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75 years: Flin Flon Skating Club celebrates a milestone

After 75 years, the Flin Flon Skating Club is still going strong. Hundreds of skaters and coaches have passed through the club since its launch under the direction of Beth Dike in 1938.

After 75 years, the Flin Flon Skating Club is still going strong.

Hundreds of skaters and coaches have passed through the club since its launch under the direction of Beth Dike in 1938.

Today the club has 57 skaters ranging from the Canskate to Starskate levels, with head coach Heather Powell at the helm.

Over the years, styles, techniques and costumes have all changed, but one constant with the club has been the ice carnival.

The club will host its 75th Anniversary Ice Show this weekend at the Whitney Forum, letting skaters display what they have learned this past year.

Special events coordinator Courtney Biberdorf hopes to see a generous crowd for the show.

“It would be nice to see 200-plus people,” she said.

Successes

Among the many successful club skaters over the years was Sue McNeil, who at the age of 15 won the Manitoba Senior Ladies Figure Skating title in Winnipeg in 1969.

McNeil was named to Team Manitoba while Flin Flon hosted the Manitoba Free Skating Championships.

McNeil and her partner, Kathy McIntyre, went on to win the skating pairs event. McIntyre later became the Novice Ladies Champion in Manitoba in the Canadian Figure Skating Association.

The club has welcomed many guests over the years, including world champion figure skater Donald Jackson in 1972.

Club worker Dodie Wardle went on to become a judge at the Canadian Figure Skating Association level.

Fast forward a number of years and the club helped develop talented skaters like Scott Brown in the early 1990s.

Brown most recently choreographed a routine for American figure skater Gracie Gold, who received bronze at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Flin Flon’s Mikayla Gawiak skated with the club in the early 2000s and continues to skate at the University of Saskatchewan in the Anne Collinridge Figure Skating Club.

Among her many achievements, Gawiak competed in the Manitoba Winter Games in 2006 as well as in the Skate Canada Starskate Nationals in 2009.

Ice Show

The 75th Anniversary Ice Show will be on Sunday from 2 to 4 pm with adult ($5) and child ($3) admission rates at the door.

The club will also have a penny parade, bake sale and 50/50 draw to help generate funds for the club and next year’s costs.

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