CLUB NEWS

SKATERS' NEWS

THE 2010-2011 SKATING SEASON IS APPROACHING! 2010-2011 SEASON OPENING NEWSLETTER Click here to download the newsletter (note: revised August 30). REGISTRATION Registration for the 2010-2011 season will take place on Sunday September 12 from noon onwards at the Mount Joy arena at which returning members will complete paperwork, make payments, select skates, and catch up on news and friends. Please stay during the afternoon to assist in our OPEN HOUSE which we hold to allow newcomers to try speed skating. We will have ice from 2 p.m. to 3:30. You can skate yourself too, but only if you help. If you cannot attend this session, please make other arrangements to do these tasks before our first skating night: it will be too busy to do this work when we are trying to get everyone on the ice on the first skating night. OPEN HOUSE We will also hold our annual OPEN HOUSE in the early afternoon on Sunday September 12 2010 for newcomers who are thinking about joining our Club. We have ice from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 to let them try speed skating for free, so invite your friends to take advantage of this opportunity and direct them to our Newcomers web page for more information. REGULAR ICE TIME The Club will have four hours of ice time per week at the Mount Joy arena : Thursday and Friday evenings 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. starting September 16 and ending March 25 excluding Dec. 03, 23, 24, 30 & 31. The younger and novice skaters have the first hour, while the faster and experienced skaters have the second hour each evening. Click here to download the season's calendar. SKATING PROGRAMS The coaches will assign beginning skaters and those with some experience to the 7-8 p.m. hour and the more experienced and skillful ones to the 8-9 p.m. hour. The skating programs are created accordingly. Skating programs will be a blend of Race Ready! created by Dave Morrison, one of Ontario's best coaches, for our faster skaters with new programs incorporating the Long Term Athlete Development principles for all skaters. Competitive 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, two, or even three 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. Coaches can advise you on other clubs in the GTA which allow visitors to train with them. Newmarket, Brampton, Toronto, Clarington, Oshawa, and Clarington are the most commonly-used opportunities. COACHES Ron Blackwell is our Head Coach and organizes the coaching program and schedule. Ginette Lamoureux is our High Performance coach: she was on the Ontario short track team prior to studying engineering at McGill University, and has also been leading our summer and winter dryland training programs. Ron is assisted by Gary Witney, Ron Wolfe, and Jocelyn Bérard. Former Romanian women's champion Sanda Ianculescu will assist on some sessions this season too. IN-CLUB RACE NIGHTS We anticipate holding in-club races again this season to provide skaters with the thrill and experience of racing, but in a non-consequential environment, and to prepare them for provincial race meets. Preliminary dates are shown in the calendar. Parents ae expected to help by performing officials' tasks to ensure that these meets run smoothly. For photographs of the action taken by Curtis DesRosiers during our races on Friday January 15 2010, click here. PROVINCIAL RACE MEET The Club will host the Eastern Regional #3 race meet on Saturday December 04 2010 at the Angus Glen Community Centre in Markham. This will be similar to the Olympic Celebration race meet we hosted last December, so many volunteers will be needed before and during the day-long event. Please be willing to assist. For photographs of last year's event's opening ceremony and the Rogers TV news video , see the Olympic Celebration race meet page and Snap Markham. For race photographs and results, see the race results page. WINTER DRYLAND Dryland training will be held indoors on Tuesday evenings throughout the season starting on September 21. See the winter dryland training page for details. SUMMER DRYLAND Our summer weekly outdoor dryland training has been underway since May and will continue to the beginning of September. You are encouraged to start at any time. To see what some of our summer dryland training looks like, go to our summer dryland page and look at the videos which Rogers TV broadcasted in recent years. If you don't participate, the most suitable summer sports to develop skating muscles and maintain fitness are cycling and in-line skating. 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 2010 AGM was held on June 2. TV STORY On Friday January 22 2010, Rogers TV recorded material during our Club's sessions for a segment for the York Region Living channel of Rogers TV. It was broadcast on Cable 10 & 63 during the week of February 14 2010. Click on the 'Play' button below to watch it.

MEDALS AND SUB-CLUBS The 2009-2010 season saw more skaters than ever before win medals at race meets: GOLD:   Nima Rahnema and Rasa Rahnema at Western Region #2 ;               Zubin Sethna, Chantal Singer, Jared Martineau, and Graeme Mitchell               at our Olympic Celebration               Kyle Graham and Breanna Chapman at the Regional Championships. 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                 Nima Rahnema at the Regional Championships. 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. The season saw more skaters than ever before break the 60 second mark for the first time for a 500m race: 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 Claire DesRosiers at the Ontario Championships Aileen Song at the Regional Championships Nima Rahnema at the Regional Championships. Several other skaters are tantalizing close to this mark. Furthermore, skaters have set many personal best times in other distances. Well done all! See the detailed results on our 2009-2010 race results page. HOW FAST DID THEY GO? A police speed gun was used to measure some skaters' speeds in practice. Here's how they fared, subject to tolerances. 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 Not surprisingly, these values pretty well reflect race results. NATIONAL TEAM Jordan Belchos (right below) is on the National long track Development Team for a second year. He and Andrew Godbout (left below) train in long track speed skating at the Olympic Oval in Calgary, and were both on Canadian World Cup teams last season. They are striving to qualify for the Canadian teams competing in World Cup events this fall. 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). TRYING FOR THE OLYMPICS IN 2014 Alex Ianculescu also moved to Calgary to train on the Olympic Oval. She competed in the Canadian Junior Long Track Championships at the end of January 2009 on the new Richmond, BC, oval but didn't achieve her goal of making the Canadian Junior team. She could have tried again last season, which was certainly possible as she continued to set impressive PBs last fall (2009), but, as she was selected to be a forerunner at the Vancouver Olympics in February, she decided to get the Olympic experience instead. In her forerunner role, she skated in the dress rehearsals for TV and commentary timing purposes just prior to the actual races, and was a track steward during the actual races. She has another chance at the Canadian Women's Junior team this season. Meanwhile, she is on the Ontario team. See her express her Olympic goal during the Rogers TV clip in the Publicity paragraph on our summer dryland page. For a lot more about her, including her comments about being on the ice at the Olympics, visit her website . KYLE GRAHAM IN TV NEWS Kyle Graham was featured in a news story on GlobalTV on February 20 2009. He joined the Club in the Learn To Speed Skate program in November 2008 and has made rapid progress, winning his division in his first competition in January 2009. This feat caught the attention of the GlobalTV sports desk, so they chose to do a story on him. Click twice on the 'play' arrow below to watch it. CAMERON MITCHELL IN MAGAZINE ARTICLE Cameron Mitchell was featured in an article in the Feb/March 2009 issue of SportsXpress, a community-based sports magazine.