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Derpak finishes 10th among 2010 prospects

Organizers believe figure skating event has great potential

The excitement was all on the ice last weekend as some of Canada’s best young figure skaters came to Whistler for the first time to compete in a B.C. Cup invitational.

Keegan Murphy from Squamish won the men’s division and was the standout competitor, while Whistler’s Caleigh Derpak finished a credible 10th in the pre-novice division.

But after three days of competition the organizers’ attention turned to the event’s potential for expansion.

Jan Derpak, Caleigh’s mother, was proud of her daughter’s efforts amongst an elite field of skaters but she was also taken by the amount of activity the event generated for the community.

Derpak, who is a former president of the Whistler Skate Club, highlighted the fact that the event attracted approximately 150 skaters and their families to Whistler, during a period when business is usually slow. And these numbers have not gone by unnoticed by some of Whistler’s stakeholders.

"The main thing is that they’ve guaranteed the venue for another six years, right through to 2010," said Derpak.

"And they will have an international component added starting next year, so kids from all over the world will come here to compete."

Derpak said the municipality had also shown interest in helping to promote the event.

"The municipality has said they would help us sell it as an event next year, which is good because we weren’t sure how this was going to go over, but it went over very well," she said.

"In terms of the economics brought to the community this was something we didn’t anticipate, because 150 skaters staying in the community buying food at a slow time of year was great."

The event has a big draw in the skating community because of the quality of the athletes that attended and the fact that some of them could be competing here in 2010.

But the other strong point the event has is that it leads into some other big qualifying events prior to the Canadian national championships.

Derpak said most of the skaters used the Whistler event as a warm up for the "sub-sections" in Kamloops.

"Depending on their placement at sub-sections they can move onto the Western Canadian (championships) and from there three or four will move onto Canadian nationals."

Whistler B.C. Cup Invitational

Pre-Novice Ladies

Result

FPl. Name Club Nat. Points SP FS

1 Kelsey ROSS SANDY BC 1.5 1 1

2 Cecylia WITKOWSKI CONNA BC 4.5 3 3

3 Danielle FLUKINGER VALLE BC 5.0 2 4

4 Nicole NUNN RACQU BC 5.5 7 2

5 Rika INODA CONNA BC 7.0 4 5

6 Kai Yi PANG VANCO BC 8.5 5 6

7 Hyuna HONG BURNA BC 12.0 8 8

8 Jessica NOVAKOWSKI KELOW BC 12.5 11 7

9 Brooke JOHANSEN POCO BC 14.0 10 9

10 Caleigh DERPAK WHIST BC 14.0 8 10

11 Olivia WASSBAUER SANDY BC 15.0 6 12

12 Caitlan MURPHY BURNA BC 17.0 12 11

13 Sara McCOY WILD AB 19.5 13 13

14 Kaylee BEALES SANDY BC 21.0 14 14

Pre-Novice Men

1 Ronald LAM COQUI BC 1.5 1 1

2 Robbie HARRISON ARMST BC 3.0 2 2

3 Tyler LEDUC SANDY BC 4.5 3 3

Novice Ladies

1 Kathryn KANG NSWC BC 2.5 1 2

2 Bianca GONZALES VANCO BC 4.0 6 1

3 Michelle LEE VANCO BC 4.0 2 3

Novice Men

1 Jeremy TEN VANCO BC 2.0 2 1

2 Patrick WONG VANCO BC 2.5 1 2

3 Andrew LUM SUNSE BC 4.5 3 3

Senior Ladies

1 Alesha CHECKLEY ROYAL AB 2.0 2 1

2 Vanessa HUNTER HOLLY BC 2.5 1 2

3 Erica BLEHA ROYAL AB 4.5 3 3

Senior Men

1 Keegan MURPHY VANCO BC 1.5 1 1

2 Cole STANBRA CASTL BC 3.0 2 2

Senior Pairs:

1 BOULIN and STURDY VANCO BC 1.5 1 1

2 HANSON and DALZIEL ROYAL AB 3.0 2 2