HALIFAX COUNCIL APPROVES PERMANENT SKATING OVAL

Halifax Regional Municipality councillors voted today to make the skating oval on the Halifax Common permanent. A funding plan for the oval will be decided in budget meetings next month. See the CBC news story here.

CANADIAN OPEN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2012

Speed Skating Canada has recently advised the 2012 Canadian Open Masters Championship will be held in Fort St. John, British Columbia on February 11-12.

Hosted by the Fort St. John Elks Speed Skating Club, the event will be held on the 400m indoor oval at the recently opened Pomeroy Sports Centre.

Photo by Wim Kok

Fort St. John is the home of Canadian Olympic Speed Skater, Denny Morrison and his brother Jay.

1212 kilometers northeast of Vancouver, 654 kilometers northwest of Edmonton and 930 kilometers northwest of Calgary; Fort St. John is located in the northeast section of British Columbia and is accessible year-round by air with daily flights to major Western Canadian markets or on the ground via the scenic Alaska Highway.

Mark your calendar to be sure not to miss this unique opportunity for masters speed skating in Canada.

CANADIAN RECORDS UPDATE

As the 2010-11 competition season winds down, masters are reminded to send times for consideration as Canadian records to Brett Arnason as soon as possible. Brett can be reached at brett@arnasons.ca.

MASTERS AT OVAL FINALE

Several masters took advantage of the legendary fast ice at Calgary's famous Olympic Oval to achieve the following personal records in the Intact Oval Finale/Canada Cup #4 held March 15-20, 2011.

500m

Vaughn Thibault (M40 CAN) - 40.98

Francois Calletta (M45 CAN) - 41.86

Helge Flesland (M45 NOR) - 42.93

Bianc Sampsonsen (M60 NOR) - 44.08

Ton van Klooster (M50 NED) - 44.20

Johannes Heltne (M55 NOR) - 44.58

Arne Kjolen (M50 NOR) - 45.31

John Pillar (M50 CAN) - 45.68

Johan Schut (M55 NED) - 46.70

1000m

Andre Kleinrensink (M40 NED) - 1:18.91

Bob Irvine (M55 CAN) - 1:20.27

Vaughn Thibault (M40 CAN) - 1:22.10

Helge Flesland (M45 NOR) - 1:23.72

Ton van Klooster (M50 NED) - 1:25.73

Bianc Sampsonsen (M60 NOR) - 1:26.60

Johannes Heltne (M55 NOR) - 1:29.50

John Pillar (M50 CAN) - 1:30.79

Arne Kjolen (M50 NOR) - 1:30.86

1500m

Helge Flesland (M45 NOR) - 2:08.75

Ton van Klooster (M50 NED) - 2:11.81

Johan Schut (M55 NED) - 2:12.80

Bianc Sampsonsen (M60 NOR) - 2:15.13

Magne Bratveit (M50 NOR) - 2:18.50

Arne Kjolen (M50 NOR) - 2:20.03

3000m

Bob Irvine (M55 CAN) - 4:25.90

Rejean Lavoie (M40 CAN) - 4:29.18

Helge Flesland (M45 NOR) - 4:31.99

Johan Schut (M55 NED) - 4:37.72

Magne Bratveit (M50 NOR) - 4:41.81

Bianc Sampsonsen (M60 NOR) - 4:45.86

Arne Kjolen (M50 NOR) - 4:57.89

5000m

Toon van Klooster (M50 NED) - 7:45.51

Rejean Lavoie (M40 CAN) - 7:54.90

Johan Schut (M55 NED) - 7:59.22

Jules Chabot (M40 CAN) - 7:59.37

Magne Bratveit (M50 NOR) - 8:02.16

Helge Flesland (M45 NOR) - 8:06.47

Arne Kjolen (M50 NOR) - 8:36.96

Johannes Heltne (M55 NOR) - 8:46.48

Congratulations to all skaters. Complete results can be seen here.

SALT LAKE CITY MASTERS MEETS

After the International Allround Games last month in Calgary, many masters headed south to Salt Lake City to compete in 5K and 10K races on March 2 and the Champion's Challenge during March 4-6. Three Canadians were amongst the 66 men and 5 women who took part from 10 other nations including Germany, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Russia and the USA.Julie Houle (Saint John) achieved a new personal record in the 500m going under 50 seconds for the first time on Saturday and then lowering it again to 48.35 on Sunday. She also skated a PR in the 1000m clocking 1:41.07.

