Happy New Year!, USA LT Champs, NZ Road Champs,

Happy New Year!: Whatever you're doing tonight, be safe and have fun.


I'm in Moncton, New Brunswick fighting off an intense winter storm. My strategy to avoid cabin fever is to eat plenty of good food, buy new shoes, drink plenty of cheer in a few hours, play with a cat named Angel, play drums, play guitar, scour the internet for skating related news, and shovel some snow.

My home for the last couple of days has been Moncton's YMCA. From the window in the cardio and weight room on the 2nd floor, I can see a big billboard for the Codiac Cyclones Speed Skating. I've seen a couple of these billboards scattered around Moncton.


It's motivating to look at that billboard while I am working out.
So do you see the snow in the picture? As much as I like snow, I am NOT liking this particular snowfall. You see, this year I failed to get winter tires put on my car. With over 2000km logged in snowy-slushy conditions, I am filled with anger that my snow tires are sitting in my garage in Toronto. Snow tires a like sharpenned blades or new wheels, winter boots with tread or flip flops on a pool deck; they're important!

USA LT Champs: Before you click away from my website, make sure you check out Andrew Love's report on day 1 and day 2 of the US single distance championships- US LT Champs, Day 1 & 2-there's lots of pics, stories, and reporting.


About the picture and results above, Andrew Love writes 'National allaround team member Ron Macky & I have had a running joke this year. When he beats me in the 500m, he takes away my “sprinter card.” When I beat him, I get my “sprinter card” back. We have been within .1 or .2 of each other every weekend. Look what happened in the final results from the allaround 500m! What do Ron & I do? Do we both have sprinters cards now? Or do we have to split it?'
Now here are a couple of press releases announcing US Speedskating's long track single distance and allround teams.

NZ Road Champs: New Zealand's 2008 road nationals are under way. Click here for the results.

Now That's A Lot Of Races, Ho Ho Ho, Skate Mexico 2008 Update, Skating Lower, Blog News, Schwierz Hospitalized

Now That's A Lot Of Races: When you decide to check out Speed Skating Results, you'll see a whole bunch of long track results from a whole bunch of recent national championships as well as other races- Canadian distance champs, USA JR sprint, Italian JR allround, Italian allround, Dutch allrounds, Sweedish allround, Asian single distance champs, and US long track champs.

You can find some reports from the Canadian single distance championships thanks to Speedskating-Online- see the December news for more. Flyin Brian wrote about the USA long track championships in his entry called US Long Track Champs where he talks about 'blowing up'- I have limited long track experience myself, but I can honestly say that the majority of my limited experience has been spent in that state...

Andrew Love provides us with more reporting from the USA ltc's- see 2400mg and Blogging or sleep?. Some of Andrew's words that you'll find include 'robots don’t skate these times, a unqiue collection of people do' and 'I asked Dr. Eric Heiden what the legal drug-test limit for ibuprofen is, he said it’s 2400mg, in 3-800mg doses. Good to know, otherwise Kip & I would be tempted to marinate ourselves in a 55 gallon drum of the stuff.

So many stories happen, even in a sport as simple as skating a 400m frozen hamster wheel as fast as you can'.

And an interesting side-note on the question about the Viking sticker being backwards- in the post's comments, Jenny wrote 'The Viking is that way so that it looks like the Viking is in forward motion cause if it was on the other way the Viking would be going backwards. A skater a while ago discovered this and made Viking but it on this way'.

To finish the US long track champs portion of this update, here's a thread from Hyper's message board- US Long Track Championships- and you'll find a link to the article U.S. Speedskating Championships: Former inline skater makes mark about Justin Stelly.

Ho Ho Ho: I missed this one a few days ago; Ho ho ho, hehehe. Check out Chucky's ODE TO THE PLANETEERS- it's the 3rd post- he writes;

'To all the great skaters on the Inline Planet,
With protuberant butts and thighs of granite,

Those hearty souls who keep on rolling,
and have no time for online trolling,

Yes, all you skaters young and old,
Who brave tarsnakes and bitter cold...'

Skate Mexico 2008 Update: Skate Mexico 2008!- this sounds still too good and I really wish I could go; Sergio writes 'There are 4 spots left for the Yucatan Training Camp... I will be booking the 16 confirmed participants now (and if you are registered you will be getting an e-mail from me).

If you haven't registered yet but are interested, I would suggest that you let me know asap. It won't be easy to slot people in at the last minute as things will get booked up'.

Skating Lower: This is a thread that could soon contain some good advice for advice-hungry readers; Tips on being able to skate lower.

Blog News: Zigrid Ziegler's blog contains her latest entry called Air Canada, Nova Scotia and the YMCA- it's kind of funny because like her, I am out east (in Moncton), I am frequenting the YMCA (but not for as many hours as she is), and I was delayed in my travels (by car thanks to a snow storm)- her flying adventery sounds like not fun. When I was stuck in Thunder Bay a while ago, I logged onto MSN and chatted with her while she was stuck at the airport.

