Troy Henry saved his best short-track speed skating performance for last in the final race event of the 2007-08 Western Canada Cup series.

The competition, titled 'Are You Fast?', was held at the Olympic Oval in Calgary from Feb. 23-24 and featured 142 skaters, who were divided into 14 divisions.

Henry, 18, competed in four distances in the Open class, which was the highest division at the event. His two best finishes came in the 1,000-m and the 1,500-m, where he placed second in both. In the 500-m, Henry managed to finish fifth, while the 1,500-m Super Final, which skaters are seeded into based on their previous races, he came in fourth.

Points are awarded for the final position in each distance and Henry's final total, after the four races, came to 2,618. This placed him second overall at the event, behind Ontario great Brian Pye, who finished with 3,816.

"It was really good," Henry said. "I went in ranked fourth and I knew there was a possibility where I would do well. I wanted to get some faster times in my races, so I didn't go in with any goals towards position, but I went in with a goal for times that I wanted to beat."

He achieved two personal best times in both the 1,000-m and 1,500-m.

Henry has been competing in the open class at the Western Canada Cup race series for the past three years, but this was his best finish at this competition.

The 'Are You Fast?' race is primarily for Western Canadian skaters, but because

Pye is presently training at the Calgary Oval he qualified to participate.

Henry's finish at this race is particularly important because of his plans to train full-

time in the Oval Three program, which is a year-round commitment. In order for this to happen it is crucial to have high placed finishes in race events such as 'Are You Fast?'

Henry is expecting to begin his training in the program sometime in July.

Currently, he is focusing his attention towards the Arctic Winter Games.

The 2008 Games, beginning March 9th in Yellowknife, will be Henry's fourth and final time competing at the event.

In the past, Henry has had a great deal of success at the Arctic Games right from his very first competition as a juvenile in Iqaluit, Nunavut in 2002. At the event he won one silver and one bronze medal.

In the 2004 Games, held in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Northern Alberta, Henry won an incredible five gold medals, while competing at the top end of his age bracket in the juvenile category.

This competition was particularly special for Henry because he was able to set a new record in three distances, which were previously held by Northwest Territories' great Michael Gilday.

Gilday is now a member of the national development team for short track speed skating in Canada.

He had previously held three of the four records in the juvenile boys' category in the sport before Henry bested his times in 2004.

Henry's distance records, which currently still stand, include the 500-m race, with a time of 50.15; the 666-m, which he finished in 1:08.33 and 1000-m, finishing at 1:45.44.

Henry followed up his record-breaking 2004 performance at the next Games, held in the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, with four medals.

In Kenai, Henry competed in the junior category for the first time, managing to win three gold medals and one bronze, which he won in the team relay.

At next week's upcoming Games, Henry will be competing in five events in total.

Four are individual and one is the relay. Presently, Gilday owns all four individual records in the junior boys' category.

Henry said that finishing second at the Western Canada Cup has been the highlight of his season, but added there would be certain scenarios at the Games in Yellowknife that could top or equal that.

Since anything can happen in a short-track speed skating race, Henry declined to elaborate on any of these specific outcomes.

Two weeks after the Arctic Winter Games, Henry will be going to the Canadian Age Class, held in Sherbrooke, Quebec. This event will conclude his season in the sport.