MANITOBA MASS START LONG TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Thank you to Mike McDonald for the following report -

Here are some results from the Manitoba Mass Provincial Long Track Championships. This competition ran on January 12-13. There were two provincial records broken in total - one by Randy Plett and the other by Mike McDonald. Randy (M2) set a new mark for the 1000m of 1:25.89 and, in the same race, second year skater Mike McDonald broke Randy's old mark in the 1000m for Master 1 with a new record of 1:38:06. Also, Randy tied a Canadian Record in the 500 m for M2 with time of 42:90.

The weekend was great and total Master participation was a total on 10.

This weekend is the Olympic Style Championships.

Complete results can be seen here.

BIG RIDEAU LAKE MARATHONS

Masters competitors dominated the podium in last Saturday's running of the 5th Big Rideau Lake Marathons in Portland Ontario.

Event organizer and competitor, Marco Smits, tells the story in his report.

Photographer/competitor, Alicia Weiss, has provided some excellent photographs of the 50 km race.

Complete results can be seen here.

BROCKVILLE EASTERN REGION ABILITY MEET

Meet coordinator and President of the St. Lawrence Rapids Speed Skating Club, John Sommerville, highlighted that masters competitors are very welcome at this upcoming short track meet in Brockville Ontario on February 16, 2008. Additional information and an entry form are available here.

ONTARIO PROVINCIAL LONG TRACK CHAMPIONSHIPS

Masters skaters were present in force last weekend at Ottawa's Brewer Park Oval for the Ontario Provincial Long Track Championships.

Graham Lodge (Kingston) leading Elio Cozzarini (Peterborough)

Photo by Alicia Weiss

Larry Magloire (Brampton) pursuing Kevin Frost (Gloucester)
Photo by Alicia Weiss

Ariane Clouthier (Gloucester) and Lisa Meyer (Gloucester)
Photo by Alicia Weiss

Observer/photographer, Alicia Weiss, sent a link to all her excellent photos and competitor/coach, Larry Magloire, described the scene -

Ottawa was super! It was cold. 20 degrees below with a wind chill that felt like –30. Ice was hard and as flat as I have ever seen it. They ran pursuits at sundown. Keven Wetzel, Ian Miller from Toronto with me teamed up against Graham Lodge and two other Juniors for 8 laps. Some Masters had to leave early. There were several scratches due to fatigue or having to get on the road.

Mass start results can be seen here, and partial olympic style results here.

MICKEY KUPCHYK NOMINATED FOR SASKATCHEWAN MASTER ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Congratulations to Mickey Kupchyk, of Regina, who is one of three candidates being considered for the 2007 Saskatchewan Master Athlete of the Year. Nominated by the Saskatchewan Amateur Speed Skating Association, the award will be announced at the province's Sport Awards Dinner at Regina's Conexus Arts Centre on March 19.

Further details can be seen here.

Mickey following Brett Arnason in the 2007 North American Championships

ALBERTA INDOOR LONG TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Masters competitors figured prominently in this event held January 19 to 20, 2008 at Calgary's Olympic Oval.

Connie Pope, of Edmonton, established a new 3000m Canadian record of 5:01.54 for Masters 2 Women.

Jo-Ann Johnson, from the Calgary Speed Skating Association (CSSA), broke all the Canadian records for Master 3 Women as follows -

500m - 47.14
1000m - 1:34.37
1500m - 2:26.65
3000m - 5:03.08

Randy Plett, of the Red River Speed Skating Club, set a new 1500m Canadian record for Masters 2 Men with a time of 2:05.08.

Bob Irvine, also from CSSA, re-wrote the entire Canadian record book for Masters 3 Men with these results -

500m - 40.96
1000m - 1:23.12
1500m - 2:08.38
3000m - 4:28.40

Here are the complete results and a photo of the Masters 3 Men's podium.

Cliff Morrison (Edmonton), Bob Irvine (Calgary), Brett Arnason (Winnipeg)
Photo by Stephen Maunder

LAKEFIELD MASTERS CHALLENGE - UPDATE

The racing format and schedule have been revised, as well as accommodation information provided, in the attached updated event information and entry form.

Competitors have also been given the option of entering one day only. Registration deadline is January 30, 2008.

LAKEFIELD MASTERS SPEED SKATING CHALLENGE

The Ontario Speed Skating Association has just published entry form and event information for this first-ever competition scheduled for February 2-3, 2008 on natural ice at the site of the future Ontario Speed Skating Oval in Lakefield Ontario.

The olympic style format includes both sprint and short all-round racing. Registration is due January 30, 2008.

5th INTERNATIONAL BIG RIDEAU LAKE MARATHON

In a recent e-mail to the Todd Landon of the Ontario Speed Skating Association - event founder and organizer, Marco Smits, provided the following update -

Hello Todd,

Would you mind letting the skating community know how excited we are for the International Big Rideau Lake Speed Skating Marathon, now one week away! The layout of the oval is better than ever, we had our Olympia Ice re-surfacer out on the lake all day yesterday and there are parts where the ice is so slippery you could hardly walk on it. (and of course we have some of our famous pressure cracks, but hey...).

The date is Saturday, January 26. The schedule is here. We would really appreciate it if skaters sign up on-line (and it is cheaper).

As in other years, we have a beautiful free give-away for the 50K skaters (besides the many other prizes) but we can't say what it is, you got to be here to see it.

