World Master Long Track Champs – Erfurt 2008
I got dropped off at Toronto International to meet up with Kevin Frost from Ottawa. I had arranged to travel with Kevin as he couldn’t afford to pay for his usual travelling companion. For those of you that don’t know Kevin, he is legally “Deaf and Blind” and yes he was going to skate at the Masters World’s. This was going to be a learning curve for me as well. I met Kevin inside the airport as he had already flown down from Ottawa. We got settled on the plane and Nemo, his trusted Guide Dog, Eyes and Ears slept on the floor in front of us. Seven hours later we arrived in Frankfurt. We took the train to Erfurt, another 2 ½ hours and this was on the Inter City Express.
Caught a Cab to the Hotel, if only we had known it was just around the corner. Checking in we bumped into most of the USA team and then we were off to the arena for an afternoon training session.
Ice was good, legs were tired, what do you expect after travelling for a day. Nice thing about Nemo was that he never complained about anything, in fact neither did Kevin. We got some sight seeing in around the very picturesque city of Erfurt. Thursday saw us skate again in the afternoon and the draw took place in the City Hall.
Friday we had the 500m, skated like crap, just didn’t feel right and ended up with a 45.50, it was faster then Calgary but I thought I could go faster, next time. The fastest Canadian was Darren Lind in a time of 42.12. Kevin skated a 43.67 for second fastest, not bad considering. He certainly does open up many eyes, no pun intended.Saturday we had the 1500m and 3000m. After 3 distances they add up the points and depending on how many skaters there are in the group this decides how many skaters get to skate the 5000m. I’m not sure how I got in because after the 3000m I was lying in 15th spot and the magic number was 14. I went to check the results board and much to my surprise my name was on the list. The 5000m on Sunday was to be my best result with a 10th place finish and a PB. I finished in 14th spot overall. Kevin missed out on the 5000m and he ended up 19th overall in the 45-50, oh and by the way, that’s 19th in the World of Masters where the Dutch and Norwegians rule the roost.
Sunday night we were off to the Banquet, they ran out of food and I think there were a few hungry athletes, on the other hand they didn’t run out of Beer. Beer was actually cheaper then water in the restaurants, no joke. Medal presentation went on forever but everybody went home with a participation medal, certificate signed by the great Gunda Niemann (former German Champion) and a bound Protocol.
Front row L-R: Kevin Frost (ON), Peter Blokker (BC), Anika Bedard (QC), Genevieve Provencher (QC), Pierre Gagne (QC), Maurice Gagne (QC), Lyse Fournier (QC), Real Rompre (QC)2nd row L-R: Rejean Lavoie (AB), Brett Arnason (MB), Paul Shoebridge (ON)
Darren had to leave early due to travel arrangements so he’s missing from the pic.
We slept in Monday morning had breakfast then headed off for our journey home. Tram, Train, Plane and Car home from the Airport.
These were my second Masters Games and hopefully I will get to skate more. I have made new friends and seen another part of the World. What a great sport we have. Rumour has it that the Games are in Calgary again in 2011. 2009 they are in Norway and because of some disagreement the games in 2010 are either going to be in Berlin or Inzell – Germany. The games were supposed to have been in Russia.
You can see the full results here.
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