(November 22, 2006)

The 2007 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Sectional Championships ended after four weeks of competition in 13 Sections. These competitions as well as sub-Sectionals, if numbers warrant, are held as qualifiers for the 2007 BMO Financial Group Western and Eastern Challenge, 2007 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Junior Nationals and the 2007 BMO Financial Group Canadian Championships.

There were a number of outstanding performances at the 2007 BMO Financial Group Skate Canada Sectional Championships. National records were broken in a number of categories.

• EOS Sectionals – Peter O’Brien, Juvenile Men – 36.71 (old record 35.83)
• WOS Sectionals – Maja Vermeulen / Andrew Doleman, Novice Dance – 78.24 (old record 76.56)
• NOS Sectionals – Michelle Egli / Ben Koenderink, Pre-Novice Pair – 87.18 (old record 87.05)
• WOS Sectionals – Kirsten Moore-Towers, Novice Women – 98.13 (old record 95.68)
• COS Sectionals – Alexandra Najarro, Pre-Novice Women – 93.21 (old record 76.02)
• QC Sectionals – Roxanne Rheault, Juvenile Women – 39.82 (old record 32.86)

New novice dance record holder Maja Vermeulen and Andrew Doleman	New juvenile men record holder Peter O’Brien	New pre-novice pair record holder Michelle Egli / Ben Koenderink
New novice women record holder Kirsten Moore-Towers	New juvenile women record holder Roxanne Rheault	New pre-novice women record holder Alexandra Najarro
Photos: Perfect Impressions Video

The record in pre-novice women beats the previous mark set by Alexandra Levy a few weeks earlier at the QC sectionals. This represented a 22% improvement over the old score.

One other performance of note is Rika Inoda from the BC section. She scored 97.72 on the same day as the record was broken in WOS. This score would have also exceeded the previous national high score.

Sectionals identify the top skaters in each province (Ontario having four Sections) for advancement to the next round of qualifying event ultimately leading to the Canadian Championships. A Sectional is a skater's first exposure to competitive stream competition, and is to be organized from a technical perspective as closely as possible to the Canadian Championships in terms of rules and competitive experience.

Juvenile skaters qualified for the Junior Nationals to be held in Brampton, ON, January 31 - February 3, 2007. Each Section can send on entry in each category (Women, Men, Pair and Dance) with Quebec Section sending two.

Pre-Novice, Novice and Junior skaters qualified to compete at the 2007 BMO Financial Group Western and Eastern Challenge, held in Moncton, NB, November 30 - December 3, 2006. Each of the Sections can send four entries with Quebec sending eight entries.

Senior competitors qualified to compete at the 2007 BMO Financial Group Canadian Championships, held in Halifax, NS, January 15-21, 2007. Each Section can send four entries with Quebec sending eight.

On top of these entries skaters may receive byes because of past performance and invitation to international events. These entries may be in addition to the permitted numbers sent by the Section.