THE FUTURE OF LONG TRACK SKATING?

Having started speed skating later in life, I've only heard stories of outdoor skating tracks in southern Ontario at places like Toronto, Niagara Falls, London and Kitchener-Waterloo. For me, skating began on a rink that my father built in the back yard of our house every winter through the late 50's and early 60's.

When we began skating with our children in the mid-90's, most natural ice venues had vanished from the area except for the track that the dedicated volunteers of the Kitchener Sertoma Club used to build on the old running track around the tennis courts at Conestoga College. At that time, this ice would last maybe 3 to 4 weeks at best during January. It would nevertheless provide a limited opportunity for some pre-competition training prior to the provincial championships which alternated annually between Sault Ste. Marie and Ottawa. The site is now a parking lot.

In those days, there was sufficient interest in long track in southern Ontario to fill at least one bus with skaters to make the long trek to what seemed like the sub-arctic conditions of Sault Ste. Marie. In some years, the Cambridge Club alone would fill one bus with Brampton and London sharing another.

Now barely 10 years later, it seems the weather has warmed enough that natural ice in January is no longer a sure thing there or in Ottawa. Within the past few years, there have been several cancellations and postponements of competitions due to warm weather and un-skateable ice conditions. Ducks swimming on the open water of the Rideau Canal in January is now quite common. Understandably, the number of long track skaters seems to be sadly diminishing.

In more recent times, there have been ongoing efforts to develop a refrigerated track at Lakefield north of Peterborough. As funding and contributions slowly trickle in, some equipment (including an ice re-surfacer) has been purchased and the track has been rough-graded. Having progressed this far, organizers bravely staged the first-ever competition on this site in the form of a Masters Challenge last February - only to be stymied once more by - you guessed it - the weather.

Masters skaters thrilled to be in Lakefield for the first-ever competition on the Ontario Speed Skating OvalMoments later, the meet is tragically cancelled!

This is increasingly bad news for speed skating in Ontario which historically has produced some of Canada's top long track competitors including, most recently, Kevin (Overland) Crockett, Cindy Overland, Kristina Groves and Christine Nesbitt.

The issue of a lack of long track venues seems to be foremost in the psyche of the national speed skating community - evident in the voter-selected 2008 winner of Canada's Best Speed Skating Story. Most folks seemed to identify with young Alastair Starke's video about creating an oval on the frozen slough behind his family's farm in Lloydminster Alberta. Lucky for Alastair, global warming did not destroy his field of dreams as seems to be the case in southern Ontario.

What is the future of long track skating? Indoor ovals are expensive to build and operate and are, therefore, few and far between. The long-distance travel by car and plane, to get to these ovals unfortunately contributes further to the environmental problem that is making natural ice a thing of the past. Food for thought as we head into the long hot summer and wait once more for winter to return.