Over 300 skaters from more than 10 nations took part in the Oval Finale in Calgary during March 21 to 25. Alain Meilleur of Montreal, Quebec was among the many masters competitors and sent his personal report as follows.
First evening in Calgary on a cloudy and humid day, it seems that I have been waiting forever to skate. At 6:30 pm it is finally time to go to the oval. Some stress, some anxiety and when I finally get there WOW! What a sight. Approximately 150 skaters from different countries are speeding around on the ice (many junior skaters), I am very impressed. I take my time to embrace all this and slowly walk to the underground passage to go to the center of the oval. I finally get on the famous ice: "The fastest ice on earth" and after just a few strides and with the vortex created by the other skaters, it glides perfectly. I speed up and it gives me the sensation as if the blades were glued to the ice but in fact they were cutting perfectly. But, the effects of the altitude and dry air told me to restrain myself. I was happy to skate in the warm-up lane, just inches away from some crazy skaters skating 30 seconds laps. After a good hour of pure delight, it was time to get off the ice to let the zamboni on.
Next day, I watched the last races of the world cup the whole afternoon. Another pure delight. What is there more to say about the races, the atmosphere in the oval created by the crowd, many coming from the Netherlands, Norway and as well as locals. Cindy was great but my favorite was Martina Sablikova, from the Czech Republic who finished second in the 5000m. Why? Simply because she was able to have only 6 strides on the straights and 12 to 14 cross-over. Superb.
Monday, I trained in the morning and afternoon with Martine Charbonneau. Still very excited, I could not leave the ice, which resulted in a higher heart rate at bedtime. Instead of the normal 60, I had 85 and the next day still at 80 for my first 500m race. As usual, like all other 500m I have done before, I am feeling slightly nervous. I get ready, warm up and start the race like an old wet broom. After 250m, I regain my composure and finish strong with a 45,90sec. Not too bad. My best time was 48,35sec but my race could be classified as a nightmare.
After this first race and some rest, I prepare myself for the 3000m race in the afternoon. More relaxed and confident, I concentrate on the technical aspects and aim to lower my previous time of 5:15 min to 4:40 - 4:45 min. My start is slightly slow but good. It glides without much effort. At the finish line, I look up at the clock and see 4:40, but since we started in quartette I thought it could not be me… But, yes it was my time! Is it possible? And yes, nothing extraordinary but how gratifying.
Next day, a short 1500m, my favorite distance. I start confident from my previous race, Good start, good cross-over, everything goes well and this time I see 2:12 min. My previous PB had been forever at 2:29. During the evening, I start to think. Mind you this is something that happens sometimes in life… I think about the 5000m race and since I like to calculate, I started calculating. Before getting to Calgary, I was aiming to do below 9 minutes, between 8:30 to 8:40. I noticed that if I do laps slower than for the 3000m, I might be able to have a time below 8 minutes. In my head, this all seems now possible. For the first time in my life, I decided to slowly polish my blades. In the morning, I asked Martine to show me the lap times with the coach’s typical board. The start is given and I start quickly. I decide then to slow down slightly to maintain my pace. Martine shows me the times, it all looks good. I see 38sec and I kick myself in the butt to keep my objective. Two laps to go and it was in the bag because I still had some energy left in me. Final time: 7:52,71. Wow, I broke my previous PB by 71 seconds. After the race, Gaston was there with me to share my happiness and then Martine.
The simple advice that I want to give you when you skate in Calgary: Believe in yourself and the ice will help you.
Next trip in Calgary is planned for October and of course at the end of February at the World Masters. I would like also say hi to my friends from the Netherlands, some of whom have over 30-40 years of experience in skating, one of them being Victor van den Hoff. To see them skate gave me an objective for the next World Masters. Finally, a sweet thought for the greatest Canadian female sprint skater, Catriona Lemay-Doan. She was there almost every day, very accessible, very charming and she gave me advice in French for a good 500m.
Get ready for next year, here I come.
- Alain Goode Meilleur
English translation by Anika Bédard
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