1. Upcoming Meets

Alberta Indoor Long Track
This is a quick reminder that registration is currently underway for the Alberta Indoor Long Track Championship, January 23-25, 2009 at the Calgary Olympic Oval and hosted by the Calgary Speed Skating Association (CSSA).

With CSSA’s goal to think green and streamline the registration process, this year’s registration form for the meet is online! This is a first for any speed skating club in Canada and hopefully it makes things easier for anyone planning to attend the event.

When you visit the Club webpage (http://www.calgaryspeedskating.com/), you will see the Meet announcement, along with information about how to navigate to the online registration form in the Karelo registration system.

Please have this information on hand before you get started:

1. Health Care #
2. Club Name
3. Coaches Name
4. Coaches Email Address
5. Speed Skating Canada Number (SSC#)
6. Seed time information for the event(s) you are entering:

PeeWee to Midget 300m time
a. Date of Seed Time
b. Seed Time Location (name of competition)

Juvenile and up 500m time
c. Date of Seed Time
d. Seed Time Location (name of competition)

Olympic Style 500m time
e. Date of Seed Time
f. Seed Time Location (name of competition)

Canadian skaters – if you do not know your SSC#, please contact your Club Manager to obtain it from the Speed Skating Canada website.

American skaters – you will need your national number (the equivalent to our SSC#).

The last date of registration is January 15th, 2009 and online late registration will be accepted until January 20th, 2009. Please note that late registration fees apply after January 15th. If you have any questions, feel free to contact meetreg@ucalgary.ca

Silver Skate Festival
The Silver Skate Festival & Winter Celebration is a free event for all to enjoy. Entering its nineteenth year, the Silver Skate Festival is the longest running winter festival in the City of Edmonton and is scheduled for February 20-22, 2009 at Hawrelak Park. The festival is rooted in the Dutch tradition of a love of the outdoors and the pleasure of experiencing the cultural and aesthetic beauty of winter but in recent years the festival has also expanded its programming to address the needs of our multicultural community.

A blend of culture, arts, sport and recreation has been carefully planned in the six distinct areas of the festival: Opening Ceremonies at City Hall, the Cessco Snow Sculpture Garden/Competition, Interactive Family Area, Free Public Programming, Mammoet Winter Triathlon, and the Northgate 25 km & 50 km Marathons. Come and enjoy a weekend of artistic, cultural and outdoor activities inclusive of all ages and lifestyles.

Western Regional Long Track
The Western Regional Long Track is being held January 24-25, 2009 in Saskatoon. Call the AASSA office for more details. 

2. ING – Meet the Judges

There certainly won’t be a lack of talent or star power on the guest judges panel for the second annual ING Speed Skating Challenge: there are Olympians, World and National Champions and World Record Holders, with too many medals to count between them.

Two-time Olympic Champion Catriona Le May Doan will again assume the role of head judge, and has extended an invitation to World Champion long track skater Jeremy Wotherspoon and Olympic short track skater Charles Hamelin to join her on the panel.

“If anyone knows great speed skating stories, it’s our panel of guest judges. They’ve all lived speed skating in this country, growing up in community clubs and coming through the system to represent Canada all over the world,” added Catriona.

Jeremy Wotherspoon’s comeback story has become legendary. After taking a year off following the 2006 Olympics and spending time in Norway on a fishing boat, he returned to the ice to win nine out of ten World Cup races in 2007-08.

Charles Hamelin’s story is all about family ties: younger brother Francois also competes for Canada on the short track team and father Yves is their coach, as well as Speed Skating Canada’s short track program director.

To help select the Top 16 video finalists, Catriona has also recruited two-time Olympic medalist Alanna Kraus and up-and-coming short track sensation Jessica Gregg. As the daughter of an Olympic long track speed skater Kathy Gregg and NHL defenseman Randy Gregg, Jessica knows what she’s doing on the ice and brings a lot of family history to her role as a guest judge.

Alanna Kraus, who now works for ING in Calgary, has developed a strong relationship with ING after retiring from the National Team in 2008 and is looking forward to her role as a guest judge. "Growing up in Abbotsford, BC, and getting involved in speed skating at the community club level, it’s amazing to see what the sport has become in Canada,” added Alanna. “And that’s what the ING Speed Skating Challenge is all about – how the sport can inspire you and make you laugh. I saw that in the video stories last year and I’m really looking forward to being a guest judge this year.”

