OTTAWA LONG TRACK NEWS

Alicia Weiss sent the following report and photos on recent events and ice conditions at Ottawa's Brewer Park Oval:

Jan 5-6, 2008: Long Track Camp hosted by the Ottawa Pacers at Brewer Park.

We were all thrilled that camp could happen this year, made easier by the early start to winter. Day 1 we had a stellar practice. Mike Rivet coached the Masters group, with almost 30 of the 101 camp participants. While most Masters were from the Ottawa Pacers and Gloucester Concordes, we welcomed a few from the Kingston area and one from Peterborough.

It was a perfect day to be on the ice and there were many skills acquired and improvements made.

On Sunday the temperature warmed even more (with the day starting above 0) and brought us a heavy fog and melting ice. We managed to fit in a 2 hour practice before the oval was closed and camp cut short because of melting ice and soft spots. Because we’d fit in some excellent practice time, we were still very content with the weekend.

It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to show off our newly acquired skills today (Jan 12) at the Bytown Masters Long Track Meet, but with the weather warming further throughout the week, and with the addition of intense rain, the Oval just couldn’t outlive the elements.

So on Dec 12, instead of racing, many of us were at Brewer to assess the damage and start the rebuild. We had hoped that our solid snow base and 6 inches of ice would hold, and in some sections it isn’t bad, but in some sections the ice is all but gone. There are three sets of footprints where people have crossed the melting ice. Why would you do that? I sure hope they got a good soaker!

So today we began with patching the bare spots (and footprints), but again had to stop as the temperature warmed too much. With a temperature drop expected tonight, we should be able to start flooding again, and we hope to be able to rebuild within a couple of days, to be on the ice soon and be holding the Ontario provincials next weekend.

Many thanks to Alicia for this report and to all those hard-working determined folks in Ottawa for building and re-building the Brewer Park Oval. For current ice conditions, see the Ottawa Pacers website.