Duke Trophy
| Sport | Speedskating |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1952 |
| No. of teams | 4 |
| Continent | Australia |
| Most recent champion(s) |
 Victoria |
The Duke Trophy is an annual inter-state short track speed skating competition in Australia.
The Duke Trophy was made in 1952 and donated to the Australian Amateur Ice Racing Council by Len Duke, the first Secretary/Treasurer of the AAIRC, with the help of an old school friend Dave Morgan. Both started skating at St Moritz Ice Palais in St Kilda in June 1946 and eventually represented Victoria in interstate competition.
There had been interstate racing between NSW and Victoria for many years, initially managed by the Ice Hockey Association as an additional attraction to the interstate hockey matches at the time, however there was nothing tangible to record the winning teams in these competitions. By 1951 the AAIRC was formed and had separate associations for Speed Skating in Victoria and New South Wales and even for a short time in Tasmania, which was the venue for the 1952 Australian Championships. Duke felt there should be a dedicated trophy for Interstate Racing, especially after the Victorian team was very successful in Hobart in 1952.
The resulting award was named and inscribed "The Australian Amateur Ice Racing Council Trophy for Interstate Racing". The trophy features a silver statuette of a skater on the top, mirroring the design of the Australian Championship award that Duke had won the year before. Around 1957 it was suggested that the interstate racing trophy be renamed the "Duke Trophy" to keep his name in the sport following his retirement.
Duke's own 1951 Australian Championship trophy featured a silver speed skater mounted on a globe of the world. This trophy was donated back to the VSSU (which later became VIRA) after Len's death, and has since been made into the best and fairest award for the Duke Trophy competition.
In early days of the competition, the tournament was run on the Queen's Birthday weekend in June. It was later moved to the last weekend of July. In 2014, however, competitors and officials recognized that this time was poorly suited to the international competition season, resulting in many elite skaters being unavailable to compete in the Duke Trophy. Plans are currently underway to move the date to September from 2016 onwards, placing the competition at the end of the speed skating season.
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