Rounding out the panel of judges is a young skater who knows a thing or two about telling great stories. Alastair Starke’s “Durness Oval Story” prevailed as Canada’s Best Speed Skating story in the first ING Challenge and this year, he’ll join Catriona and the others to select the Top 16.

Following the January 18th, 2009 deadline for video submission, the panel of judges will convene to view the video stories and make their recommendations for the Top 16.

National voting begins on February 9th, 2009.

To find out more information on the guest judges for this year’s ING Challenge or enter your video, please visit; http://ingspeedskatingchallenge.com/

3. How Did Canada Do?

Sherbrooke – Sherbrookois native Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu once again pleased the crowd when he took the silver medal in the 1000m, today, at the World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championship in his hometown. This time, he was joined on the podium by teammate Maxime Fortin (Rivière-du-Loup, QC), as Fortin took the bronze medal in the distance. The women’s relay team added a 6th medal to the Canadian tally this weekend when they won the silver.

Competition was tough on the men side in the 1000m, and three skaters were disqualified in semi-final, including Canadian Guillaume Blais-Dufour (Québec, QC), who finishes the distance in 7th position. This actually allowed the other two Canadians to make the final as Fortin, who was in the same heat as Blais-Dufour, made the final because two skaters were disqualified, and Gélinas-Beaulieu, third in his semi-final, took advantage of the disqualification of a Korean skater to get his place in the big final.
The scenario was the same in the final, with two Canadians, Korean You Dong-Kun and American J.R. Celski. Celski was disqualified at the end of the race, which gave silver and bronze to Gélinas-Beaulieu and Fortin respectively.

“I’d say I’m happy with myself overall”, said Maxime Fortin. “My goal was to make the finals, of course I was hoping for a medal. It didn’t come the way I would have wanted, but that’s what short track is all about. It puts a nice end to my career as a junior, and it motivates me even more to try and show what I can do among the seniors, but it’s really competitive with the men in Canada.”

The last individual race of the weekend was the Super 1500m, and only the top six skaters in the overall rankings after three distances were taking part in it. The three Korean skaters, Celski, Gélinas-Beaulieu and Russian skater Viktor Knoch were all on the start line. The race was full of passes, and it’s Um Cheon-Ho of Korea who took gold, followed by Celski and Dong-Kun. Gélinas-Beaulieu was 4th to cross the finish line, for 4th place of the overall rankings of the weekend, dominated by Koreans (Cheon-Ho is World Junior Champion, Dong-Kun 2nd and Celski of the US is 3rd). The other Canadians finish the competition in 7th overall for Maxime Fortin and 8th for Blais-Dufour.

“You can’t let your competitors intimidate you”, explained Gélinas-Beaulieu at the end of the day. “I knew it would be a fast final, but if I tell myself I can beat them, it helps. I’m really happy with my weekend, I didn’t know what to expect so I’m feeling a lot of different emotions right now!”, finished the best Canadian skater at these Championships, who also took the bronze in the 1500m Friday. Very promising for the young athlete who still has two years to skate on the junior circuit.

On the women side, Canadians were not able to make the final in the 1000m, and the three Korean skaters swept the podium (Noh Ah-Reum, Lee Eun-Byul and Lee Mi-Yeon in order). Ivanie Blondin (Ottawa, ON) was the best Canadian in the distance with 5th place, as she was third in her semi-final heat. Marianne St-Gelais (St-Félicien, QC), crowned World Junior Champion in the 500m yesterday, took the 7th position and teammate Valérie Maltais (La Baie, QC), bronze medallist yesterday, was 9th.
Maltais and St-Gelais both made the super final in the 1500m because of their overall ranking. Canadians skated hard in that race alongside the three Korean skaters and Italian Arianna Fontana. The Koreans were simply too strong and despite many tentatives by other athletes, they protected their positions throughout the race to finish Eun-Byul, Mi-Yeon and Ah-Reum in order. Maltais took 5th place and St-Gelais 6th.

