Skating will be cancelled on Sunday February 24th due to a Brockville Tikis playoff game.
Skating cancelled on Sunday February 24th
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Author Archives: Steve
Rapids Do Well in Vermont
Five club members managed to find their way down to North Hero Vermont last weekend to participate in the first annual Lake Champlain Marathon. In spite of the perfect storm we all managed to arrive at different times but in time to reach the starting line for the 21 km event on Saturday. An early start of 10 am was delayed until mid-afternoon to give the Waterloo ladies time to negotiate bad road conditions. They arrived with 15 minutes to spare! Todd, Heidi, John A., John B. and Fimke all performed well with Todd putting in the best time with a fourth place overall in a field of 27. The 42 km on Sunday was held under absolutely perfect conditions with sunny skies and no wind. Heidi, John A. and Todd partook in this event and again Todd showed his skating strength and stamina by placing 6th overall in a field of 24. We all agreed that this was a wonderful weekend at a superb venue. Most of us stayed at the very comfortable North Hero Lodge where lodging, food and draft beer were all first class. We all agree that this is the venue to head for next year.
We must thank the various folks in North Hero who made this event possible. It was their first time and to put on such an event but they handled the steep learning curve admirably.
Marathon skating now moves out west with the Silver Skate Marathon in Edmonton on family day weekend and the Sylvan Lake (near Red Deer) being held the following weekend over three days. Anyone interested in joining me at Sylvan Lake for three races of 25, 50 and 100 km?
Canadian Age Class Long Track Championship Results
St Lawrence had a strong showing in the Canadian age class long track speed skating championships in Winnipeg Feb 8 and 9 with three local skaters representing Team Ontario at the competition.
Nick Everett was 4th in the 13 year old male category. His 3000m time was the fastest in his age group at 5:08.82. He was the top skater from Ontario in his age group. He placed 3rd for bronze medals in the 100m and 500m sprints.
Connor Taugher was 11th overall in the 14 year old male group and was 2nd overall from Ontario. He had 2 top ten finishes (8th in 100m & 9th 300m)and was the top Ontario skater in both the sprints. Taugher was 12th overall in the 3000m.
Chloe Segal placed 13th overall in the 12 year old female group. She was 10th in the 3000m, 14th in the 100m and 12th in the 500m races.
Entry forms for Oakville and Clarington due Wed Feb 20th
The Final Competition Provincially for the Regional Short track series for 6-11 year old skaters will be in Oakville March 2 and 3rd, and for age 12 and older, including Masters, in Clarington March 9 and 10th.
Please have your entry forms to Heather by Wednesday February 20th for either meet.
Here is a link to the Oakville form and a link to the Clarington form.
Results from Brockville Meet February 9th
St Lawrence Rapids had a very successful Competition taking in 9 out of the 21 medals handed out on Feb 9, 2013 at the Brockville Memorial Centre. Many skaters recorded personal best times for the meet as well. 89 skaters participated from Speed skating Clubs in Kingston, Ottawa, Gloucester, Quinte (Belleville), Val Des Monts, Quebec and 6 skaters from Nunavut.
The 9 medalists from St Lawrence were as follows:
Alpha Division: Tristan Brunet Silver and Bryony Schonewille Bronze.
Bravo Division: Andrew Chartrand Gold
Charlie Division: Lukas Heuval Gold and Emma Grace Wheeler Silver
Delta Division: Aidan VanBeek Gold
Foxtrot Division: Landyn Urslak Gold and Lucas Peddell Silver
Golf Division: Julia Wheeler Silver
Other results were as follows:
Alpha Division: Nathan Heuval 4th, Spencer Delaney 5th, Terry Knapp 9th and Abigael Schonewille 11th
Bravo Division: Corinne Schonewille 6th and Kyle VanBeek 12th
Charlie Division: Kayle Urslak 11th, Nick Thompson 13th and Natalie Peddell 15th
Delta Division: Malcolm Spence 6th
Echo Division: Nolan Roney 5th
Foxtrot Division: Cameron MacKay 6th, Jordan Throop 7th
Golf Division: Andy Giroux 5th, Annella Roney 6th, Paige Besner 7th, Arie Devos 10th and Celia Giroux 11th.
The skaters who have qualified for the Provincial series will complete their season February 24 and 24th in Kitchener for the Provincial Championships. St Lawrence has 2 skaters who qualify for this series: Nick Everett and Chloe Segal.
The Final Competition Provincially for the Regional Short track series for 6-11 year old skaters will be in Oakville March 2 and 3rd and for age 12 and older, including Masters in Clarington March 9 and 10th.
Here is the meet protocol as a pdf file. The Personal Bests page has been updated.
