For McRae, it wasn't a case of what lay behind her or what lay before her but more a case of what lay dormant within her.
"I was watching my daughters do it for a couple of years and I got bored," says the Porritt Primary School teacher, who found reinforcement in another mum, Ann Rocard, as the pair decided to give it a go in 2010.
"We were learning and competing together. She stopped but I kept going," says the mother of Hannah and Caitlin, who were 10 and 13, respectively, when they started skating.
She had bought her daughters decent skates but, when they quit, she slipped them on, thankful their feet sizes were compatible.
"I love it [skating] and wish I was young again and had their courage," says McRae, who clinched gold medals at the nationals in the masters figures and esquire dance categories.
She'll also make her maiden appearance at the Oceania Championship in Whanganui next month.
"I'm going to the Oceanias because other masters competitors encouraged me to," she says, revealing that skaters thrive in an environment where inspiring each other is a given.
The Hastings Skating Club members competing at the Oceania event are Eva Ross-Grant, her mother Linsay Grant (advanced masters) and Rox Price (masters).
The Hastings club's 10 competitors, who train at the Rodney Green Events Centre hall in Napier, have returned from the nationals with 10 gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes, as well as trophies.
The club won the best-dressed team and the Club Show Skate Challenge against four other clubs in an event where marks were awarded for artistic composition and performance.
Judges awarded the Hastings club 9.5 and two 10s for a performance modelled on a country-and-western theme based on line dancing, the Topp Twins, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.
"Our team was called Boot Scootin' and Hooters, and we used all our club members who were able to slip on skates," says club president Eileen Mills. Brooke Cooper, 9, a national champs rookie who collected bronze in novice figures in a field of 20, epitomises the club's courage.
Coe took the most sought-after bling, the Skating Oscar - Artistic, for the most outstanding performance.
"It's one of the most important trophies to win," she says of the award for the most outstanding creative dance following judges' nomination.
"My theme music was Latin, so I did a drive, which I had been practising for about nine months."
Coe won golds in free skating, figures, loops, compulsory solo dance and creative solo dance.
It helped immensely that she had competed at the Australian Championship in Melbourne during July 3-9.
Although she got two thirds and a fifth, Coe was delighted to have had the exposure to a "much higher standard".
However, she is unable to enter the Oceanias until she turns 12.
Coe was always on a collision course with skating because her mother, Leigh Hudson-Coe, is an international judge and chief referee.
She attends skating seminars, which European and South American coaches conduct in Wellington and Auckland a few times in a year.
While her mother helped her when she was younger, she receives tutelage from other coaches now, namely the Auckland pair of Bev Cooper (NZM) and Rachael Parkinson-Turner as well as Kylie Shirley, of Palmerston North.
"We have our disagreements," she says of her mother, with a laugh.
Going to the world championship also is on the agenda for Coe who finds free skating tiring but still good enough to be her favourite discipline, because of the jumps and spins.
"Maybe when I'm 18 and big enough to go to work but mum thinks maybe when I'm 16."
Coe's wardrobe at home is chocker with costumes she has used in competitions from the time she was 4.
"I've sold a couple but I'm keeping the rest because I love them all," she says of the ensembles sewn in Lycra and lace with stretch net and ruffled hems.
Her dressmaker, Caroline Longville, of Auckland, whets that appetite.
McRae, of Crownthorpe, relishes the travel and ability to make friends through the code.
"I'm not the sporty type. I never skated before that or played netball," she says, stressing her curriculum at the previous school she taught at entailed performance, arts and drama.
"I fell into it [skating] and became obsessed by it," she says, expressing disappointment that it no longer features in the New Zealand Masters Games.
"Apparently years ago, it used to be there but they dropped it when numbers got down but it's coming up again."
McRae loves the idea of training and competing alongside the young ones because it makes someone of her age feel youthful.
The possibility of getting injured is ever-present but, like Coe, she is well versed in safety procedures and engaging in non-high risk disciplines.
"I was scared initially and had two quite heavy falls and broke a cheekbone," says self-confessed "scaredy cat" McRae.
Ross-Grant, 15, a Napier Girls' High School pupil, won gold (dance) and silver (figures) at the nationals and picked up the Jack Fanthorpe Award for the best performance by an artistic skater, up to and including cadets.
"It [the Fanthorpe award] means a lot, so I can travel now.
"I've worked hard to repay the faith my coaches and the judges put in me," says the year 10 pupil who competed at the Australian nationals but came away empty handed.
Ross-Grant got placings in the top half of the field but returned wiser for it.
"It was my first Australian nationals, where I found the judges saw things differently."
-Anyone interested in learning more about skating can contact Eileen Mills on (027) 6362013.
