QUEBEC MARATHONS

Masters skaters made up thirty-six, of forty-seven participants, in the 25 km event and thirty, of thirty-four competitors, in the 40 km race at the Gaétan Boucher Oval in Québec City during November 25 to 26. Conditions were ideal for skaters, officials, lap counters and coaches who all enjoyed the unusually sunny warm calm weather.

Overall winners were as follows:

25 KM - WOMEN

1st - Suzanne Dionne (40-49 years)
2nd - Dominique Lalonde (20-29 years)
3rd - Suzanne Tousignant (40-49 years)

25 KM - MEN

1st - Girard Othenin (20-29 years)
2nd - Bob Laurence (50-59 years)
3rd - Jim Cornell (40-49 years)

See complete 25 KM Results (64 laps)













40 KM - WOMEN

1st - Suzanne Dionne (40-49 years)
2nd - Dominique Lalonde (20-29 years)
3rd - Suzanne Tousignant (40-49 years)

40 KM - MEN

1st - Bob Laurence (50-59 years)
2nd - Jim Cornell (40-49 years)
3rd - Sergio Almarella (30-39 years)

See complete 40 KM Results (103 laps)

The 40 KM event featured a rolling start with the first lap led out by Paisley Perrie (10-19 years) and Canadian Speed Skating Hall of Fame member Pierre Gagné (70-79 years) - see photo.













Many thanks to event organizers and volunteers including Gaétan Rochette and Pierre Gagné.

CALGARY 2007 – HOTELS

According to the IMSSG site, the Ramada Hotel has been added to the list of hotels for the Calgary World Masters Championships in February –for booking information please consult: www.imssg.org/RamadaHotel.htm. Also, the organizers encourage those currently booked at the Four Points Sheraton to consider changing their reservation to the Ramada because of its more convenient location near the train and public transport. The masters booked at the Four Points Sheraton should also make sure that their reservation is uninterrupted and without transfer to another hotel near the airport on February 23 and 24.

Report and english translation courtesy of Anika Bédard

PROVINCIAL SPRINT COMPETITION IN SAINTE-FOY

The first provincial long track sprint competition was held November 18-19, 2006 at the Gaetan Boucher Oval in Sainte-Foy, only two weeks after the opening of the oval. Close to 70 skaters of all ages registered, but only 5 masters took part to this event. The weather conditions were for once perfect with temperature around 5C and no wind, which is quite unusual if you ever skated in Sainte-Foy!

Benoit Lamarche (Masters 40-45), former Olympian, showed us that he is still in shape with times at the 500m and 1000m of 40.42 sec and 1:20.29 min respectively, finishing in the top 8 skaters in 3 of the 4 races. Maurice Gagné (Masters 60-65) came back strong this year with 52.63 sec for the 500m and 1:52.29 min for the 1000m. In the Masters Woman 40-45, Anika Bédard improved her 1000m Canadian record (Canadian Master Championships - March 2006) by 4 seconds with a time of 1:44.21 min. After the races, pursuit teams were organised according to the ranks/times and some masters joined the younger skaters for these fun and unofficial races of 4 or 6 laps.

For complete results, please consult: http://www.fpvq.org/doc/Resultats/Resultats.pdf

Report by Anika Bédard
English translation by Anika Bédard

LAKE PLACID NEWS

Latest News on Dimon Sports Website reports that the Bunnie Sheffield Speed Skating Oval in Lake Placid New York is scheduled to open for the season on December 2 - 3, 2006. Operating hours for the Oval, which was the venue for the 1980 Olympics where Eric Heiden won 5 gold medals in speed skating, can be seen here. A live webcam showing oval conditions can be seen
here.

Upcoming events, of possible interest to masters speed skaters, include:

- the Charles Jewtraw All-Round meet on December 9 - 10, 2006

- the Dimon Sports Marathon on December 16 - 17, 2006, and

- the Jack Shea Sprint Classic on January 6 - 7, 2007.

Many thanks to John Dimon for organizing these events and for supporting speed skating in the Lake Placid area.

SHORT TRACK REPORT FROM SASKATCHEWAN

Many thanks to Mickey Kupchyk of Regina who filed the following report:

"The records were dropping like leaves at the Saskferco Fall Classic short-track speed skating meet in Regina this past weekend.

Brad Hudey, of the Regina Speed Skating Club, broke the Canadian Masters 2 records in the 777m, 1000m, and 1500m with times of 1:15.35, 1:41.21, and 2:35.46 respectively. He also set a new Provincial record in the 500m with a time of 49:30. Brad was really flying out there this weekend. In all four of his record breaking events he immediately took the lead at the gun and skated each race like a pursuit with no drafting at all. At one point in the 1500m he clocked back-to-back 9.7 and 9.8 second laps!

