The Arctic Edge Skating Club sent their largest contingent of skaters to the Super Series competition in Vancouver Island to wrap up their competitive season.

Club co-chair Sheri-Lynn Heighington said usually the club sends nine or 10 skaters to this competition annually, but this year had 19 competitors representing the territory.

This is a result of increased participation at the lower entry levels with the club, Heighington said.

With these younger skaters, Heighington said it was the first major competition outside the territory for many of them as the only previous competition this year was the Gold Nugget Yukon Championships in December.

“It was very energetic and very great,” she said. “The kids were all together and for the little kids it was their very first competition outside the territory.

To have the senior girls there with them and cheering them on and the younger girls were over watching the senior girls.”

The opportunity for the skaters to travel together as a team was a great way to build bonds and to wrap the season, Heighington said.

“It was quite an experience for them to have and that kind of experience builds the team itself,” she said. “It makes everybody feel like they’re a unified group.”

Many Yukoners brought hardware back from the competition in Parksville. Mikayla McCain took the gold in her STAR 5 U13 level group.

In the same group, Anika Kramer finished right behind her teammate with the silver medal.

In the STAR 5 over 13 level, Sarah Milton won the bronze in her group.

Jamie Nickel took silver in the STAR 6 group.

Some of the athletes participated in more than one level, Heighington said, as they had the ability to compete at their ranked level, but could also compete in more difficult divisions.

Alissa Russell won gold in the STAR 7 competition, but also competed up levels taking silver in both the STAR 8 and STAR 8/9 solo dance divisions.

Competing up in the Star 7 level, Jamie Nickel won her second medal with a bronze.

Chloe Van Lankveld won a silver in the bronze interpretive competition.

For the younger competitors, Heighington said the Skate Canada format is more a competition against themselves and they are not ranked against each other.

Instead, they receive personalized report cards and are graded on a set of standards according to their level.