1. Rocky Mountain House Meet
The Rocky Mountain House club is pleased to announce that they will be hosting their meet on February 21st. Anyone wishing to volunteer should contact Mark Friesen at 403 845-3410 (h) or 403-844-0102 (c) or by e-mail at markim@telusplanet.net. Full details about the competition can be found on the AASSA web site in the Event section.
2. Canmore Team Challenge
As we approach the last 2 months of the season, the Banff/Canmore Speed Skating Club is excited to introduce an exciting new race to kick off the second half of the short track season, the Canmore Team Challenge, Saturday February 7th, racing 8:00am – 12:00pm.
The race is a Modified All Points Ability meet, open to Intermediate aged skaters and younger. Skaters will race four times over two distances. Points the skaters earn in their finals will be used to determine not only the skaters overall finishing position within their division, but will also be used to determine which club will win the Team Challenge Award.
The Team Challenge Award will be awarded to the club which earns the highest average point score. To determine the average point score, all the points earned by a club’s skaters entered into the completion will be added together, then divided by the number of skaters the club has entered. The club which has the highest average point score will win the Team Challenge Award, clubs must have a minimum of five skaters entered to be eligible.
Please contact Ian Mellors at 403-609-7031 or president@banffcanmorespeedskating.ca if you have any questions.
5. Coach Survey
Coaches are the front line workers for sport in Alberta and are the people that have the greatest impact on the development of athletes in the province. Coaches are the people with the most direct, first-hand knowledge of the strengths as well as the needs of the programs that will shape the future success of sport in Alberta. The long term development and sustainability of our programs will be positively impacted by the educational and professional development opportunities provided to our coaches and support personnel.
How effective and efficient are we in Alberta at connecting our coaching fraternity?
There currently is no coach-focused network in Alberta that provides targeted communications, professional development and mentorship, access to employment opportunities, advocacy, defined coaching and competition pathways and sharing of best practices across different sports.
Coaches of Canada, a national membership-based organization, has a vision to connect all Olympic-level, national team, provincial, club and community level coaches in Canada. This could be achieved through the linkage of coach-focused members networks at all levels of sport with local, provincial, national sport federations, and major games organizations.
We need your help to assist us in creating a successful, integrated system and fraternity of coaches at all levels. Your feedback is valued. Please take a few moments to provide your suggestions and comments to us by completing the following survey;
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1dCNDmON2hYioDNhGTmqZw_3d_3d
6. How Did Canada Do?
Denny Morrison (Fort St. John, BC) won the men’s 1000m for the second time in a row at the Kolomna World Cup. This time, Morrison established a new track record with a time of 1:08.53 to take the gold. Christine Nesbitt (London, ON) also stepped on the podium in the 1000m for a second bronze medal in a row, thanks to a time of 1:15.85.
“It’s pretty cool to have a track record. Realistically each track is different. Some are slower and some faster. I think it’s pretty special to have a track record even on the slower ones. It’s not the world record but it is still the fastest anyone has ever gone on that track”, commented Morrison after lowering the Kolomna track record. “There’s always more space for improvement. I am looking forward to the World Single Distance Championship at the end of the season. That’s why I am skating so many competitions right now; so I can tweak things here and there.”
Following Morrison in the men’s 1000m were two skaters from the Netherlands: Stefan Groothuis and Mark Tuitert. Groothuis skated the distance in 1:08.67 and Tuitert in 1:09.09. François-Olivier Roberge (St-Nicolas, QC) finished 12th. Canadian team mates Kyle Parrott (Minnedosa, MB) and Muncef Ouardi (Montréal, QQC )came in 13th and 17th. Vincent Labrie was in the B group, where he took 11th place.
Winning the women’s 1000m was once again Dutch skater Margot Boer with a race of 1:15.79. Germany’s Anni Friesinger came in second with a time of 1:15.81. Christine Nesbitt won the bronze by improving her time from yesterday by three tenth of a second. After missing yesterday’s races, Shannon Rempel (Winnipeg, MB ) skated to 6th place in 1:16.53.
“At this point in the season I am very happy with my results. I had a much better race than yesterday. It’s the fastest that I have skated in Europe,” said Nesbitt while reflecting on today’s performance. “To think I did this after finishing a hard training block and flying in days before the event, I can only get better. I am excited for the next few weeks of racing and I hope I can build on this weekend’s.”
Kerry Dankers (Melville, SK) came in 7th of the B Group with a time of 1:19.88. It was Natasja Bruintjes of the Netherlands who finished first with a time of 1:16.81 minutes. Second and third places of the group were clinched by Russian skaters Yekaterina Abramova and Yuliya Skokova, with respective times of 1:18.33 and 1:19.09.
The ladies’ 500m gold medal was once again captured by German skater Jenny Wolf with a time of 37.67 seconds. Chinese skaters Peiyu Jin and Jing Yu took second and third place with times of 38.01 seconds and 38.13 seconds. Shannon Rempel finished 15th.
All the other Canadian skaters were in the B Group, and Tamara Oudenaarden (St. Albert, AB) finished 5th, with a time of 39.34 seconds. Kim Weger (Regina, SK ) came in 11th while Danielle Wotherspoon (Red Deer, Alberta ) was 12th. Kerry Dankers ended in 14th place.
Still on the women’s side, Kim Weger raced to 20th place in the 100m dash, while teammates Wotherspoon, Dankers and Oudenaarden took 29th, 32nd and 36th places. The 100m sprint was won by Jenny Wolf. German compatriot Judith Hesse was second while Chinese skater Aihua Xing came in third.
In the men’s 500m, Canada’s Jamie Gregg (Edmonton, AB) achieved his best World Cup result so far with a 6th place when he completed the race in 35.27 seconds, only 0.46 second behind the winner, American Tucker Fredricks. Fredricks won the race in 34.81 seconds. Keiichiro Nagashima of Japan took second place, skating the distance in 34.87 seconds. Chinese skater Fengtong Yu finished third with a time of 34.89 seconds. Muncef Ouardi was 16th of the group.
The battle to win the men’s 500m in division B was very fierce. Vincent Labrie finished third with a time of 35.75 seconds, improving on yesterday’s performance. Labrie was only four hundredth of a second behind Italian Ermanno Ioriatti who won the race. Also improving on yesterday, François-Olivier Roberge finished 7th with a time of 35.93 seconds.
Yuya Oikawa of Japan won the men’s 100m sprint. Following Oikawa with second place was teammate Joji Kato, and China’s Zhongqi Zhang took third place. Canadian skater Muncef Ouardi came in 8th while Jamie Gregg was 13th and Vincent Labrie 19th. Denny Morrison finished 35th and François-Olivier Roberge was 38th.
Canadian skaters will continue their European World Cup tour next weekend in the German city of Erfurt. Long distance races and team pursuit will be featured at the upcoming World Cup.
