Minto inline skating star returning to world championships

Local speed skater Paisley Perrie will represent Canada at this month’s World Inline Speed Skating Championships in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The competition, Nov. 13 to 22, will be Perrie’s second appearance at the World Championships, as she competed in Italy in 2012.

After taking a couple of years off from competitive skating due to health problems, the 18-year-old has had a tough climb to regain her place as Canada’s number one ranked junior. Placing third in the Pan Am trials and qualifying as first alternate was her first major competition and she found it rewarding to skate so well against the senior national team competitors.

In August the Chinese Skating Federation invited Perrie to be part of an 18-person international team to compete in Lishui, China.

“It was a great opportunity and a chance to race with many national and world champions,” states her father and skating coach Alex Perrie.

Finishing 4th in the 400 meter and 6th overall on the road events was another step towards this year’s World Championships. Paisley notes the competition at the world level is extremely tough with Canadians placing in the bottom 10 per cent at best. With no structured associations, very few competitions and few chances to test themselves, skaters seeking racing experience have to be prepared to go outside of Canada.

Paisley had to make a tough choice whether to compete on track or ice this year as it will be her last year as a junior.

“If I had gone to the University of Calgary I would have tried to make  the national long track team. Now attending the University of Guelph it doesn’t make sense to do ice this year so the focus has been on the inlines,” she said.

Aside from training during the summer Paisley enjoys coaching and giving a bit back to the sport through training 30 youngsters at the Canadian Inline Training Centre.

Alex will accompany her to Taiwan as world team coach. He also coached at the global competition in 2006 in Korea and 2008 in Spain.

When Paisley raced in Italy in 2012 the Town of Minto, friends, family and the Harriston Legion organized “an amazing fundraiser” for her, Paisley points out. There was enough left in the fund to help with this year’s travel.

“So once again It makes me very proud to represent such a great community.”

 

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