Anyway, we hope to see everybody here in Portland next weekend, joining us in the fifth anniversary of Skate the Lake.

Happy skating,

Marco Smits
President Portland Outdoors

Here's Peter Doucet's video of last years event, courtesy of Speed Skate World.

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.

11th MASTERS INTERNATIONAL OPEN AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

This action-packed event is probably the most racing you can get for your entry fee in masters speed skating. Scheduled for February 16 - 17, 2008 in Milwaukee's Pettit National Ice Centre, the competition format includes both metric (olympic-style) 500m and 1000m and pack-style (mass start) 300m, 500m, 800m, 1000m, 1500m and 3000m. If that isn't enough, skaters can also join in a fun 5000m super final.

With heats and finals in the pack-style races, each skater could potentially do 11 races in the 2 half-days of the competition. There's no need to take off your skates between races with this back-to-back format.

This meet is the 3rd and final event of 3 major masters international speed skating competitions in North America during the 2007-08 season.

Sign-up by February 9 for only $60 USD. Additional meet information and entry form is available here.

9th Masters International Open American Championships

Photo courtesy of Zen and the Art of Speed Skating

ONTARIO LONG TRACK RAINED OUT

Recent warm weather and rain has taken its toll on natural ice ovals in Ottawa and Sault Ste Marie resulting in the cancellation of 3 long track events scheduled for this weekend of January 12 - 13, 2008.
Regarding the Bytown Masters Meet in Ottawa, meet organizer Alicia Weiss wrote:

I doubt this comes as a surprise to any of you, but once again, the weather has gotten the better of the Brewer Park ice. The warm temperature and excessive rain have melted away a significant portion of our competition-ready surface, to the point that we now have grass above the surface in some sections. It will take some much colder days and time to rebuild.

On this note, the Jan 12 Masters Long Track Meet is officially cancelled.

Thank you all for signing up - it was looking like a very fun event, and an excellent time for the masters to get together.

Next on the schedule are provincials in Ottawa (masters are eligible to skate the mass start events) and the Lakefield Masters Challenge on Feb 2. Let's hope that meet is a go and we can all get together then.

Regarding the MSI series Bytown Marathons, also in Ottawa, meet organizer Jake Maarse wrote:

No event this weekend Ross unless you can find a nice lake to skate on for pleasure! The grass is showing up through the ice, the track needs to be rebuilt. The weather and nature are incredibly fascinating to watch. (a little inconvenient for us this time).

Regarding the Lock City Open Mass Start and Olympic Style Meet in Sault Ste Marie, OSSA's Sport Director Todd Landon wrote:

Unfortunately the meet is Sault Ste Marie has been cancelled due to weather. After careful evaluation and input, the Sault Ste Marie Speed Skating Club has decided to cancel its meet due to warm weather resulting in poor ice conditions. The Club will be notifying all registrants directly about the cancellation. The Club wishes to attempt to reschedule the meet and will work with OSSA to schedule an appropriate date. Contingencies pertaining to Canadian Long Track Championship qualification, due to the Sault Ste Marie Long Track Meet cancellation, will be clarified by the Technical Committee in the coming days.

Many thanks and condolences to meet organizers and volunteers who made incredible efforts to build and maintain these natural ice ovals, only to be frustrated by the effects of global warming. Their dedication is greatly appreciated by long track enthusiasts everywhere.

1st MASTERS INTERNATIONAL OPEN AMERICAN SPRINT

It was no exaggeration when meet organizer Andrew Love predicted the 1st Masters International Open American Sprint would be a complete blast.

Meet organizer, Andrew Love, welcomes competitor, Mark Nolan.

Thirty-one competitors from Seattle to Maryland and including four Canadians plus Romanian ex-patriate, Tavi Moga, sprinted their hearts out in Milwaukee's Pettit National Ice Centre (PNIC) on January 5 to 6, 2008. While no IMSSC records appeared to fall, the meet announcer was repeatedly heard to announce another "PNIC Personal Best" as skater after skater crossed the finish line while improving their own performance.

This theme carried through to the final awards where the 4 skaters with the largest personal improvements got to duel one last time in a contest of "pick a number between 1 and 4" with the lucky winner treated to a 90-day pass to a local fitness centre. Top competitors in all 5-year age classes were awarded beautiful PNIC sweatshirts and T-shirts and all skaters received a certificate featuring actual event photos and recording their individual race times and samalog points.

The event included a Saturday evening party at the home of meet registrar and competitior Olusegun Sijuwade (known to all as Olu) where copious food and drink was consumed while socializing and watching speed skating videos. The visual presentation included actual video of Saturday's races played backwards, forwards, in slow-motion and fast-forward with fun impromptu commentary contributed by all.

The meet was extremely well-organized and smoothly run due in large part to the dedicated team of PNIC volunteers who give up their weekend mornings throughout the skating season for open time trials. Only some of the crew are pictured here with numerous others including timers, starters, recorders, clerks and announcer helping this event to be a great experience for all skaters.

Many thanks to the meet organizers including Andrew, Olu, Carla Langenthal and others who also competed as well as contributed to the success of this first-ever international sprint meet in North America. See Results.

left-right: Olu (USA), Julie Houle (CAN), Andrew (USA) and Brett Arnason (CAN)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

To all our skating friends across Canada and around the world, we wish you the very best for a happy and healthy 2008. May the ice be smooth and the wind be always at your back.

Ross & Ann in Baselga de Piné - 2005

Photo by Bob Laurence