Alumni Spotlight | BC/YT Hall of Fame

Marcus Christensen – Canadian Medalist

1993 Canadian Figure Skating Championships- Senior Men Marcus Christensen 3rd (Royal Glenora), Kurt Browning 1st (Royal Glenora), Elvis Stojko 2nd (Mariposa WC)

From 1987-1996 Marcus was a 10 time National Team Member, 4 time World Team Member a two time Canadian bronze medalist and silver medalist.  He claims that one of his fondest skating memories was placing 3rd at the 1993 Canadian National Championships behind Kurt Browning and Elvis Stojko.  Subsequently, he earned a spot on the 1993 World Team in Prague where he finished top 10.  Marcus expresses that it was one of his greatest skating achievements, especially in an era with so many skating “greats”.

Currently, Marcus is a successful Executive with an investment firm in Toronto.  And besides keeping in touch with many skating friends he made through his athletic career he manages several former competitor’s portfolios which keeps him in the “skating loop”.

“Skating has impacted my life in so many ways.  But more importantly it has taught me discipline, the importance of being consistent and that it can take 10 years to truly be an expert at something”.  His advice to current National Team members is to “cherish every achievement and enjoy your travels because it will end one day and when it does you will be amazed at how fortunate you were to travel the World and compete at such a high level.”

Marcus was Chair of the Alumni committee for 2 years and enjoyed being back in the skating family.

Marcus and his wife Kara live in Toronto and are avid travelers who love to run, cycle and practice yoga as most of their vacations revolve around being physically active.  They have a 5-year-old son (Chase) who’s very excited to start hockey this September.  “Being a good husband, father and role model is very important to me”. Marcus is continuously striving to improve his expertise in the financial realm and his fully committed to his family.

Skate Canada British Columbia/Yukon Section Annual Awards Banquet – Celebrates 5th year Hall of Fame Inductions

Written by:  Barry Soper, Skate Canada Alumni Committee Member

2018 marked the 5th year that the Skate Canada British Columbia/Yukon Section has highlighted their Annual Awards Banquet with inductions to BC’s Figure Skating Hall of Fame – a virtual, online Hall of Fame that can be accessed from Skate Canada British Columbia/Yukon website at this LINK

This year’s inductions honored the following recipients:

Athlete Category

Faye (Strutt) Marshall & Jim Watters, bronze Canadian pair medalists in 1964 and 1965

They were the first pair team from BC/YK to compete at an Olympics at the 1964 Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck. 

They were also the first amateur Canadians to pass the gold-level pairs test; and they were the first from Canada to win the compulsory short program for pairs at nationals.

Coach Category

Edi Rada

Born in 1922 in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Rada began skating at an early age. At 15 years old, he placed 2nd at Nationals, and then 7th at both the 1938 European and World Championships. After the 2nd World War, Mr. Rada placed 3rd at both the Olympic Games and World Championships. 

Finishing his competitive career, he joined the Ice Capades and then soon after accepted a coaching position at the Hamilton Skating Club. Two years later, he moved to Vancouver to join a close friend, Helmut May. 

Mr. Rada coached many skaters such as Bruno Delmaestro, Susan Heffernan, and Syd Hughes. His Coaching accomplishments are why he is being inducted into the BC/YK Section Hall of Fame. 

Sadie & Albert Enders

Born in Australia, their love of skating brought them to South Africa and England before landing in Canada in 1940.

The Enders’ were coaching pioneers in singles, ice dance, and particularly pairs, having been pair skaters themselves. The coaching duo guided Skate Canada Hall of Famers Suzanne Morrow and Wallace Diestelmeyer to Olympic and World bonze medals in 1948, among many other of their students’ successes.

Officials Category

Jack Zaleski

Jack was an engineer who was introduced to the sport after being asked by his boss to help develop a program to calculate scores and results for an upcoming skating competition. 

Jack was successful in that task, and then went on to create a program to post information to the video boards in arenas. During this time, he also become a data specialist (previously known as an “accountant”). 

