SASK CUP I - LONG TRACK SASKATOON

Mickey Kupchyk of Regina recently competed in this event during January 6 to 7, 2007 and sent the following report:

Long track season in Saskatchewan officially launched this past weekend in Saskatoon with the Sask Cup I mass start event.

Saturday morning was perfect. Temperature was -5 C with absolutely no wind. The event organizers had brought in a zamboni 3 days before the meet to prepare the ice - and what a job! The Calgary Oval has nothing on Saskatoon, OK I take that back, Calgary has a roof.

Everyone was knocking off PB's Saturday morning.

As lunch time rolled around the weather took a turn for the worse. A light skiff of snow turned into near blizzard conditions by early afternoon. (Remember that roof thing in Calgary) The hardy Saskatchewan skaters just sucked it up, put on an extra layer of clothes and continued to skate hard.

There were only three Masters skaters at this meet: Terry Livingston and Bruce Hope (both Masters 2) and me. Terry did personal bests in all four of his distances. Big kudos have to go out to Bruce. In his very first meet he managed to break the one minute mark in the 500m with a time of 54 seconds. I'm sure he'll be in to the 40's before the end of the season.

As far as myself it was a great weekend on a couple of accounts. First off, my son Evan who is eleven broke the minute mark in the 500m for the first time (cookies for all the Regina speed skating club Tuesday night). Secondly, I managed to break all four of the Provincial records as well as unofficially breaking the Masters 3 Canadian 1000m record with a time of 1:30.70 (unofficial because they had me skating in Group 1 with the kids. Just for the record, I lead from start to finish, no drafting).

Skating with the kids was a riot, problem is they learn too fast. After I blew them off the ice in the first 1000m race they realized that maybe it'd be a geat idea to draft behind the big old guy. So for the rest of the weekend race after race I dragged a train of kids around the ice until the final corner when they'd all pull out and pass me, little buggers. Actually it was great, seeing the smiles on their faces and their parents faces after they knocked down huge PB's was priceless.

Next meet is the Provincials in Moose Jaw this weekend followed by the Western Regionals in Regina January 27 and 28. I hear there's some great seat sales, so don't be shy about coming to Regina, we'd love to have you!