Virden skaters gear up in Florida

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This article was published 21/06/2011 (5401 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Traditionally when Canadians head to Florida in June, it’s for a little fun in the sun and ice in their drinks.

Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers headed south this month for a whole different kind of ice.

The Virden-based pairs figure skating duo is spending June training with former Canadian Olympic skater Lyndon Johnston — a 49-year-old Hamiota native — at the Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex near Tampa Bay.

Coming off of a bronze medal performance at the national figure skating championships in Victoria in January, Lawrence and Swiegers are one of the top young teams in Canada and are sharpening their skills on the ice with one of the top coaches in the United States.

"We come down here every year to skate with Lyndon Johnston and we’re down here for a month because there is really no ice back home for the training that we need," Lawrence said. "But we will be back training in Virden in the new arena on July 4."

Lawrence, 21, and Swiegers, 23, are Saskatchewan natives who live, work and train most of the year in Virden under the tutelage of coach Patty Hole, who regularly enlists the help of Johnston — the coach of both American pairs teams at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics — to work with her prize pupils once or twice a year.

Lawrence, who studies at Brandon University, and Swiegers have made the Canadian team, with their first summer skating competition is slated for July 29-31 at the 2011 Indy Challenge in Indianapolis.

"We’re kind of waiting to hear about our international assignments, so we are looking forward to that, but our first competition will be in Indy," Lawrence said.

The Indy event will help the Virden pairs duo break in a new program that they are currently fine-tuning in Florida.

"We’re kind of getting back into it now, so it’s the kickoff to the season, that kind of thing," Lawrence said. "We get a bunch of feedback from the judges on our new program and we then we kind of know where we have to go from there to make improvements, make some changes. So it’s the first run-through of the new program."

Now one of the top three pairs teams in the country — ranked behind national champions Kirsten Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch, and silver medallists Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford — Lawrence and Swiegers will be looking to improve upon their third-place finish at the 2012 Canadian championships from Jan. 16-22 in Moncton, N.B.

"Hopefully we will have a great year," Lawrence said. "We are planning on topping the bronze."