To answer the question: yes, Yukoners are fast.

Yukon speed skaters gave their southern opponents a run for their money at the R U Fast meet at the Olympic Oval in Calgary from March 5-6.

Shea Hoffman, Heather Clarke, Hanna and Katharina Wirth, Kathryn Fortune and Daryn Lovell represented the territory against competitors from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Meanwhile, Yukoners Pauline Craig, Barry Sugden and Phil Hoffman competed in the masters division.

Four of these skaters returned to Whitehorse with medals.

Lovell brought home the silver in the 12-13-year-old group, Katharina won the silver among 11-12 year olds and Phil Hoffman won gold in the masters and was followed closely by Sugden's silver-medal performance.

In division three for 15-18 year olds, Shea Hoffman finished in 10th place out of 11 skaters. Shea won his exhibition 3,000-metre race and 1,500 m B final and was part of the winning 3,000 m relay team for the division.

Clarke, in the tough Western Canada Cup Ladies class, took 15th out of 24 skaters.

Clarke put in some strong performances, winning her semi-final and C final 1,500 m races after missing her heat due to the arrival time of the team's flight on day one and having no on-ice warm up. She also managed to advance to the quarterfinal rounds in both the 500 m and 1,000 m, plus winning her heat, semi-final and final in the 1,000 m.

In the mixed 12-13 year old division, Hanna Wirth finished fourth, Fortune finished seventh out of 12 skaters.

Hanna took first in the 400 m B final and second in the 100 m pursuit while Fortune was a member of the winning 2,000 m relay team.

Lovell won silver out of 11 skaters in the mixed 12-13 division. He also won his 3,000 m race and was part of the winning 2,000 m relay team.

In the mixed 11-12 year old division, Katharina Wirth won silver out of 14 skaters.

She had the fastest 400 m time in the qualification round and second overall.

Katharina, Hanna, Fortune and Lovell all skated their first 3,000 m race in competition and all bettered their previous best times by 30 to 40 seconds.

In the masters division, Phil Hoffman was first out of seven skaters and won all four of his finals, while Sugden tied for second and Pauline Craig was fourth overall.

The next and last event in this year's Yukon speed skating calendar is the Yukon Championships at 5:30 p.m. on the Atco Ice at the Canada Games Centre on March 27.

This will be an excellent opportunity for everyone to see who may be on the Yukon's speed skating team at the 2012 Arctic Winter Games here in Whitehorse.

– Article submitted by Mark Ritchie