The 2006 edition of this penultimate all-round international masters speed skating event was held during March 3 to 5, 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. Canadian masters skater, Brett Arnason of Winnipeg Manitoba, sent the following report:
For 2006, Canada was represented by Eugene Kurmey, Brett Arnason, and Patrick Kelly.
Eugene, Brett, and Brett’s wife Marnie left Winnipeg on February 22, 2006. We were picked up in Amsterdam by Aris Dijksman. Aris is the King of Master’s Speedskating in Holland. We spent four great days getting used to the time change and touring around. We did some skating at Haarlem. They have a great facility. The numbers of skaters is just overwhelming. From 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. is the time they skate. Over two hundred Masters were out training. Not much room for high speed training. They have the opposite problem to us. Many skaters and little ice time.
Eugene, Brett, and Brett’s wife Marnie left Winnipeg on February 22, 2006. We were picked up in Amsterdam by Aris Dijksman. Aris is the King of Master’s Speedskating in Holland. We spent four great days getting used to the time change and touring around. We did some skating at Haarlem. They have a great facility. The numbers of skaters is just overwhelming. From 10:00 to 11:00 p.m. is the time they skate. Over two hundred Masters were out training. Not much room for high speed training. They have the opposite problem to us. Many skaters and little ice time.
Helsinki was a well run event. The mayor hosted the welcome drink at City Hall. The host hotel was about 20 minutes by bus from the oval. The weather was less than ideal for the first two days. But the sun shone for a great day on Sunday.
Eugene Kurmey successfully defended his world title against three other competitors in the 75 year category.
Patrick Kelly blew them all away in the 500 meters and worked hard at the other three distances to end up second overall.
Brett Arnason was 10th in the 500 meter and ended up 20th out of 29 in the 55 year old division.
The photo of the Canadian skaters includes Brett Arnason (left), Patrick Kelly (left centre), Karen Courtland-Kelly (right centre) and Eugene Kirmey (right).
Complete event results can be seen at http://www.kolumbus.fi/kloponen/hlk/Sivusto/r3.pdf
Brett also represented Canada at the 24th Session of the IMSSC and reports the following:
There is great enthusiasm from all the skaters about Calgary in 2007. We have a quota of 90 plus skaters for Canada. The overall quota is 300. We are going to have to work together across Canada to get as many as possible to attend.
Complete event results can be seen at http://www.kolumbus.fi/kloponen/hlk/Sivusto/r3.pdf
Brett also represented Canada at the 24th Session of the IMSSC and reports the following:
There is great enthusiasm from all the skaters about Calgary in 2007. We have a quota of 90 plus skaters for Canada. The overall quota is 300. We are going to have to work together across Canada to get as many as possible to attend.
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