Duhamel a ‘hometown hero’

Meagan Duhamel made a trip home to Lively last week to introduce her new skating partner, Eric Radford, to her hometown. Coming together in March, after Duhamel’s former partner Craig Buntin retired from skating, Radford, 25, said he and Duhamel, 24, “jelled very quickly.”

“Meagan and I have known each other for a long time,” he said. “We’re both northerners — I’m from Red Lake, Ont.”

The pairs team recently earned a bronze medal at the Nebelhorn Trophy in Oberstdorf, Germany — their first international competition together.

Duhamel said their strength as a pairs team is their adventurous approach. “We have two jumps no pairs team has done in years, and one of them, no pairs team has ever officially done in competition before.”

“We understand each other and we’re both willing to try anything,” Radford added. “We’re looking to the future, more competitions, and working our way up to the top.”

The pair will next compete at 2010 Skate Canada International, Oct. 28-31 in Kingston, Ont.

During Duhamel’s visit home, the pair also worked with a group of 34 young skaters throughout the day at the Walden Arena, as part of the annual Rainbow Region Skaters development seminar. Duhamel said the goal of the workshop “is to motivate the kids and get them trying different things.”

“Even if we tell them the same things their coaches tell them every day, sometimes hearing it from someone else makes a difference.”

The seminar involved proper on-ice training, including technical aspects and music interpretation, and off-ice training, including proper fitness training, as well as an assessment with feedback at the end of the day.

“This is a day of training like our national elite athletes would go through,” Rachael Duhamel, skaters development co-ordinator for the Walden Figure Skating Club, said. “We want to give them an idea, if you want to train and skate, this is what you have to do.”

Rachael said her neice, Meagan, is a huge role model for the local skaters.

“She’s probably the most successful skater who’s come out of this area in my lifetime. I think if we have a hero like this in our hometown, it’s important that these kids have the opportunity to have access to them.”