Five local Glacier Skate Academy skaters representing Whitefish and Montana are on their way to Seattle to compete in the Northwest Pacific Regional Figure Skating Championship. The competition is from Oct. 9 to 13 and includes skaters from, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

The skaters are Sophia Burrough, Muriel Mercer, Grace Elden, Hannah Rainford and Mary Margaret Mercer.

For most of these girls, it has taken many years of year-round dedication, skating five to six days a week, to get where they are today. This includes traveling out-of-state during the summer months to continue their training, while the local rink has been closed. Four of these skaters got their start in the Learn-to-Skate program at Stumptown Ice Den in Whitefish.

Four of the skaters are competing at three different levels in the Non-Qualifying Championship. This Northwest Regional Championship is the highest competition for these level skaters. Rainford is competing at the juvenile level in the Qualifying Championship. If she is ranked in the top four at Regionals, she would move on to Sectionals, and then if ranked in the top four, she would then move on to Nationals. This is the track to the U.S. Championship, the World Championship and the Olympic Winter Games.

To qualify to enter the Northwest Pacific Regional Championship, Non-Qualifying or Qualifying, all of these skaters have completed eight levels of Basic Skills and six levels of Freeskate. Beyond No-Test level, each skater is then required to perform and pass two tests in front of a nationally certified judge to advance to each of the next progressively more challenging levels. At the Pre-Juvenile level, each skater is required to perform and pass two tests in front of three nationally certified judges.

For more information, go to glacierskateacademy.org or call Chad Goodwin at 406-407-8226. Glacier Skate Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that serves more than 250 local children.