June 4th, 2019, Charlottetown – William Lyons saved his best for last. In his last individual race of the season, the Island skater turned in a silver medal performance in the grueling 3,000 metre points race at the Canada East Short Track Speed Skating Championships in Campbellton, New Brunswick.
With the medal and personal best times in three distances, Lyons led the Island contingent of five skaters, which also included Carter Bruce, Zack O’Meara, Alex Rogers and Jane Bruce. The Canada East event brought together 128 of the top young speed skaters from Quebec, Ontario, Atlantic Canada and Nunavut.
The podium finish was Lyons’ fourth medal in three seasons at the event, making the Rock Barra native the first Islander to win Canada East medals in three consecutive seasons. Lyons placed 6th overall among 14-year-old boys, improving one spot on his previous year’s performance.
Jane Bruce of Stratford set a new P.E.I. record for 11-year-old girls in the 400 metre distance, taking 1.5 seconds off her previous best time and eclipsing the former record held by Miriam Burnett since 2012. Bruce also notched a new personal best (“PB”) time in the 200 metre event.
Charlottetown’s Zack O’Meara made a strong Canada East debut, finishing 9th overall among 12-year-old boys, with top ten finishes in all four individual distances. O’Meara skated his way to eighth place in the 1500 metre distance and ninth in the 2,000 metre points race, winning the B final to cap his weekend.
Carter Bruce grabbed PB times in three distances, along with top 10 finishes in both the 200m and 400m sprint distances. Bruce posted a pair of sub-40 second times in the 400 metre distance. Alex Rogers of Charlottetown posted personal best times in a pair of distances, including the 200 metres, where he skated to 12th place among 12-year-old boys.
At the Masters International Short Track Games in Melbourne, Australia, Rob Binns of Stratford skated to second place overall in the men’s 45- to 49-year-old age group. In the 777-metre distance, Binns bettered his own P.E.I. masters record enroute to one of his three second place finishes in his age group, which also included the 1000- and 1500-metres. Binns took third place in the 500m distance to seal the second overall placement. Competing in a larger category of 30- to 49-year-old skaters, Binns raced with competition headliner and four-time Olympian Satoru Terao of Japan. The Island skater was also part of the Canadian men’s relay squad, which took third place at the International masters event.
For more information and full results from The Canada East Short Track Speed Skating Championships and the Masters International Short Track Games, visit www.speedskatepei.ca.