We believe in all of our skaters, and consider their fun and fitness to be our highest accomplishment of all. Our coaches and parents are also incredibly proud of all of our racing skaters who compete across Ontario in both the Provincial and Elite racing series, including our skaters who are affiliated with Special Olympics.
Alumni
Christine Nesbitt:
2012 World Champ in 100m and 1500m and World Cup Women’s Grand Champion; Olympic Gold Medalist, Vancouver 2010 1000m; and Silver Medalist, Turin 2006 Team Pursuit. You can follow Christine’s accomplishments through her website or Speed Skating Canada’s website:
Jacob MacKenzie
Jacob trained in both short and long track at the Calgary Olympic Oval at the National Level, and was named to the National Development Team for 2014-2015. Congratulations Jacob!!!!
Erin Copeland
Erin started skating with the London Speed Skating Club when she was 7. Over the years, she competed in Canadian and North American short- and long-track championships, winning medals at many events. She set the junior women’s North American record in the 1500m in 2001. Erin competed for Ontario in the 2003 Canada Winter Games and, along with fellow London skater Christine Nesbitt, won a bronze medal in the relay. Following secondary school, Erin joined the Air Force, moved to Calgary to attend university where she also trained in the Olympic Oval short track program. She skated the Junior Trials for the first time when she was 16 where she finished in 16th place. Her best senior trials ranking was 19th in 2005. Upon completion of university, Erin was posted to Winnipeg and became involved in coaching. She is a Competition Development- in training- coach. Erin coached the Manitoba short track team at 2011 Canada Winter Games and was with the BC short track team for the 2015 CWG.
Stephanie Cook
Stephanie Cook of Special Olympics London and the London Speed Skating Club was selected to the Canadian National Team Program for the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea in the sport of speed skating.
Gerrit Bos
Gerry co-founded the London Speed Skating Club in 1983 and, as such, is a lifetime member of the club. In his 23 years of coaching, he helped four London skaters get to the National Level, the most recent and notable being Christine Nesbitt. Gerry learned to skate at 8 years of age, started competing at 13 and at 79 was still competing at the masters level. Gerry has the following impressive accomplishments: Won 17 short track and long track Ontario Championships from 1983 to 1997, won 6 Canadian Championships between 1991 and 2003; won 4 gold medals in the open masters games in 1992, won the North American championships in 1994 and 2002; placements at Masters World Championships: 1995 – 7th, 1996 – 5th, 1998 – 4th, 2003 – 4th, 2007 – 2nd, 2010 – 3rd in the sprints; world record in the 500m in 1993 (held for 5 years), world record in sprint competition in 2007 (held 2 weeks).
Gerry also played soccer for 19 years, competed in triathlons with his sons, did inline skating and competed in cycling.