King City skater places top five in national skating championships

February 11, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner
Since creating a new partnership last year, Kettleby’s Lucas Kitteridge took his skating up to the next level at the National Skating Championships in January.
Along with partner Ceduna Magee of Edmonton, the pair skated their way to a stellar fourth place finish in the novice dance at the national competition.
It was a great way for the newly formed duo to close out their first season of competing together, giving them some success to build on for the upcoming season.
“Overall it was a really good skate. I’m happy with it,” the 19-year-old said. “It was a personal best score, we finished third in qualifying, so it was a bit of a disappointment, but we had a fall early in competition, so that’s what cost us a spot.”
That aside, it was still a huge skate for the young pair, who now move up to junior dance which will allow them to be considered for an International Junior Grand Prix assignment for the coming season.
“That’s our goal, so if we do well in competitions during the summer Skate Canada will pick us to represent them in an international event,” he said. “Because top five at Nationals, we get monitored for them.”
He has since moved to Barrie to be closer to his training facility, but the ice dancer said his roots are still firmly entrenched at the King City Skating Club, where he refined his skills since he was eight years old and still remains as a coach in the Learn to Skate program.
“It was really important,” he said. “I had some really good coaches who gave me the basics of what I really needed, so that way when I came to Barrie, they didn’t really have to focus on the basics that much and they could just throw me head first into it, but yeah, I had some really good coaches in King that helped me develop.”
Now that his partner has moved to Barrie as well, the two are focused on preparing for the challenges ahead.
The pair now train at the Mariposa International Training Centre in Barrie, where they are on ice for three to four hours a day in addition to off-ice conditioning, dance classes and coaching.
But he admits his passion for the sport is a strong as ever and his new partner has made things fun again.
“We really get along. There’s a great dynamic between the two of us,” he said. “She’s really funny and we really like to keep it light, so that it’s not too serious and doesn’t feel like work.”
Amidst all that training and his studies in fine arts at York University, Kitteridge has also been keeping a close eye on his fellow skaters at the Winter Olympics in Sochi.
“It’s great,” he said. “There’s a team that used to train with us that’s competing in ice dance, so it’s great watching them and we’ve been really looking forward to it. Skaters are a really close knit group, so we all know each other. It’s great seeing all my friends compete.”
And he is happy with the amount of attention his sport has been getting, mainly due to 2010 gold medal Olympians Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir.
“I think they’ve been great for it,” he said. “They’ve really popularized it, especially with their TV show now and that’s really helped to popularize it and bring it into the main stream, so you see a lot more kids getting into it these, which is really great for competition and gives it a way better atmosphere.”
With continued hard work and dedication, the pair will be looking to eventually make their own mark on the sport.