Jack moved our sport from a generation of hand written results into an era of computer generated real time results. His ideas, technology skills, and time spent as a data specialist played a huge part in the development of our sport. This is why he is being inducted into the BC/YK Section Hall of Fame as an Official.

Builder Category

Jim Reid

As a young man Mr. Reid was a competitive skater for British Columbia for a number of years. Following that he joined Ice Follies working with Mr. Frick as the famed Frick and Frack act. After Ice Follies, Mr. Reid came back to Vancouver and started an illustrious coaching career at the Sungod Skating Club. Following his coaching career Jim went on to lay down a foundation for excellence in customer service in the area of equipment purchase and service for the skating community of British Columbia.

Photo of: Faye (Strutt) Marshall & Jim Watters (Canadian Pair Skaters – 1964 Olympics) – being presented their Skate-BC HOF medals by Canadian Olympic athletes Larkyn Austman & Kevin Reynolds; May 5, 2018 – Vancouver, BC.

Ted Barton, the 1973 Canadian Junior Men’s Champion and Executive Director of Skate Canada British Columbia/Yukon Section, is the creative force behind this inspiring addition to the annual awards banquet begun in 2014 when Karen Magnussen & Shirra Kenworthy (Athletes), Linda Brauckmann & Ron Vincent (Coaches), Audrey Williams (Official) and Billie Mitchell (Builder) were inducted into this ‘virtual’ Hall of Fame.

Ted also acts as MC for this event, although he is more than capably assisted by Tracy Wilson, 1988 Olympic Ice Dance bronze medalist (with Rob McCall), to co-host the auspicious event – persuading her to return to her home province annually from Ontario to help honour the deserving BC/YK skaters, coaches, officials & builders who help keep figure skating the successful sport it continues to be in Canada.

The event is made all the more entertaining by Ted’s annual video productions, which feature the skating achievements of the past year and showcase the new Hall of Fame inductees.  For a taste of what Ted creates, enclosed is a sample of his work to honour ice dancing for that portion of the 2016 Hall Of Fame inductions – via a clever adaptation of award-winning musician Bruno Mars’ classic ‘Uptown Funk’ dance video that has been refocused by including skating clips from… (see if you can recognize the ice dance teams).

Congratulations to all this year’s inductees!

Skate Canada British Columbia/Yukon Hall Of Fame Inductions to date:

2014: Skaters-Karen Magnussen and Shirra Kenworthy; Coaches-Linda Brauckmann and Ron Vincent; Official-Audrey Williams; Builder-Billie Mitchell.

2015: Skater-Victor Kraatz; Coach-Alex Fulton; Official-Audrey Moore; Builder-Bill Lewis.

2016: Skaters-Tracy Wilson and Louise & Barry Soper; Coach-Dr. Hellmut May; Builder-Jean Heffernan.

2017: Skaters-Kathy Matousek and Donna-Lee & John Mitchell; Coach-Jean Westwood; Builder-Yvette Delcourt.

1993 Canadian Figure Skating Championships- Junior Men David Pelletier 2nd (CPA Rimouski), Ravi Walia 1st (Kerrisdale FSC), Matthew Knight 3rd (Kerrisdale FSC)

January 2019

Jan. 14-20: 2019 Canadian Tire National Skating Championships in Saint John, NB.  Alumni Event Package details to be announced in August.  Stay tuned!

December 2018

We’d love to hear from you! Today staying in touch is easier than ever!

E-mail us your stories, photos, thoughts, suggestions and questions. We can’t guarantee we’ll print each one however we will certainly read every word and in the case of questions, find answers to them all.

Contact Celina Stipanic, Alumni and Fund Development Manager at [email protected]

One thought on “Alumni Spotlight | BC/YT Hall of Fame”

  1. Great news. Good to see Marcus.
    Mr. Rada was my second coach. Amazing man.
    Matthew Hall

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