Ottawa Ability Meet, October 16 & 17 2004 Brothers Chester and Neil Roxas competed at the first meet of the 2004-2005 season in Ottawa. Both distinguished themselves by setting personal best (PB) times in at least two of their four distances. Chester placed 9th. overall in the Charlie group with best times of 31.97 s for 222 m, 45.47 s for 333 m, 69.61 s for 500 m, and 1:51.80 for 666 m. Neil placed 8th. overall in the Alpha group with best times of 22.16 s for 111 m, 42.43 s for 222 m, 1:06.60 for 333 m, and 1:48.86 for 500 m.   Kingston Ability Meet, Saturday October 30 2004 TIM BECK CAPTURES BRONZE MEDAL Tim Beck (age 8) raced to a third place finish to take a bronze medal in the one-day ability meet. Competing in the Bravo division against nine other skaters from other clubs in Ontario, Tim finished second in his heat in the 333 metre distance, and then finished third in the A final in 53.42 seconds, beating his personal best (PB) time by a whopping 9.08 seconds. Later, he comfortably placed second again in his 500 m distance heat, but faced a battle in the A final: after losing a position in the middle of the race, he skated determinedly to make up lost ground and finished a close third in 1 min 24.61 s. He reduced his PB in this distance too by an impressive 7.3 s to round out a very successful day. Tim's sister Heidi Beck (10) competed in the Delta division and finished in the middle of the group overall. However, she also reduced her PBs in both her 333 m and 500 m distances by significant amounts to demonstrate her considerably increased speed since just last spring. Roger Buxton competed in the adult Kilo division and placed fourth overall with times close to his personal bests.	Chester & Neil Roxas Tim Beck leads Heidi Beck
Ontario Cup #1 Age Class Meet, Cambridge, November 6 & 7 2004 Neil Roxas placed 10th. overall in Pee Wee Boys and set two PBs: 1:02.62 for 333 m and 1:34.51 for 500 m. His other best times for the day were: 44.13 s for 222 m and 22.09 s for 111 m. Cameron Mitchell placed 11th. in a field of 29 Bantam Boys and set a PB of 43.64 s for 333 m. His other best times for the day were: 1:07.82 for 500 m : 29.67 s for 222 m : 1:30.21 for 666 m. David Baek placed 8th. overall in a large field of 39 Midget Boys. His best times for the day were: 1:22.15 for 666 m : 58.58 s for 500 m : 38.49 s for 333 m : 1:37.33 for 777 m. Chester Roxas also competed in the Midget Boys. His best times for the day were: 1:34.45 for 666 m : 1:09.40 for 500 m : 45.25 2 for 333 m : 1:50.94 for 777 m. Alexandra Ianculescu placed 9th. overall in Juvenile Girls. Her best times of the day were:1:35.69 for 777 m : 1:16.22 for 666 m : 57.46 s for 500 m : 2:20.52 for 1000 m. Callista Bennett returned to racing after missing the second half of the last season due to an injury. She place 7th. overall in Junior Girls with best times of the day of: 2:19.45 for 1000 m : 1:42.45 for 777 m : 1:02.60 for 500 m. Roger Buxton placed 3rd. overall in Male Masters 3.	Cameron Mitchell Roger Buxton
Brampton Ability Meet, Saturday November 20 2004 TIM BECK CAPTURES GOLD MEDAL Tim Beck, age 8, improved on his recent bronze medal performance by capturing the gold medal in the Foxtrot division. He placed first in his 222 m heat to qualify for the A final, in which he then placed second. Similarly, he won his 500 m heat, improving his personal best time by 2.95 s, and placed second in the A final, knocking an additional 0.56 s off his PB. Seeded into the A final of the 333 m distance, he placed second again, which was enough to win more points overall than his nearest competitors to secure the gold for the entire meet. Alexandra Ianculescu, 13, did almost as well, winning the silver medal overall in the Alpha group. Racing in the fastest group, she likewise skated to convincing second and third places in her A finals to record her best showing so far this season. Heidi Beck, 10, raced well and placed sixth overall in the Echo division. She reduced her 333 m time by a significant 1.64 s. Roger Buxton, Master 3, placed sixth overall in the Delta division.	Timothy Beck
Ontario Cup #2 Age Class Meet, Waterloo December 4 - 5 2004 Cameron Mitchell moved up from his Ontario Cup #1 performance, placing 6th. overall in a large field of 30 Bantam Boys, and set PB times in all distances of 1:05.42 for 500 m : 42.63 s for 333 m : 28.48 s for 222 m : 1:26.46 for 666 m. David Baek placed 8th. overall in a large field of 34 Midget Boys. His best times of the day were: 1:18.27 for 666 m : 57.29 s for 500 m : 37.78 s for 333 m . Alexandra Ianculescu placed 10th. overall out of 16 Juvenile Girls, and set a PB time of 56.69 s for 500 m. Her other best times of the day were: 1:36.02 for 777 m : 1:17.30 for 666 m. Callista Bennett placed 11th. overall in Junior Girls, and set PBs of 2:12.29 for 1000 m (half a lap faster than a month earlier) and 1:39.20 for 777 m Her other best times of the day were: 1:00.81 for 500 m: 3:36.61 for 1500 m. Roger Buxton placed 4th. overall in Male Masters 3.
North American Marathon Speed Skating Championship,  January 15 - 16  2005 BEIER WINS DOUBLE GOLD Derik Beier raced to a double gold result at the North American Marathon Speed Skating Championship held on January 15 and 16. Beier won the 18-29 year age category in both the 25 km and 50 km races held on the frozen surface of Lake Morey in Vermont, USA, to take the North American title. The ice surface on the 850 m triangular course for the 25 km race was far from ideal, being rutted, brittle, and grainy, though the weather was favourable. Soon after the start, Beier jumped into a lead group of three skaters of the 32 racers and maintained that dominant position all the way to the end, finishing in a time of 47 min 38.1 sec, well ahead of the second place contender. The course was changed on the following day to a 2.1 km track to take advantage of some glassy smooth ice for the 50 km distance. Beier led at the start, and a group of four formed at the front of the 34 racers, which then diminshed to two. By the halfway mark, Beier had lapped all the field but one, and held on to finish in 1 hr 38 min 58.9 sec. Beier currently holds second place overall in his age class after competing in four of the six races in the eleven-event Marathon Skating International series.	Derik Beier (left). Photo courtesy of breakawayskate.com.