Skaters from across the province have taken over North Bay's Memorial Gardens for this weekend's 49th annual "Make It A Date to Skate Competition."
David Villeneuve, President of the North Bay Skating Club explains an important change affecting the level of competition.
"This year we're under the new Skate Ontario umbrella, so there's no more separate divisions of north, central, west, east. We're all one division now across Ontario, so skaters anywhere in Ontario can compete in every event.," said Villeneuve.
"So we're seeing a lot of clubs and skaters that we've never seen before coming to North Bay as part of this new provincial qualifier. And this year, Make It A Date counts as a provincial qualifier, so that means that the skater's score goes into the provincial pool for the top 18 scores, to move on to the provincial championships."
The change has translated into an increase in the number of skaters competing in North Bay.
"We've seen registration go up by about 20 to 22 percent this year over last year. There's quite a number of skaters from different areas besides our usual catchment area. We're looking at 230 to 235 skaters who have registered this weekend," said Villeneuve.
Add to that the number of coaches, officials, and spectators.
After one day of competition, Make It A Date Chairperson, Sharon O'Connor is pleased by how well the event is going.
"We're hearing that things are running smoothly for the skaters, their coaches and the families when they arrive. We're getting a good volume of spectators here of all ages, supporting the local kids and even kids from other cities," said O'Connor.
"We did have a test day as well, so some skaters did participate in that. Overall, it gives skaters a chance to better themselves as they move on to other competitions."
A number of former competitors have gone on to become household names.
"Right now on the back wall of the Gardens, you'll see that there are several skaters who went on to become Olympians. Many of the Olympians that are most recognizable in Canada that we've seen in past years have come to Make It A Date, and some have come to the summer skating school that we hold here. So we've seen skaters like Brian Orser, Kurt Browning, Elvis Stojko, Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford, and Andrew Poje, one of the pairs dancers for Canada," explain Villeneuve.
"They have all competed at Make It A Date, and so this weekend, people who come out to watch, may be looking at the next Olympian that Canada cheers for in 2022, or 2026"
Like many sports featured in the Olympics, Villeneuve says skating will likely experience an increase in enrolment in the post-Olympic year. It is also an incentive for those already in the sport, to challenge themselves by raising the bar.
"I have certainly noticed that an Olympic skating year has a positive effect on motivation for a lot of the skaters in the city. They really get stoked about getting out there, and working out. It is such a great individual sport. These are athletes who can't hide behind a team, can't hide behind a jersey or a number. They leave it all on the ice. They're alone and these skaters start at six years old doing this, accepting criticism from panels of judges and just learning to accept success and failure on the ice."
During the first day of weekend competition, North Bay's Alessandra Villeneuve earned a silver medal in the free skate, calling it one of her best skates.
"It was definitely a challenge this year compared to last year with all the southern skaters. But it makes you try harder, so in all the competitions you can do better than you expected because you've had the training with the harder skaters."
Villeneuve has been closely following Olympic skating from PyeongChang.
"I can't stop watching it. I'll be watching from 12:30 at night and getting up at 5:30 AM to go practice," she laughs.
"I'm impressed by how they keep calm and just land everything so perfectly. It made me want to try harder and try more things and at this competition. I'm definitely going to push myself to try new things."
Depending on the number of judges, the amount of ice time, and the number of events, the president of the North Bay Skating Club believes Make It A Date could easily handle between 300 and 350 skaters over the course of the weekend.
"There's a little bit of room to grow and we hope that everybody will wind up participating next year when we celebrate 50 years in North Bay of a continuous skating competition," said Villeneuve.
"Next year we're going up to the senior level which is the Olympic selection competitions that go on. We hope that the city and the residents of North Bay support us in the coming year as we plan for Make It A Date 50. I think that's going to be a big anniversary for us, as well as for North Bay hosting a sports tourism event like this for 50 straight years."
Make It A Date offers only singles events, for males and females from the recreational level to the juvenile competitive level.
This weekend's free event wraps up Sunday afternoon.
