Canada Challenge

PIERREFONDS, Que. – Kirsten Moore-Towers of St. Catharines, Ont., and Michael Marinaro of Sarnia, Ont., won the gold medal in pairs at the Skate Challenge figure skating competition.

Moore-Towers and Marinaro earned 193.50 points for their victory on Friday with Brittany Jones and Joshua Reagan of Oakville, Ont., second at 165.38 and Camille Ruest of Boucherville, Que., and Andrew Wolfe of Montreal third at 142.78.

‘’We need mileage at this point,’’ said Moore-Towers. ‘’The long was really only are fourth run-through this season so we’re picking that up and getting back into things as quickly as possible.’’

In men’s competition, Joseph Phan of Laval, Que., took top spot with 197.94, Bennet Toman of Brampton, Ont., was second at 192.81 and Mitchell Gordon of Vancouver third at 188.83.

‘’I didn’t skate to my expectations,’’ said Phan. ‘’I made some mistakes that I shouldn’t have.’’

In junior ice dancing, Marjore Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Quebec were the victors with 153.86. Valerie Taillefer and Jason Chan of Quebec were second at 134.22 and Ashlynne Stairs and Lee Royer of B.C./Yukon third at 133.84.

“We felt comfortable and ready to compete,” said Lajoie. “We need to continue to work hard. Our transition parts and expression were better.”

In junior pairs, Evelyn Walsh and Trennt Michaud of Eastern Ontario won the gold medal with 151.90 points. Lori-Ann Matte and Thierry Ferland of Quebec were second at 147.16 and Olivia Boys-Eddy and Mackenzie Boys-Eddie of Central Ontario third at 125.16.

“It feels good, we skated well,’’ said Michaud. ‘’One of our main challenges this week was to do our triple twist in the short program for the first time in competition and we were glad to get that done. It’s big step towards hopefully competing at the junior worlds.’’

In junior women, it was a medal sweep by the B.C./Yukon division with Olivia Gran placing first, Emily Bausback second and Mckenna Colthorp third.

The competition has attracted over 500 skaters from across Canada with competition also being held in the novice and pre-novice categories. Skate Canada Challenge is the sole qualifying event for novice, junior, and senior skaters to earn entries to the 2017 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships January 16-22 in Ottawa.

Full results: 2017 Skate Canada Challenge

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