Summer Games gives Nova Scotia girl chance to celebrate Newfoundland roots

By Olivia Bradbury / Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Eighteen-year-old Julia Snelgrove is an accomplished speed skater and cyclist. For the past two years, she has been the Nova Scotia Junior Female Athlete of the Year and the Canadian Junior Long Track Speed Skating Champion. She represented Canada in speed skating at the last two World Junior Speed Skating Championships, earning medals at both. And while Snelgrove was born and raised in Dartmouth, NS, her family comes from Newfoundland. So don’t be surprised if you see some proud family members cheering for two provinces at the Canada Summer Games this week.
Snelgrove will represent Nova Scotia in cycling, her third appearance at the Canada Games. In one of those Games, a Winter portion, Snelgrove represented Nova Scotia in speed skating. She got into speed skating through helping a family friend with special needs.
“I’d kind of go on the ice and help out with her,” said Snelgrove, who had learned to skate from playing ringette. The speed skating led her to cycling.
“Cycling is actually a big cross-training sport for speed skating,” she explained.
Snelgrove began cycling in 2021 to train for skating and ended up competing in cycling at the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games. She said her favourite thing about both speed skating and cycling is that you are fully in control.
“I play some team sports, and there’s just so many other factors that you can’t control and so many other people, but in individual sports it’s literally just the work you put in,” she said.
For the past two years, Snelgrove has trained for speed skating at the Olympic Oval at the University of Calgary. She has been awarded a scholarship to the university and will be moving to Alberta this August to continue her education and training. She hopes to represent Canada at the Olympics in the future. At university, she plans to study health and exercise physiology.
Snelgrove’s paternal grandparents, who currently live in Truro, NS, are originally from Lower Island Cove, Newfoundland. Her maternal grandparents live in Spaniard’s Bay, but are originally from Gander. Her parents were born and raised in Newfoundland, only moving to Nova Scotia due to her mother’s work. Snelgrove has visited the island before and added that she has relatives in Calgary who also hail from Newfoundland. People in Calgary have told her she has a bit of a Newfoundland accent, despite being born and raised in Nova Scotia.
Snelgrove is looking forward to competing in a place that means so much to her family.
“I think it’ll be cool,” she said. “I don’t get to go there that often because of training, but my brother’s there all the time, so I kind of feel like I’ve missed out a little bit on exploring where my parents grew up.”
Snelgrove’s brother, Curtis, is also an athlete, playing basketball, baseball, and hockey.
“But it’ll be cool to be that close to literally all of my family, and also be able to explore a little bit, too, which I don’t really get to do,” Snelgrove added.
The 2025 Canada Summer Games run until August 25 with events taking place throughout the Northeast Avalon.