Eric Radford: From Balmertown to figure skating’s big-time

To read the full article go to
http://www.thestar.com/sports/figureskating/article/1077990--from-balmertown-to-figure-skating-s-big-time

Published On Fri Oct 28 2011

By Rosie DiMannoColumnist

Balmertown is a speck on the map, six hours north of Thunder Bay by car, population 1,000.

“Probably smaller than this building,” observes Eric Radford, referring to the sprawling Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

Rugged place, his hometown, and not the easiest environment in which to grow up for a boy dreaming of becoming a figure skater.

Radford was just 13 when he bailed, first to Kenora, then Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto and back to Montreal, where he now trains at the Saint Leonard complex with pairs partner Meagan Duhamel.

Inner fortitude was required to withstand the teasing for a kid who was the only boy in Balmertown’s teeny figure skating club.

“It was pretty bad,” Radford admitted Friday after he and Duhamel zipped through theirConcerto de Aranjuez short program at Skate Canada, earning a personal best score of 62.37 and second place heading into Saturday’s long.

“I got bullied a lot. But the more success I had, the more respect I got.”