In the overall women ranking, Koreans swept once again the podium, with Ah-Reum, Eun-Byul and Mi-Yeon in order. Marianne St-Gelais finishes the competition in 4th place overall, Maltais is 6th, and Blondin 8th. All Canadians skaters can say mission accomplished as they are all part of the 10 best junior skaters in the world, which is very promising for the Canadian team since many of these skaters will be senior next year.

The two relay finals were extremely eventful, with tight passes and falls. All this action led to two disqualifications in each race. The Italians took gold on the women side, in front of Canada. Korea and China were disqualified for cross tracking and impeding during the race.

On the men side, Canadians skated most of the race with only three skaters, as Maxime Fortin had a concussion in the final of the 1000m earlier in the day. They gave everything they had and crossed the finish line in third place, in front of the Chinese team who fell in the middle of the race, but they were disqualified along with the Koreans, which gave gold to the Americans and silver to the Chinese.
“That’s a lot of races in a day, it was really fast and we didn’t have much time to rest between each race in the end, so we had tired legs for the relay”, finished Gélinas-Beaulieu. “We did what we could!”
This puts an end to the World Junior Short Track Championship in Sherbrooke. Canadian athletes now head to Montreal where they will skate in the Canadian Open Championship next weekend at the Maurice-Richard Arena.

Salt Lake City – Kristina Groves (Ottawa, ON) skated to victory for yet another day at the Continental Qualifiers held at the Utah Olympic Oval. Groves surpassed all of her competitors to win the ladies’ 1500m and 5000m today.

Tailing Groves was Brittany Schussler (Winnipeg, MB) who came in second in the 1500m. Kirsti Lay (Medicine Hat, AB) took 5th place, while Nicole Garrido (Edmonton, AB) finished in 6th place. In the ladies’ 5000m, Brittany Schussler came in third and Garrido was 4th; missing the podium by only 0.85 seconds, Kirsti Lay ended in 7th place.

Justine L’Heureux (St-Tite, QC) and Clara Hugh (Winnipeg, MB) did not skate today because of illness.

On the men side, Jay Morrison (Fort St. John, BC) came in third place in the 1500m with a time of 1:46.61. Following Morrison was Steven Elm (Red Deer, AB) with a time of 1:46.68. Jeff Kitura (Langley, BC) came in 5th while Lucas Makowsky (Regina, SK) ended 6th. Mathieu Giroux (Montreal, QC) was 9th and Peter Martel (Calgary, AB) ranked in 12th.

In the 10000m, Mathieu Giroux came in 4th finishing 9.46 seconds behind the leader, the American Chad Hedrick. Jay Morrison was 5th, finishing 6.23 seconds behind his teammate. Steven Elm clocked in at 13:55.51 to finish 6th, Lucas Makowsky took 7th place and Jeff Kitura ended in 11th.

“ It’s not surprising to see Groves and Schussler do so well. They have managed their races well and gave solid performances. But we had a bit a difficulty with certain skaters been sick,” explained National Team Coach Marcel Lacroix. “ To this regard, I have to mention Kirsti Lay’s performance today. She gave all she had to secure Canada’s fourth place at the World All Round Championships. She battled for a place that belonged to a fellow teammate. That’s a selfless act. Jay Morrison also surprised us this week-end as a new skater on the circuit. He skated really well.”

The next important international meeting in long track will be the World Sprint Championships in Moscow this week-end.

Calgary – After winning the 1500m yesterday, Kelsey Duffield finished ahead of her competitors in the ladies’ 1000m with a time of 1:18.71minutes, a season best for the Albertan skater. In other races, Shannon Sibold was awarded the gold medal in the ladies’ 3000m, while Saskatchewan’s Mykola Makowsky won the men’s 1500m with a time of 1:47.63 minutes, and Jordan Belchos of Ontario claimed the top prize in the men’s 5000m.

Shaving 11 seconds off his personal best time in the 5000m, Belchos finished first with a time of 6:25.27 minutes. Keith Sulzer of Alberta ranked second while Dustin Johnston of Saskatchewan finished in third.

