Nine Juvenile and Junior skaters from the Whitehorse Rapids Speed Skating Club gathered at the Canada Games Centre on Sunday night to compete in the Arctic Winter Games (AWG) speed skating trials.

The Yukon Amateur Speed Skating Association has selected the following skaters to represent the territory in the upcoming Games: Daryn Lovell, Christopher Ritche, Michael Ritchie, Hanna Wirth, Katharina Wirth, Donald Fortune, Shea Hoffman, Emily Klassen and Rasheeda Slater.

Team Coach, Stacey Pennington will be leading her third AWG team after skating competitively for nine years.

Like Pennington, many of the racers enter the event with experience.

Despite their developed skill, the athletes practice against each other in a competitive but encouraging environment.

"The biggest thing with these guys is improving upon their personal bests,” said Pennington. "We encourage them not to worry about the skaters on the ice, just race against the clock.”

And on Sunday night the racers did just that, with seven of the racers setting personal bests.

Juvenile sisters, Hanna and Katharina Wirth competed against one another in four races with Hanna crossing the finish line in first place in each of the races.

Katharina took four seconds of her previous best time in the 500 m, completing the race in just a shade over a minute.

"I want to get more familiar on the longer track and keep getting personal bests,” said Hanna.

Lovell set an individual record in the 500 m distance, completing the race in just over 53 seconds.

At the Junior level, Fortune and Hoffman challenged each other in four distances with each racer setting personal bests in the 777 m distance, while Slater and Klassen also set individual record times in the distance.

"We're starting to get more visibility,” said Pennington.

"It's hard to get people involved, but once they do come out they end up staying. It's just about getting that word of mouth out.”

Michael Ritchie enjoyed racing against skaters he was familiar with and in a hometown atmosphere.

"I had less nerves here than I did in our last race in Medicine Hat,” said Michael.

"You know how everyone skates, what track pattern they have and how to pass them. It's fun and I think I did better here tonight.”

There are still positions for racers born between July 1, 1992 and June 20, 2000 and they are encouraged to come out to the next set of trials this Sunday, Dec.18, at 7 p.m.