Long Blades win $10K award to support development opportunities

The Kamloops Long Blades were honoured last night with the Intact Insurance Club Excellence Award, to help support the grassroots development of their association.

The award comes with a $10,000 prize. That money will go towards developing the Long Blades SWIFT (Speed Skating with International Friends Together) program.

In collaboration with the Kamloops-Cariboo Regional Immigrant Services, the program looks to bring new Canadians to the rink and teach them how to speed skate.

The Club Excellence Award distributes $20,000 in grants each season to local speed skating clubs that undertake grassroots development initiatives that help grow the sport.

Dozens of clubs from across the country submitted project ideas, ranging from diversity and inclusion programming, along with the purchasing of new safety mats, skating equipment and open-house initiatives.

Those submissions were then evaluated based on need in the local community, the potential for positive impact, the plan and resources in place, and the ability to measure its success.

The Long Blades beat out three other finalists for the award: Peninsula Speed Skating Club (North Saanich), Milton Speed Skating Club (Milton, Ont), Richmond Rockets Speed Skating Club (Richmond) and Club de patinage de vitesse Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (Montreal).

Kamloops will also receive a visit from a pair of National Team athletes sometime next season.

Next up for the local club will be the annual Speedy Weekend Camp happening this weekend, July 29-31.

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