Unfortunately once again, Brad’s Canadian records won’t stand because he chose to skate with the kids in Group 1 rather than skate in the Masters division. But, for those of you who don’t know Brad, the records don’t mean anything to him – he just loves to skate and compete with fastest people possible. He never stops smiling when he’s racing.

In the Masters division Bill Christ (Masters 2) of Regina cleaned up winning all four heats and finals.

Mickey Kupchyk had a pretty good weekend as well finishing second overall in the Masters division. Mickey set new Provincial Masters 3 records in the 500m, 777m, 1000m, and 1500m with times of 0:56.24, 1:29.40, 1:56.52, and 2:58.18 respectively."

AMERICAN MASTERS WANTED!

Andrew Love has posted an excellent article on his website about his experiences competing in international masters meets and calling for more American entries to the 16th Masters International Speed Skating Games at Calgary's Olympic Oval during February 22 to 25, 2007.

See American Masters! Attention! at Zen and the Art of Speedskating

As a world record holder in 500 m (men 30 & 35), 1000 m (men 35) and sprint points (men 30 & 35) - Andrew should count himself amongst the many American skaters who represent the best of this sport. Andrew also recently placed 5th in men's 500 m in the US Single Distance Championships / Fall World Cup Qualifier held October 19 to 22, 2006 at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee - clocking 37.12 and racing against skaters of all ages!

Many thanks to Andrew for his inspiration and leadership.

MASTERS INTERNATIONAL SHORT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS - REPORT

Jim White, of the West Allis Wisconsin Speed Skating Club, sent the following report regarding the 1st Masters International Short Track Speed Skating Championships held November 4 to 5, 2006 in the Pettit National Ice Centre in Milwaukee:

The first Masters International Short Track meet has concluded with 4 age group winners, one yellow card, zero injuries, and 100% skaters who enjoyed the weekend. This meet was held at Pettit November 4-5 in conjunction withthe Great Lakes Short Track Championship, and in the spirit of the classic Masters International Long Track meet.

The meet was designed to give everyone a variety of skating. Heats were divided by age. Finals were determined by finishing position in heats, so skaters of all ages were together with other skaters of similar speed. There was plenty of time between Masters races to recover and to watch Great Lakes races.

For men, overall and 30's age group winner was Scott Schuyler, of the Metro's club. John Cassady came from Texas to win the 40's group, and placed second overall. 50's top spot was won by Steve Penland of Glen Ellyn, and 60's byJim White of West Allis. Woman's 40's was won by Cathy Carrabre of Plymouth, while 50's winner was Diane Crossfield of Madison.

The yellow card was awarded to Jim Hundt who tried a desperation pass to the right at the finish of the 1000. Although he seemed to have the race won, the other skater at the line veered right (whether due to malice or awkwardness, we'll never know), sending Jim sliding into the pads, yet standing. If you know Jim, he stands well above the pads and carries plenty of weight, so he slid along directly in front of the judges and timers, clearing whatever / whomever was on top of the pads, and finally reaching the lap counter and scattering the lap number signs onto the ice. For this, he was given a yellow card by the head referee, although the ref was laughing so hard he apparently forgot to have the penalty officially recorded.

The second annual Masters International Short Track meet will be held next fall at Pettit. Jim Hundt has promised to try hard to stay away from the lap signs.

Full results are at http://www.wassc.org/

QUÉBEC MARATHON

The group Les Patineurs Maîtres de Québec is organising November 25 and 26, 2006 a marathon weekend at the Gaetan Boucher Oval in Quebec. Two races will be held: 25km and 40km. For more information consult: http://www.marathonskating.org/indexf.htm

CALGARY 2007 – STATE OF ENTRIES

According to the ISU Master Speed Skating Group (IMSSG) latest news, the reserved quota of 91 for Canadian competitors has already been reached! This is a fantastic turnout and should provide a great level of competition. The quota of 70 skaters for the Netherlands has also been reached. As for the other countries, as of today, here are the details (registration and quota): Germany 15 entries out of 41, Norway 50 entries out of 60, U.S.A. 11 entries out of 51 and other countries 33 entries out of 41. After December 10, 2006, all unused places will be awarded to those registered on the wait list. For Canadian skaters who wish to register now, their name will be added to this wait list.

OLYMPIC OVAL INVITATIONAL - MASTERS REPORT

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