November 3rd, 2023, Charlottetown – P.E.I.’s short track speed skaters raced to strong results at the season’s first regional meet in Halifax recently. Charlottetown’s Brendan Reynard skated to top overall honours at the Citadel Cup, leading the Island’s eleven-skater team to seven podium finishes at the competition.

P.E.I.’s Brendan Reynard (left) took top honours at the Citadel Cup speed skating competition in Halifax recently. Ontario Speed Skating photo.
Reynard reaped the reward from a strong summer of training, skating to personal best (“PB”) times in all three distances skated. The veteran Island skater also took first place in the second 500-metre event, enroute to the hard-fought overall win.
P.E.I.’s Tiernan Dewar swept his way to the top of Division 3, winning all five events and ten races over the weekend. Dewar also racked up a trio of PB times to start the new season.
Island Special Olympics athlete Logan Robbins also swept his division, winning every event enroute to his gold medal, picking up where he left off last season. Meanwhile, Robbins’ P.E.I. teammates Jordan Koughan and Dylan Cummings had a closely matched duel for silver and bronze, ultimately decided by the final race of the weekend. Koughan prevailed for the silver, also notching a new PB time in the 500-metre event. Cummings had a pair of PBs on his way to the bronze medal.
Siblings Christian Hayden, skating in Division 3 and Julian Hayden, in Division 5, picked up P.E.I.’s other podium finishes, both grabbing bronze medals. Christian earned three PB times along with second place finishes in the 1,500-metre and 800-metre distances. Julian skated to four PB times and second place in the 200-metre sprint to secure his podium place.
Also competing for the Island team in Halifax were Darrah Ward, Anthony MacDonald, Sofia MacDonald and Charles Hayden.
The Halifax meet featured 76 skaters from 9 clubs in Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick. The Atlantic Cup Speed Skating Championships, hosted by P.E.I., is next on the Atlantic short track calendar, with racing at North Rustico’s Eliyahu Wellness Centre Canada Games Place on November 11 and 12.
For more information about Speed Skating PEI, visit www.speedskatingpei.ca.