(November 1, 2006)

Skate Canada congratulates Lee Barkell for his second consecutive Petro-Canada Coaching Excellence Award.

Petro-Canada recognizes coaches whose athletes have won medals in world championships, at Olympic Games, at Special Olympics World Games, or at Paralympic Games. Recipients of this year’s awards will be honoured at the annual Sport Leadership Awards Dinner on Friday, November 3, 2006 in Vancouver.

Barkell coached the 2006 Canadian champion Jeffrey Buttle to an Olympic bronze medal in men's singles at the Olympic Games in Turin, Italy, last February. Barkell has coached at six world championships, at the 2006 and 2002 Winter Olympic Games and at 14 consecutive world junior championships.

A former Canadian National Team member from 1986-1990 and a former national and international champion, Barkell is currently the Director of the Pair Skating program at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie, Ontario, one of the top skating schools in the world. He has been coaching since 1990 and has obtained his NCCP Level 4 coach certification.

2006 also featured other highlights for Barkell. His student, Christopher Mabee, won the silver medal at the 2006 Four Continents Championships and finished fourth at the 2006 BMO Financial Group Canadian Championships. Barkell’s students at the junior level also had an extremely successful 2005-2006 season. Joey Russell was crowned the junior national champion at the 2006 BMO Financial Group Canadian Championships and Jamie Forsythe became the Canadian junior bronze medalist.

In addition to successfully coaching Canadian skaters, Barkell also triumphed with foreign skaters. Japanase skater Nobunari Oda was the 2005 world junior men’s champion, and finished fourth in Calgary at the 2006 ISU World Figure Skating Championships.

Barkell pursues his outstanding work with singles and pairs on the national team this season. On the senior national team, Barkell coaches Jeffrey Buttle, Christopher Mabee, Meghan Duhamel and the pair team of Anabelle Langlois and Cody Hay (who finished fourth at the 2006 Skate America Grand Prix). On the junior national team, Barkell coaches Jamie Forsythe, Stefani Marotta, Joey Russell, Kyra Moscovitch and Dylan Moscovitch.