“I expected to do well. The ice in Calgary is pretty fast but I didn’t think I was going to do so well. I am very happy with my performance and that I improved my personal best by 11 seconds. It’s great to get this sort of confidence that I can go that fast. Tomorrow I will race the 10k, which is my best race and I am really looking forward to it”, said an ecstatic Belchos.

In the men’s 1500m, Sulzer ranked second behind Makowsky. Third place was awarded to Richard Maclennan of Ontario who won his second medal of the competition.

On the women’s side, Saskatchewan’s Kerry Dankers finished in second place in the 1000m. Danielle Wotherspoon of Alberta took third place skating the distance in 1:19.45 minutes.

“It was a very good race. It’s my season’s best in the 1000m. I had a great opener,” said Duffield. “It’s great to be on the Development Team. Without the government’s funding and sponsors I wouldn’t be able to train as much and to concentrate on performing. This weekend is a huge deal for me because I get points to be on the Development Team again next year. I have received the maximum of point possible so far.”

In women’s 3000m racing, Madeline Martin of Ontario finished in second place behind Sibold, and Brianne Tutt of Alberta took the bronze medal with a time of 4:20.69 minutes.

Over 75 athletes have raced to their personal best today. We can expect similar results tomorrow the Canada Cup #1 draws to an end. The men will skate the 500m, the 1000m and the 10000m. The women will race the 500m, the 1000m and the 5000m.

Ladies from Saskatchewan took the top 2 spots in the ladies 500m with Kim Weger taking gold with a time of 39.40 seconds, and Kerry Dankers finishing in second place, 0.01 seconds behind Weger. Alberta’s Kelsey Duffield took third place.

“I’m taking this meet as a progression towards the World Cup. The races were good, although I believe that my time could have been better - perhaps it was fatigue. I hope that some rest should help. In addition, I was skating a bit too high; by skating lower and being more aggressive in the first lap I should improve my time,” explained Weger.
“My next competition is going to be the World Cup in Russia later this month. I will focus on having the right knee angle, improving my turns and getting more into the ice. In all, I am very satisfied with this weekend and think of it as training for the big context in Russia.”

In the ladies’ 1000m, Dankers was at the top of the podium thanks to a time of 1:18.20 minutes. Dankers was followed by Duffield in second place. Natalya Rybakova ended in third place with a time of 1:19.15 minutes.

Still on the ladies’ side, Madeline Martin of Ontario won the 5000m with a time of 7:30.00 minutes. Martin was followed by Keara Maguire of British Colombia. Alberta’s Brianne Tutt finished third, only 7.31 seconds behind Martin.

First place in the men’s 500m was clinched by Quebec’s Vincent Labrie with a time of 35.14 seconds. Albertan Brock Miron took second place with a time of 34.37 seconds, and third place was awarded to Matt McLean of Manitoba.

While still nursing an important injury, Miron recorded his second win of the weekend in the men’s 1000m. Mykola Makowsky of Saskatchewan finished second with a time of 1:09.90 minutes and Quebecer Alexandre Garant took third place, finishing 0.21 second behind Makowsky.

“It’s been very long and arduous process to return to pre-injury form. I’ve been working with my coaches and medical team to improve things, little by little. My race times are getting a lot better. It’s the first time that I’ve skated so well since I hurt myself. This weekend hasn’t been about performance, but about execution and the technical aspect of the race,” said Brock Miron.

"This weekend was pretty good because, I wasn’t focused on racing the distance in the fastest time, but I still skated pretty fast. For the next couple of months, I will be training pretty hard and getting my ankle back to a 100%. With the Olympic trials still about a year away, my Olympic dreams are not in jeopardy.”

Ontario’s Jordan Belchos won the 10000m, setting yet another personal best with a time of 13:36.32. Andrew Godbout of Ontario, who raced the 10000m at a World Cup in the fall, finished in second place. Manitoba’s Stephan Waples, an up-and-coming skater with the Olympic Oval program, also skated a personal best to secure third place with a time of 13:57.55 minutes.

With many personal best times recorded this weekend, this first Canada Cup was a success. Many members of the National and Development Teams had very good results while many junior and up-and-coming skaters have left a lasting impression such as Richard Maclennan, William Dutton, Madeline Martin, Anastasia Buscis and Waples, to name a few.