SUMMER CAMPS

Two speed skating camps are open to masters this summer -

For long trackers, the Calgary Olympic Oval Masters Camp is combined with the Summer Speed Camp during July 13-18. Registration, which opened March 1, is available for 42 skaters.

Olympic Oval Masters Campers - 2007
Photo by Arno Hoogeveld

Short trackers may register for the Ellis Edge Masters Camp to be held in Ottawa during August 6-9. Registration, which opens May 18, is limited to 25 skaters.

Ellis-Edge Masters Camp - 2007
Photo courtesy of Sheila McGinn

EAST COAST MASTERS

Masters speed skating is thriving in the Atlantic provinces of Canada with results visible in several major short track meets this past season including the Eastern Canadian Championships held January 24-25, 2009 in Fredericton New Brunswick.

Eastern Canadian masters competitors led by Reg Van Drecht
Photo courtesy of Ann Evans

For more information on speed skating in Atlantic Canada, visit the websites of:
Speed Skate New Brunswick
Speed Skate Prince Edward Island
Speed Skate Nova Scotia

MASTERS AT OVAL FINALE

The lure of the fast ice attracted many of the world's top skaters to Calgary's Olympic Oval for the 2009 edition of the Oval Finale during March 18-22. Although the prize money offered for record-breaking performances for world-class and Canadian national athletes may have been out of reach, masters competitors from Canada, Norway and Sweden made a strong showing amongst the 300 athletes from 20 countries who participated.

The results of this event, which concluded the 2008-09 season at the Oval, included 694 personal best times and 35 national records. Amongst these, several Canadian masters records appeared to have been broken as follows:

Nicole Slot (40-49)
- 500m (44.58)
- 1000m (1:26.72)
- 1500m (2:10.70)
- 3000m (4:32.90)

Bob Irvine (50-59)
- 500m (40.52)

Ronald Johnston (70+)
- 500m (45.18)
- 1000m (1:30.48)
- 1500m (2:17.68)

Congratulations to all masters competitors who may have set personal best times including those who skated in distances and classifications for which records are not maintained such as Roy Whitney (80+) and Brian Johnston (50-59) - 10000m (16:32.15).

Complete results may be seen here.

CANADIAN MASTERS SPEED SKATERS FACEBOOK GROUP

Alicia Weiss (Ottawa), Sheila McGinn (Halifax), Clark Hately (Kingston) and Leela Braun (Winnipeg) have set up a Facebook Group called Canadian Masters Speed Skaters. Open up your Facebook account and join in the fun!

MARATHON SKATING HEAVEN

Given suitable ice conditions not seen for many years, Canadian masters skaters Willem Langenberg, Brian Johnston (both Edmonton) and Suzanne Dionne (Ottawa) travelled to the Netherlands in early January to skate in various natural ice marathons. The following are excerpts from two e-mails from Willem with the very appropriate subject line - "Skating Heaven":

January 11, 2009:

Brian Johnston, Suzanne Dionne and I spent 4 days in marathon skating heaven in Holland, where all the canals froze over and about 500,000 speedskaters were out on the canals and ponds during this weekend. We did two days of about 120 km and today we were among 30,000 skaters around Giethoorn and did about 70 km (slow going with many skaters).

The first day (last Thursday) we skated the 5 km course about an hour after the pros finished their race

Think about this: This lake (Oostvaarderplasen) is very similar to Big Lake near Edmonton. The lake in Holland is only good for skating once in 12 years and everybody goes crazy. Big Lake near Edmonton has been consistently frozen with good (often black ice) every November for the last 25 years. If we put our minds to it, we should be able to organize a similar event every November on Big Lake. We just have to get the North American (and a few European) skaters to come to this event.

January 15, 2009:

After Brian, Suzanne and I skated 325 km in 3 organized tours (organized heaven with possibly 50,000 skaters participating: Oostervaarder Plassen Tocht, Veluwe Meer Tocht en 5 Dorpen Tocht), we skated around Ankeveen on Monday and saw the Ankeveen Classic Races (Summary of the men's race; summary of women's race). It was a wet heaven. It was very interesting to see the AMB chip timing in use (every skater had 2 chips; one on each ankle), with the addition of video photo finish.

We also took the opportunity to meet with the Marathon Chairman of the Dutch Skating Union, Egbert Lambers and Marathon Coordinator Teun Breedijk. We discussed the MSI racing circuit and the (failed) Alberta attempt to get a marathon/mass start demonstration race at the Vancouver Olympics.

The Dutch skating Union (KNSB) is of the opinion that the European circuit (Sweden, Finland, Austria, etc) needs to be developed first in order to get a marathon/mass start event as part of the official World Cup program (a pre-requisite for a possible Olympic event). We pointed out that these races are mainly supported by Dutch skaters (and not very international), while the MSI circuit has largely North American participation and shows an international component. We planted another seed for the idea to make one of the MSI events a Marathon Grand Prix (World Cup) event, which was Evert van Benthem's goal for the Sylvan Lake marathons.

We will stay in contact with the KNSB and keep you posted of any progress.

3RD MASTERS INTERNATIONAL RUSSIAN ALL-ROUND CHAMPIONSHIP

Ben Ruckert (NED) travelled to Kolomna Russia during March 14-15, 2009 to compete in the 3rd Masters International Russian Allround Championships and sent the following photos and comments to Brett Arnason in Winnipeg:This Ice-hall is really a beauty. During the first training on Friday, we did not know what was happening - 6 to 7 laps at 35 secs with 6 to 7 strokes on the straights, and not getting tired at all, that was amazing.North American masters interested in next year's version of this event should monitor the IMSSG's 2009-10 competition calendar which will likely be published in October.

ONTARIO MASTERS SHORT TRACK CHAMPIONSHIP

Nine master women and nineteen master men competed in this meet in conjunction with OSSA's regional ability championships in Newmarket during March 21-22, 2009. Organized in 2 ability-based mixed age and gender groups, masters competitors skated a heat and final in 500m, 777m and 1000m plus a 1500m final.

With many thanks to Don Ego (master skater emeritus and president of the Newmarket Jets Speed Skating Club), competitors were given preferential treatment including first ice following re-surfacings and extra unofficial drop-out races consisting of 2000m for women and 3000m for men.

Constant Montpellier (Brampton) appears to have set all new Ontario records for men 40-49 with the following times:
- 500m (48.25)
- 777m (1:16.92)
- 1000m (1:40.31)
- 1500m (2:35.41)

Constant's 1000m and 1500m times also look like new Canadian records.

Photo courtesy of Constant Montpellier's Facebook page.

Sheila McGinn broke her own record in the women 50-59 1500m with a time of 3:36.93.

Photo courtesy of Shelia McGinn's Facebook page

Many of the province's clubs were represented including Brampton, Gloucester, Hamilton, Kawartha, Kitchener-Waterloo, Markham, Niagara, Oakville, Ottawa, Quinte, St. Lawrence and Toronto. Competitors took a break from racing on Sunday to meet and discuss ideas and concerns related to masters competitions in Ontario.

Results were not published or rewarded by age and gender, but can be seen here. Many thanks to the meet's volunteer officials and organizers for an excellent event.