Over 130 skaters from across Canada competed at the Medicine Hat ABILILTY

Meet this past weekend and a group of local athletes posted some impressive results.

Five members of the Whitehorse Rapids Speed Skating Club took part in the meet, with the four youngest members posting individual record times while the veteran of the group, Shea Hoffman, managed to place second in both the 500 metre and 1,000 m and fourth in the 1,500 m.

Hanna Wirth posted personal bests in each of her three finals, including knocking 12 seconds off her previous best time in the 1,500 m.

"My favourite distance used to be the 500 m but I really liked the 1,500 m this weekend,” said the 14-year-old, now in her fourth year of speed skating.

"It's a nice long distance but it isn't too long.”

Hannah's younger sister, Katharina also posted two personal bests, skating 49.27 seconds in the 400 m and 3:21.55 in the 1,500 m, which eclipsed her previous best by 18 seconds.

"The weekend was pretty good,” 12-year-old Katharina said.

"The competition was a lot better and had more people our speed.”

Katharina, like her sister Hanna, has been training in perpetration for the Arctic Winter Games.

"I like the sprint races the best,” she said. "They're faster and there's more to it, I like the energy better.”

A second set of siblings, Michael and Christopher Ritchie of Haines Junction also skated their way to personal bests.

"This was the first main event of the season,” said Michael. "I thought it went pretty smoothly and it was a lot of fun.”

"It's my second year speed skating and I just want to get better times than last year.”

Eleven-year-old Michael set his personal best in the 200 m pursuit race, posting a time of 27.34 seconds and beating his previous best by more than two seconds.

Michael also finished third in the 400 m race and fifth in the 1,000 m race.

Christopher set his individual record time in the 400 m race, knocking almost two seconds off his previous best.

Competing for the first time outside the territory, Christopher also managed to finish

fifth and second in the 1,500 m and 3,000 m races.

The 14-year-old originally viewed speed skating as a good opportunity to cross train for hockey, but quickly come to enjoy the sport for its speed.

"When I started I really came to like it, I like going fast and it's a really good crowd,” he said.

"Apart from the early mornings, I thought that the weekend went really well.”