Upcoming International Masters Championship in Syracuse
Registration is open: 1st Masters International Short Track Championships
Twin Rinks Ice Arena, Cicero, NY USA
April 6 and 7, 2013
(Cicero is just north of Syracuse, a three hour drive from Ottawa.)
Information: http://www.imssc.org/images/pdf-ann/12-ann-wmg-shorttrack.pdf
Distances: Everyone gets three distances.
· Those 30-54 years old skate 500m, 1000m and 1500m, plus optional 3000m relay
· Those 55+ years skate 500m, 777m and 1000m, plus optional 3000m relay.
Registration: (skaters register themselves) online at www.safepayevents.com/MastersInternationalShortTrack (credit card or paypal).
Deadline to register: March 1st or 175 participants, whichever comes first.
Pin testing dates
Speed Skating Canada offers the Cutting Edge Pin Program to recognize the skaters as they acquire various speed skating skills. Mid year updates and pins were passed out to Youth 1 and Youth 2. There will be 2 more pin testing dates for the season:
Sun Feb 10th
Tue Feb 26th
Competitive skaters still interested in pin testing are to contact Jennifer and can come for testing on Sunday Feb 10th, at 6:30 pm.
For more information:
http://www.speedskating.ca/cutting-edge
Rapids Make a Big Showing at Portland
Marathon Musings:
On Saturday January 26th Portland Outdoors held its 9th annual Skate the Lake event under perfect conditions. Due to very cooperative weather conditions and the dedicated event volunteers the ice conditions were the best ever for this event. Cracks were many but small and easily detected and the ice surface was as smooth as any Zambonied surface can be. A number of skating events were provided to meet the needs and abilities of the large number of skaters who attended the event.
SLSSC was overwhelmingly represented by 15 of our members comprised of 12 masters skaters and three of our competitive skaters. We had eight skaters in the field of 26 in the 10km event and they took away four gold medals in various age categories. Seven of our skaters competed in the 25km , producing a further three medals: one each of gold, silver and bronze. Two skaters took on the grueling 50km and produced a bronze and a gold.
Detailed results of the event can be viewed at marathonskating.org
Three medals for club skaters at long track championships
Congratulations to Chloe, Connor and Nicholas!!!
On January 26 and 27th , 2013 the Provincial long track speed skating championships were held at Brewer Park Oval in Ottawa. 3 St Lawrence Rapids Long track Speed Skaters participated in the competition. In the Age 14 male group Connor Taugher had a bronze medal placing 1st in the 100 m, 4th in the 500 m and 3rd in the 3000 m. In the Age 13 male group Nicholas Everett had a gold medal placing 2nd in the 100 m and 1st in the 500 m. In the Age 12 girls group Chloe Segal had a silver medal placing 2nd in the 100 m and the 500 m. All three skaters qualify to skate for Team Ontario for the Canadian Age Class Long Track Championships in Winnipeg, Manitoba on February 9th, 2013.
Ottawa Marathon Weekend – St Lawrence Well Represented
(Sorry, this post got buried for a while -Steve)
Ottawa Marathon Weekend – St Lawrence Well Represented
Following a cold week with good skating conditions the Brewer oval came under the influence of warmer weather on the weekend that resulted in challenging skating on the Saturday afternoon and a wicked challenge for Sunday with extremely high winds. Of the 24 entries for the 21km, four were from our club (Connor, Kyle, Heidi and John). Connor and Kyle placed 12th and 15th respectively. John and Connor used the 4km race as a warmup for the 21 and both John and Heidi turned in good performances for the 21km event. On Sunday the 42km was modified to a one hour blizzard challenge as a result of winds up to 90km/hr. At one point during the race our lightest skater (Connor) was blown backwards! However he still managed, along with Kyle, to clock 61 laps while John knocked off four fewer (John prefaced this race with the 10km which was held one hour before the 1 hour challenge). Heidi chose short track in Kingston on Sunday.
Long distance skating is now becoming popular within the club and we have seven members, including four masters and three competitive group skaters, who have now participated in the half and full marathon MSI (marathon skating international) events. The next event is Saturday Jan.26 with the ever popular Skate the Lake at Portland on Big Rideau Lake and several of our members will be taking part in this event. The last event in the east will be the inaugural Lake Champlain marathon Feb 8,9 in Vermont. At least five of us are planning to attend this ‘probably loaded with fun’ event. It is never too late to sign up for either of these two events but if you just want to experience the event atmosphere you are encouraged to attend the Skate the Lake event as a spectator. For pictures of the Ottawa marathon weekend go to the MSI website and look for the event description and Alicia’s pics.