Maurice Gagné was inducted in the Quebec Hall of Fame this week for his involvement as a sport builder in speed skating. Maurice is considered the father of speed skating in the province of Quebec and was also an excellent athlete in cycling and speed skating.
Amongst his realisations, he founded the Club de patinage de vitesse de Sainte-Foy and was Gaetan Boucher’s first trainer. During his cycling career, he won the canadian road cycling championship and he also took part in the world championships and Commonwealth Games in 1958 and 1962. As a skater, he won the open speed skating championship in 1958.
What is less known about him is that he was competing in barrel jumping before he started speed skating. During one barrel jumping event, he saw speed skaters competing, which eventually lead him to speed skating.
Maurice is still involved in the Québec city speed skating community and maintains the time recording systems. He is still an active skater and competitor in the 70+ category and will be attending the next Master’s world Games in Erfurt, Germany in February 2008.
Congratulations Maurice and thank you !
Report by Anika Bédard
Maurice Gagné skating behind his brother, Pierre, at the Masters World Games in Calgary 2007 (photo by Alain Meilleur)
2 comments:
Bravo Maurice de Jean-Francois Godbout de Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Not only is Maurice still competing in the 70+ category, he set a new Canadian 500M long track record for this group in February 2007. Way to go, Maurice!
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