In the world of competitive figure skating, summer is that time to throw caution to the wind. A pair of athletes from the Sudbury Skating Club fell victim to the double edge of that sword, competing at the 2016 Minto Skate in Ottawa last weekend.

Alyssa Murray (Junior Women) was right in the middle of the second flight, scoring 29.26 in her short program, and then jumping up a few rungs to 7th place with a score of 50.96 in her free skate.

Abby O’Bonsawin (Pre-Novice Women), meanwhile, followed up a short score of 18.89 with a tally of 32.65 in the free skate. “Although the results were a little disappointing, we did add more risk to each of those girls programs,” noted Sudbury coach Wendy Philion. In fact, Murray’s program featured three triples, plus a double axel, while O’Bonsawin was inserting a double axel for the first time.

“If the big jump goes down, it’s harder to keep together the rest of the program,” added Philion. “I guess we just have more work to do, training it and getting it more consistent.” Still, she is far from discouraged with the effort, as both young women prepare to be joined by another small handful of locals at the COS (Central Ontario Section) Summerskate from August 11th to the 14th in Richmond Hill.

“Everything that we had included is certainly within the realm of possibilities for them to achieve,” noted Philion. “They do enough of them in training out of the program. If you can at least get them rotated, even if you fall, there is still a huge reward for them in the new marking system. That is what we are going for.”