OLYMPIC OVAL MASTERS CAMP 2006

During July 10 to 14, forty-four participants converged on Calgary’s Olympic Oval for the 2006 edition of the masters speed skating camp. Canadian skaters came from many provinces including Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia while USA campers arrived from Pennsylvania and New York.

Skaters included IMSSC world champion and Canadian and North American record holder Eugene Kurmey (Men 75+) from Winnipeg, as well as Canadian record holder Mickey Kupchyk (men 50-59) from Regina, and Canadian and North American record holders Agatha Van Der Starre (women 70+), Peter Blokker (men 70+) and Gary Link (men 60-69), and Canadian record holder Diane Silzer (Women 40-49) - all from British Columbia.

The 5-day program began with a refresher in the essentials of basic position, edge control and weight transfer; and progressed through straight-away and cornering drills to starts. These technical drills were interspersed with plenty of multi-lap intervals permitting skaters to apply both techniques and coaching advice. The week culminated with timed 400m laps and tempo skating both to prepare and seed competitors for the optional mass start races held the following Saturday morning.

Each of the 2 daily on-ice sessions was preceded by, both indoor and outdoor, dry-land warm-ups involving jogging, calisthenics and dynamic stretching. Non-runners were afforded use of the Oval’s numerous stationary bicycles, which were also available for day-end warm-down.

On-ice and dry-land coaching was led by current and former national team skaters, Neal Zaluski, Selina Elm and Beth Whitmee with assistance from Kyle Parrot, Mark Wild, national team coach Neal Marshall and olympian Kevin Crockett.

Mid-day seminars covered a variety of subjects including an ask-and-answer session with national team long track equipment guru Alex Moritz and presentations by national junior team coach Todd McClements on decision-based training, mental preparation and recovery.

Many participants took advantage of available University of Calgary conference housing while others camped on the campus and made use of the shower facilities in the athletics centre. Weather conditions were near ideal with mostly warm sunny days, low humidity and relatively little rain.

There was much interest in the upcoming international masters speed skating championships scheduled for February 23 to 25, 2007 at the Calgary Olympic Oval where over 300 competitors from over 10 nations are expected to attend. For some, this camp was part of a preparation plan leading up to that competition.

For photos, see http://home.cogeco.ca/~mss/OvalMastersCamp2006/index.html