The Quinte Blades Speed Skating Club evolved in 1993 from a club that started with a few Special Olympic skaters named the Belleville Blades to become one of the top Speed Skating clubs in Ontario.
A skating program was initiated for students attending the William R. Kirk School in Belleville. Lorrie Roebuck whose daughter Dianne attended the school convinced the school board to let her coach the skaters for an hour a week on ice donated by the City of Belleville. The skaters were known as the Belleville Blades. Approximately 20 athletes were involved skating on hockey or figure skates.
In February 1991, several of the skaters participated in speed skating events at the Special Olympic Provincial Winter Games in Barrie. John Newnham, Mike Mainse, Les Holmes and Cathy Sonnenburgh were selected to travel to Saskatoon for the 1992 Special Olympic Canadian Winter Games. In the meantime, Ann Watson, who had recently moved to Belleville and was a "speed skater", joined Lorrie in the training of these skaters and accompanied them to Saskatoon.
John Newnham and Mike Mainse were selected after the competition in Saskatoon to represent Canada in Austria at the World Special Olympic Winter Games in Saltzburg in 1993.
During the spring of 1993, two other speed skaters Dave and Deb Jowett who had recently moved to the Quinte area were interested in forming a Speed Skating Club in Belleville. They met with the Belleville Blades skaters and coaches, after skating with them for a short time, the group formed the Quinte Blades Speed Skating Club.
The new Club started it's first Season in the fall Of 1993 with a mix of both Special Olympic and generic skaters being coached by Ann, Lorrie, Deb and Dave. Today we continue to model a joint Special "O" and generic skaters with members from all over the greater Quinte area. We hold practice sessions at both the Trenton arena and the Yardmen Arena in Belleville.
The success of the Club so far can be attributed to it's eager skaters, a great group of volunteers and first class support from the municipalities, service clubs, businesses and individuals in the Quinte Area.
We are a non profit organization and offer speed skating club membership at an affordable cost. Though fund raising is always a challenge, we have remained in the black every season. Membership continues to have strong numbers every season.
Over the years our skaters have been very successful in advancing in their technique, achieving personal best times or winning medals at meets, with several gold, silver or bronze medals at the Provincial Championships through the years. Our most experienced skaters have competed at Ontario Winter Games and represented Ontario at the Canadian and North American Championships, and in the Can-Am Cup series Competition.
February 2003 we were honoured to host the final round of the Can-Am Cup a series competitions that featured many of the top intermediate and senior short track skaters from Canada and the United States. Sanctioned by the ISU this was a showcase event that brought the best of short track speed skating to the Quinte area. It was a great success and set a high standard for community support and involvement thanks to excellent sponsorship from the City of Belleville and Quinte businesses.
Our Special Olympic skaters have consistently attained equally impressive results with several skaters representing Ontario at the National Championships and the World Winter Special Olympic Games.