Local skaters advance from Ontario championships (Results & Photos)

The bitter cold weather proved to bring a warm feeling for over 70 speed skaters on the weekend.

With the cold weather translating into a hard ice surface, several provincial records were smashed over the weekend during the Ontario Long Track Speed Skating Championships at the Art Jennings Oval at Queen Elizabeth Park.

Skaters competed in the mass start and Olympic style events.

A pair of local skaters, among a strong contingent from the host Sault Speed Skating Club, were among the record setters as Richard MacLennan set a new standard in the 300-metre race in a time of 27.43 seconds.

MacLennan actually broke the record twice as he set a new record in his first 300-metre race in a time 27.53 seconds, beating the old record time of 27.57, before setting the record again in his second attempt.

Spencer Zettler broke the 3,000-metre record in a time of 5:20.22, eclipsing the old mark of 5:22.12, despite finishing third in the race.

MacLennan captured a gold medal in the mass start event while Zettler claimed the silver in the junior men's division while finishing second overall in the Olympic style event.

With their efforts, MacLennan, Zettler and Kevin Sinclair have qualified for the Canadian Speed Skating Championships Feb. 12-13 in Saskatoon.

The trio will also join locals Emma Paat, Karli Lee and Chris Biocci at the North American Championships to be held at the Art Jennings Oval Feb. 5-6.

Sinclair claimed the silver medal in the intermediate men's category and finished fourth in the junior men's Olympic style sprint.

Sault Speed Skating Club head coach Ian Overman will coach the Ontario team at the North American Championships.

In other local results during the mass start events, Audrey Steele captured the silver medal in the pee wee girls competition, Evylyn Steele won gold in bantam girls and Chris Barbisan won a bronze in bantam boys,

Rachel MacLennan finished fifth in midget girls while Brock Pinder fourth in midget boys. Paat, Lee, Vivian Steele, Chelsey Barrett and Brittany Hollingsworth finished fifth through ninth in juvenile girls, respectively.

Biocci finished sixth in juvenile boys while teammates Nathan Shami, Bren Piper and Tyler Ansley finished eighth through 10th, respectively. In the junior men division, Nicolas Dodds finished seventh and Alexander Steele eighth.

Besides the two records broken by MacLennan and Zettler, several other records were broken during the event.

The two racers finishing ahead of Zettler in the 3,000-metre junior men's event also broke the record time as gold medalist Braeden Elliott finished in 5:19.66 and Gloucester teammate Nikolaus Serrer finished in 5:19.81.

In the midget boys 1,000 metres, Ottawa's Connor Elliott smashed the old record by nearly 10 seconds in a time of 1:54.72 seconds. The old standard in the event stood at 2:03.28.

In the junior women's 500-metre event, Gloucester's Ivanie Blondin nipped the old record by one-hundredth of a second in a time of 48.05 seconds. Blondin then demolished the 3,000-metre record by over a minute in a time of 5:21.08, bettering the previous standard of 6:27.95.

Ottawa's Madeline Martin also set a junior women's 3,000-metre standard in the Olympic style event in a time of 5:06.96.

Additional photos from the event, taken by Jim Egan, can be accessed by clicking the link to the photo gallery at the bottom of this story.

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COMPLETE RESULTS:

The following are the complete medal and local results from the Ontario Long Track Speed Skating Championships at the Art Jennings Oval:

MASS START:

Pee Wee Girls:

Gold -- Paisley Perrie (Cambridge) Silver -- Audrey Steele (Sault Ste. Marie)

Pee Wee Boys:

Gold -- Jared Manchuk (Sudbury)

Bantam Girls:

Gold -- Evylyn Steele (Sault Ste. Marie) Silver -- Elizabeth Perrie (Cambridge) Bronze -- Mercedes Hunter (Manitouwadge)

Bantam Boys:

Gold -- Samuel Landry (Ottawa) Silver -- Hudson Hunter (Manitouwadge) Bronze -- Chris Barbisan (Sault Ste. Marie) Bronze -- Lloyd Hunter (Manitouwadge)

Midget Girls:

Gold -- Madeline Mitchell (Gloucester) Silver -- Kira Slivitsky (Gloucester) Bronze -- Camille Bean (Gloucester) 5th -- Rachel MacLennan (Sault Ste. Marie)

Midget Boys:

Gold -- Connor Elliott (Ottawa) Silver -- Jacob Wright (Cambridge) Bronze -- Phillipe Breton (Gloucester) 4th -- Brock Pinder (Sault Ste. Marie)

Juvenile Girls:

Gold -- Carling Zeeman (Cambridge) Silver -- Erin Mitchell (Gloucester) Bronze -- Samantha Morrison (Gloucester) 5th -- Emma Paat (Sault Ste. Marie) 6th -- Karli Lee (Sault Ste. Marie) 7th -- Vivian Steele (Sault Ste. Marie) 8th -- Chelsey Barrett (Sault Ste. Marie) 9th -- Brittany Hollingsworth (Sault Ste. Marie)

Juvenile Boys:

Gold -- Richard MacLennan (Sault Ste. Marie) Silver -- Stephan Ayotte (Sudbury) Silver -- Scott Sadlier (Quinte) 6th -- Chris Biocci (Sault Ste. Marie) 8th -- Nathan Shami (Sault Ste. Marie) 9th -- Bren Piper (Sault Ste. Marie) 10th -- Tyler Ansley (Sault Ste. Marie)

Junior Women:

Gold -- Ivanie Blondin (Gloucester) Silver -- Lauren McGuire (Ottawa) Bronze -- Madeline Martin (Ottawa)

Junior Men:

Gold -- Braeden Elliott (Gloucester) Silver -- Spencer Zettler (Sault Ste. Marie) Bronze -- Leo Landry (Ottawa) 7th -- Nicolas Dodds (Sault Ste. Marie) 8th -- Alexander Steele (Sault Ste. Marie)

Intermediate Men:

Gold -- Landon Zeeman (Cambridge) Silver -- Kevin Sinclair (Sault Ste. Marie) Silver -- Myles Matheson (Ottawa)

Senior Men:

Gold -- Andre Van Wageningen (Sudbury) Silver -- Ben Young (Quinte) Bronze -- Justin Smith (Ottawa)

Senior Women:

Gold -- Dominique Lalonde (Gloucester)

Master Men:

Gold -- Joseph De Pencier (Ottawa) Silver -- Gene Franklin (Kitchener/Waterloo)

Master Women:

Gold -- Sandy Falco (Kitchener/Waterloo) Silver -- Patti Walsh (Kitchener/Waterloo)

OLYMPIC STYLE:

Senior Men Sprint: