MARKHAM SPEED SKATING CLUB
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ALMOST THE END!Our last skating night will be Friday March 26. As usual, we will have an abbreviated skating session followed by a party upstairs. Families are invited to bring goodies.
TV STORYOn Friday January 22 2010, Rogers TV recorded material during our Club's sessions
for a 3-minute segment for the York Region Living channel of Rogers TV. It was
broadcast on Cable 10 & 63 during the week of February 14. It will be posted on
this website when acquired: in the meantime, you can visit the show's website.
IN-CLUB RACE NIGHTIn-club races were held on Friday January 15 2010. For photographs of the action taken by Curtis DesRosiers, click here.
OLYMPIC CELEBRATION RACE MEETThe Club hosted its first-ever provincial-level race meet on Saturday
December 05 2009. All planning was evidently sufficient as the event
proceeded smoothly, thanks to the help of many hard-working volunteers.
For details and photographs of the opening ceremony, see our
Olympic Celebration race meet page and Snap Markham.
For race photographs and results, see this season's race results page.
2009-2010 SEASON OPENING NEWSLETTERClick here to download the newsletter.
THE 2009-2010 SKATING SEASON
ICE TIME
The Club will have the same three hours of ice time per week in the
2009-2010 season at the Mount Joy arena as in recent years, namely:
- two hours on Friday evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
starting on September 18 2008 and ending on March 26 2010
excluding December 04, December 25 (Christmas Day), and
January 01 (New Year's Day.
The younger and novice skaters have the first hour, while the
faster and experienced skaters have the second hour.
- one hour on Thursday evenings from 8 p.m. till 9 starting on
September 17 and ending on March 25 2010 excluding
December 24 (Christmas Eve) and December 31(New Year's Eve).
This time is for racers and other experienced skaters as well as
for skaters who want a second hour per week in order to improve
more quickly. Please take this opportunity and sign up.
We invite skaters from other clubs to participate with us during
this time.SKATING PROGRAMS
The coaches will assign beginning skaters and those with some
experience to the Friday 7-8 p.m. hour and the more experienced and
skillful ones to the Friday 8-9 p.m. hour. The skating programs are
created accordingly.
We use, in part, a Race Ready! training program created by
Dave Morrison, one of Ontario's best coaches, for our faster skaters
to give them a competitive edge as we did last season.
Skaters are expected to conduct warmups in the arena for half an hour
before our ice times, so ensure you arrive in time to take advantage of them.
However, one, or even two, hours on the ice each week are insufficient
to optimize the skills, strength, and stamina you need to race well, so take
the time to keep fit off the ice. Any way that keeps you fit, strong, and agile
is desirable. One excellent way is to participate in our weekly Winter
Dryland Training. Or, use our Fit To Skate program indoors, either by yourself
or as a group.
We will run several in-club race meets during the season to provide our members with valuable racing experience to prepare them for provincial race meets. Parents ae expected to help by performing officials' tasks to ensure that these meets run smoothly.
Skaters are also encouraged to participate as visitors in other nearby clubs to increase their weekly ice time.
If you're interested in starting to speed skate, try a Learn To Speed Skate session. See the Newcomers page for information on this program.
COACHES
Ron Blackwell organized the coaching program and schedule.
He is assisted by Gary Witney, Ron Wolfe, Jocelyn Bérard,
Peter Treacy. We welcome Ginette Lamoureux into our coaching
cadre this season: she was on the Ontario short track team prior to
studying engineering at McGill University, and has been leading our
summer dryland training.
WINTER DRYLAND
Dryland training will be held indoors on Tuesday evenings throughout the season.
See the winter dryland training page for details.SKINSUITS
Any skater who would like a Markham skinsuit should take their
measurements according to the diagram and contact the Club.
The more who order at one time, the lower the price.ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Our AGM was held on Tuesday June 09 2009.
MEDALS AND SUB-CLUBS
This season has seen more skaters than ever before win medals at race meets:This season has seen more skaters than ever before break the 60 second mark for the first time for a 500m race:
- GOLD: Nima Rahnema and Rasa Rahnema at Western Region #2 ;
Zubin Sethna, Chantal Singer, Jared Martineau, and Graeme Mitchell
at our Olympic Celebration.- SILVER: Cameron Mitchell and Hugo Li at Western Region #2 ;
Peter Treacy at our Olympic Celebration ;
Claire DesRosiers at Western Region #4 ;
Zubin Sethna at Western Region #5 & #6.- BRONZE: Cameron Mitchell at Eastern Regional #1 ;
Cameron Mitchell at Ontario Cup #2 ;
Scott Taylor at Western Region #2 ;
Nima Rahnema and Rasa Rahnema at our Olympic Celebration ;
Breanna Chapman at Western Region #4 ;
Claire Liew at Western Region #5 ;
Nick Shalagan at Western Region #5.Several other skaters are tantalizing close to this mark.
- Kyle Graham 58.39 s at our Olympic Celebration meet
- Peter Treacy 59.27 s at our Olympic Celebration meet
- Raphael Bérard 59.83 s at our Olympic Celebration meet
- Zubin Sethna at Toronto
- Nick Shalagan at Milton.
Furthermore, skaters have set many personal best times in other distances.
Well done all! See the detailed results on our race results page.
HOW FAST DID THEY GO?
A police speed gun was used to measure some skaters' speeds
in practice recently. Here's how they fared, subject to tolerances.
Not surprisingly, these values pretty well reflect race results.
Cameron Mitchell 33 km/hr Jonathan Nishio 33 Heidi Beck 30 Kyle Graham 30 Zubin Sethna 30 Peal Ge 29 Vincent Ho 28 Nima Rahnema 28 Claire DesRosiers 28 Scott Taylor 28 Breanna Chapman 26 Rasa Rahnema 26
NATIONAL TEAM
Both Andrew Godbout (left below) and Jordan Belchos (right below), who train in long track speed skating in Calgary, are on the National Development Team. They both were on World Cup teams last season, and have qualified for the Canadian teams competing in World Cup events this fall (see race results page).
Photos by Mike Belchos
They both received new Markham Spirit Award medals from Mayor Frank Scarpitti and the Markham Sport Council in absentio during an Athlete Recognition Ceremony at the end of November 2009.
CAMERAS, MIRRORS, ACTION
Andrew Godbout appeared in an article about Olympic technology in the December 20 2009 issue of Macleans magazine. The photographs show him wearing in-line skates while training on a giant treadmill surrounded by mirrors and TV cameras which allows him, and his coaches, to carefully watch his movements at speeds up to 60 km/hr to permit refinements in technique.
Photo by Macleans
Andrew Godbout (below left) was interviewed by CBC radio's Metro Morning program's host Andy Barrie (below right) on November 25 about his journey from a recreational skater in Markham to vying for the Olympic team. Click the Play button below (centre) to hear their conversation (6½ minutes).
