Brett Arnason, interim Canadian representative to the IMSSC, sent the following report regarding masters speed skaters who recently competed in the Olympic Oval Invitational Meet held October 20 - 22 in Calgary:
On Wednesday October 18, 2006 I received an email from Mickey Kupchyk advising that he was off to race in Calgary. I had not given it a thought before that but decided at the last moment to pay the late fee and book a flight. No skating in Winnipeg yet and it would be a great way to find out if my training all summer was going to help.
I arrived at 3:00 p.m. and headed for the oval. Mickey arrived at Calgary an hour later and we proceeded to get the feel of the ice at around 6:30 p.m.
After about ½ hour I saw Mickey hobbling off the ice. His blade on one skate had separated from the tube and it was not useable. A few minutes later while practicing a start I tumble head over heels and banged my knee. The bolt on the back of my left skate had come apart and blown out sideways. It wasn’t looking good for either of us.
I had spare parts and was able to make repairs and was ready to go in the morning. A little ice on the knee and I was ready for action. It took Mickey all morning to get new blades, rocker them, sharpen them, and try to get used to them.
The masters that I knew were Lynn Sugden, Bob Irvine, Mickey Kupchyk, Tom Levesque, and Cliff Morrison.
500 meter times for Lynn, Bob and myself were all unofficial 500 meter record times with Lynn opening with a 42.66, followed by Bob with a 42.93, and Brett with a 43.06.
It is early in the year and the times indicate that the Master’s 3 group from the West will be competitive.
See full Results
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Brett is much too humble. He forgot to mention that he blew away all of his previous PB's in every distance, congratulations! It was great to meet Lynn, Bob, Tom, Cliff, and let's not forget the marathon skater Brian Johnston.
Also congratulations to Bob Irvine who set a new unofficial 3000m record time of 4:37.29.
I totally agree with Brett, look out for the Master's 3 group this year! Everyone has been training hard in the off season and are looking fast.
As for my weekend, the best part was that my wife backed her car into the garage door at home - from there it went down hill. First I came down with a cold and flu 2 days before the meet. Then I broke a skate blade and had to buy a new set of claps, $725 Ouch! (Maybe everyone going to the World's should think about having a backup set).
On the brighter side, I did manage 2 personal bests and Brian Johnston put it best, "no matter how bad it gets, we're here skating on the fastest ice in the world and everyone else isn't".
I can't wait to get to the Can Am on November 23! See you there.
Mickey Kupchyk
Post a Comment