The fast ice was also good to the men with Brett Arnason (Winnipeg) skating PR's in the 500 (42.01), 1000 (1:24.11) and 1500 (2:11.22). After an injury in the first 500m in which he still achieved a season best time of 40.52, Randy Plett (Winnipeg) had to scratch from all other races except for the final 5000m where he placed 7th overall.

According to masters speedskating .org, 136 personal records as well as multiple masters record times were set during the 4 days of competition. Complete results can be seen here and here.

WORLD MASTERS DAY FOUR

Competition concluded on Sunday with 1000M, 1500M, 3000M, and 5000M races. Unofficial winners:

1000M

M65 Jan van der Meulen NED 1:22.82

W30 Renske Winters NED 1:23.17

W35 Nina Johanne Torset NOR 1:23.54

W40 Marga Preuter NED 1:25.70

W45 Gerdien Meijer NED 1:23.76

1500M

M60 Erik Vea NOR 2:06.05

3000M

M65 Jan van der Meulen NED 4:32.58

M70 Toon Kooijmans NED 4:49.05

M75 Arne Kjell Foldvik NOR 5:08.13

M80 Tony Zegers CAN 6:05.62

W30 Bianca van den Hoek NED 4:33.29

W35 Nina Johanne Torset NOR 4:27.40

W40 Nicole Slot CAN 4:34.64

W45 Jolanda Voskanp-Vollebregt NED 4:30.14

W50 Marianne de Neeling-Lans NED 4:56.02

W55 Ute Zillman GER 4:51.03

W60 Ria Slikker NED 5:09.77

5000M

M60 Dries Zwart NED 7:41.46

Complete results are available here.

Sunday evening the awards ceremony took place at the Red and White Club at McMahon Stadium. Following the buffet dinner, the first, second, and third place overall winners in each category received an image on canvas of the Olympic Flame at the oval. The Olympic flame had been lit and continued to burn for the duration of the competition, so this was a fitting memento for the gold, silver and bronze winners.

Special recognition was given to the three competitors in the 80-84 age group – Tony Zegers, Roy Witney, and Agatha van der Starre.

More than 20 new world records, as well as a number of Canadian records, were set at the event. More information concerning records set will be available later.

The overall winners in each age group were:

W30

1 Bianca van den Hoek NED

2 Renske Winters NED

3 Ashley Shumate CAN

W35

1 Nina Tørset NOR

2 Renate Jeppsson NOR

3 Sarah Leslie CAN

W40

1 Marga Preuter NED

2 Nicole Slot CAN

3 Irma Woud NED

W45

1 Gerdien Meijer NED

2 Jolanda Voskamp-Vollebregt NED

3 Lijnie Boele NED

W50

1 Lettie Zwanenburg NED

2 Marianne de Neeling NED

3 Elke Sengewald GER

W55

Ute Zillmann GER

2 Silvia Tassara ITA

3 Joke Wittenberg NED

W60

1 Ria Slikker NED

2 Joanna Walters USA

3 Sheila McGinn CAN

M35

1 Thor Olav Tveter NOR

2 Danny Frederick USA

3 Martin Heerma NED

M40

1 Roberto Sighel ITA

2 Ard Neven NED

3 Frans Verhoeve NED

M45

1 Brian Boudreau USA

2 Martin Haire USA

3 Atle Vårvik NOR

M50

1 Herman Vermeer NED

2 Frode Eidsmo NOR

3 John van der Vlugt NED

M55

1 Victor van den Hoff NED

2 Ragnvald Næss NOR

3 Rolf Amundsen NOR

M60

1 Erik Vea NOR

2 Wibe Veenbaas NED

3 Egil Bokn NOR

M65

1 Alf Gjølga NOR

2 Jan van der Meulen NED

3 Kees Verdouw NED

M70

1 Ronald Johnston CAN

2 Toon Kooijmans NED

3 Giorgio Torgler ITA

M75

1 Arne Kjell Foldvik NOR

2 Peter Blokker CAN

M80

1 Antony Zegers CAN

2 Roy Whitney CAN

Complete samalog results are available here.

Following dinner and the awards ceremony, the evening concluded with dancing at the Red and White Club.