22 - Sunday, February 9, 1922 - North Shore News ~ a NAME: Karen Diane Magnussen BORN: North Vancouver AGE: 39 RESIDENCE: North Vancouver EDUCATION: Carson Graham grad OCCUPATION: Ice skating coach and trainer; owner, Maggie's Muffins FAMILY: Married to Tony Cella; three children IT’S LUNCHTIME at Maggie’s Muffins and hungry customers, lured by the aroma of freshly-baked muffins and homemade soup, are lining up at the counter by the baker’s dozen. By Evelyn Jacob News Reporter There isn’t an empty table to be found, except for a tiny two- seater by the door. A lone waiter, dressed in street clothes, is doing a balancing act with a tray of dirty dishes. He. plunks them down on the counter and hollers to a petite blonde in the kitchen to pass him two slices of wholewheat bread. I had. never met Karen Magnussen before. Somehow 1 had this crazy notion that I’d find her gliding over the tables in a flashy sequined body suit carrying a bouquet of red roses. This, after all, is the Olympic medalist who held the Canadian figure skating title from 1970-73, who stunned the world with a brilliant performance at the 1973 world championships. at Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. But there she stood, dressed in an apron, sporting running shoes and carrying a bucket brimming - with stained dishes, cake crumbs and chewed up swizzle sticks. These days, Magnussen spends nearly as much time with her head in an oven as she does with her feet on the ice. She is the “‘Maggie’’ of West Vancouver’s Maggie’s Muffins, her and. husband Tony Cella’s first business. Three times a week she dons an apron and mixes up -huge vats of gooey dough for muffins. “I could never eat eggs for breakfast when I was skating, so 1 ate muffins. That’s how the whole thing started,” says the cherubic- been 10 years since Magnussen officially hung up her skates. One of Canada’s most celebrated woman athletes, she HIGH PROFILES Former world champ Karen Mag ie Ss retard Ng NEWS photo Mike Wakefield WHEN SHE'S not working magic on the ice, Karen Magnussen is working in her and husband Tony Cella's West Vancouver cafe. . Here, one of her students, Jennifer Torvick, dishes up a basket of fresh’ natural ingredients and are baked right on the premises. garnered numerous awards during the peak of her career (she was awarded the Velma Springstead Trophy as Canada’s outstanding woman athlete from 1971-73 and the Order of Canada in 1973) and spent four gruelling years on the road in the ice Capades. After the ovations died down she headed to Boston where she worked as a full-time coach for 11 years. But she decided that Vancouver would always be home. Though she’s no longer cutting up the ice full time, it’s plain to see that Magnussen is still in love with figure skating. She finds herself coaching about three hours a day at the North Shore Winter Club — where she first trained sometimes as much as seven hours a day, seven days a week. But don't misinterpret her en- thusiasm: she has never pined for the glory days. ‘“No, I don’t miss it,’’ she says. “f learned from other people GREATER VANCOUVER OPERATIC SOCIETY ‘SINCE 1949 + 45 PRODUCTION e Yeomen of ‘the Guard Took hy: w NURTH VANCOUVER CENTENNIAL THEATRE & THURSDAY SATSRDAY Feb, 20,22, 22 Feb. 27,28, 29 Mar. 5,67 400 BM. UENTENNIAL THEATRE BOX OFFICE eheneegtraphee Newrnen Caoeatt Sea (hegre s | Memart Pankey R , i \ Sie thiveter Keath seme Moen Divester But] Hides : on M ee Wy Animus avs 7 OM WEDNESDAY - SATURDAY 3300 PM, GATEWAY THEATRE ROX DEERCE ‘210-tH12 never to regret anything. I always gave 110%. Now I teach my stu- dents the joy of skating. 1 don’t need to live through them.”* Her own children, Eric, Christopher and Jennifer, have only just received skates of their own. Magnussen has been careful not to push them too hard. “At Eric’s school people would say, ‘Oh you’re Karen Magnussen’s son. You must be a Application for Pesticide Us #214-021-92 Agriculture Canada has made an application to the BC Ministry of the Environment to use Bacillus juringiensis Var. Kurstaki (commercial formulation Fora (Lymantria Dispar L.) in the municipalities of Vancouver, Burnaby, West Vancouver, North fabulous skater.’ Well, he’d just freeze. He didn’t want anything to do with it. Tony and I never put any pressure on them — it (the | expectation} was all from the out- side.”’ Magnussen sees the pressure of competition as something that’s taking the simplfe pleasure out of skating. She and her coach, Linda Brockman, have been itching to start a program former . fy-baked mutfins. All of Maggle’s Muffins sre made with fresh, where people can learn to skate for the fun of it. - However, they’ve been unable to get. ice time at any of the local recreation centres. Ironically, even the rink that was named in her - honor — the Karen Magnussen Arena — has left the former champ out in the cold. “T’ve got little hockey teams who want me to do power pro- grams for them. I could teach the e Permit for the control of Asian Gypsy Moth ancouver and the district of North Vancouver. Four aerial sprays and four ground sprays are proposed for the period of April 1 1992 to June 30 1992 as outlined in the accompanying map. Copies of the permit application and maps of the treatment area may be viewed at: A person wishi Agriculture Canada Food Production and Inspection Branch 202-620 Royal Avenue New Wastminsier, 8.C. V3L 5A8 to contribute information about the site for evaluation of this apptication for a use permit must send written B.C. Forest Service 4st Floor - 4585 Canada Way Burnaby, 8.C. V5G 419 copies of this information to both the i plicant and the Regional Manager of the Pesticide Control Program, Lower Mainland Region, 10334 152A Street, Surrey, B.C. V3R 7PO, within hed. TICKETS AVAILABLE AT ALL LOCATIONS days of the date the notice was publis! INCLUDING EATONS AND INFOCENTRES IN MAJOR MALLS: CHARGE BY PHONE: 280-4444