I'm a fan of what and how Aaron Arndt writes, therefore I must point out that he published a new entry- Holiday Party @ Barry’s.... Have you noticed that Aaron always finishes his 'titles' with ...? It's like he's using his titles to say toread on my friends.

Schwierz Hospitalized: Andrew's Speed Skating Blog is reporting that Germany's Mathias Schwierz was hospitalized after slicing through his calf with his blade during a long track race. Read more details in Erik Sünder Interview + Matthias Schwierz Hospitalized. I'd like towish Mathias a quick and prompt recovery.


Mathias Schwierz in his 500-meter heat on the road at the 2006 world roller speed skating championships in Anyang, Korea

Quick Winter Holiday Catch Up

Quick Winter Holiday Catch Up: Here are some links to all sorts of things for you to munch on, includign results, news, fun stuff, and videos.

First off, what's the deal with RaceReports.net? All you get when you go to the site if a happy face.

Andrew Love wishes us happy holidays in Happy Holidays!!.


How about Bill Begg spending some of the winter holidays in China? See Zhu Hai China Skating Mecca for more.

Click here for results from the Canadian long track single distance championships.

Patin Carrera has published an article that looks at the 2008 WIC teams. Speaking of the 2008 World Inline Cup, you can find information on the upcoming season here in the most recent newsletter which has the 2008 WIC calendar.


I love getting all sorts of site statistics from other websites who check their visitors that come from my site- see here to see what I mean. You see, thanks to my site's sitemeter thingy, I can discover where some of my site's visitors come from and find some content and links that I would otherwise miss- case and point, I saw that some people visited my site from the interesting discussion Would you be interested in a new online inline speedskating magazine?.

KNBB results- click here for KNSB Cup #11 and here for KNSB Cup #12 results. You can find the results from the KNSB Cup #13 and the Dutch LT trials here.

You can find pictures of the KNSB events thanks to Harm de Boer Fotografie- use these links; KNSB Cup #11 men A pics, KNSB #11 women pics, KNSB Cup #12 women pics and KNSB Cup #12 men A pics.


KNSB Cup #12 men- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

KNSB Cup #12 men- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

KNSB Cup #11 women- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie
And now for a long track ice video from Italy- Christmas Baselga di Pinè 2007. I like the song- Last Christmas; I like the Manic Street Preachers' version. I used to play it a few years ago when I played guitar in a bubble tea shop.

USA long track championships are under-way. You can find results here and here.

Here's a video from Skate Podium-

Heart Rate Monitor, Snow, & Dog

Heart Rate Monitor, Snow, & Dog: I hope your winter holidays are going well. I'll get a few skating updates up within the next couple of days.

I have spent the last few days in St-Tite, Quebec, with my aunts and uncles and cousins. I have made incredible efforts at avoiding consuming the mountains of Ferrero Roche & Lindt chocolates and piles of made-in-Quebec pastries & sugar pies.


Yummy holiday cookings and eatings- eating time in the heart of Quebec for about 25 people in my family!
My training partners for the last few days have been a brand new heart rate monitor, fresh coats of fallen snow, and a friendly dog who loves to run with me.


As much as I love dogs, I have to admit that this one is really stupid. While I run on the country roads where cars fly by at over 90 km/h, he runs beside me on the wrong side of the road, just begging to get clocked by a car
As much as try to I shoo him away to send him home and as much as I yell at him to get to the right side of the road, he keeps doing what he does best; marking his territory, catching up to me & running into my legs, and running to the next farm to mark his territory.


My training partners- the dog, the snow, and my heart rate monitor
He repeats this cycle over and over. The cycle is sometimes interrupted by the odd car that I waved to slow down so that it doesn’t plow into the unsuspecting and clueless dog that runs in a zigzag pattern across the road.

The best way to get rid of a dog that won’t stop playing with you and running with you is to throw some snow balls into a field that is 2 feet deep in snow. At some point, the dog will focus on trying to find the un-findable snowball while you sneak away behind the snow-banks and out of sight over the rolling hills.


This is Léo, my cousin Isabelle's dog

A few of my cousins and I

One of my many winning hands of cards- I usually destroy all who dare step in my path in a game of cards

Merry X-Mas, Veterans On Ice, ASSB Team Speedlager 2008?, Speed Skater’s Blog's Great Practice

Merry X-Mas: That's right, merry x-mas to all and to all a merry x-mas!

Veterans On Ice: SpeedSK8ers.com has posted an article called Veterans On Ice.


'Italian Masters: the real deal
'- photo and caption from SpeedSK8ers.com
ASSB Team Speedlager 2008?: Andrew's Speed Skating Blog has a recent entry called Team Speedlager 2008?.


Photo from Andrew's Speed Skating Blog
Speed Skater’s Blog's Great Practice: You can find an entry from a few days ago on Speed Skater's Blog called Great Practice Tonight.

I really like how many skaters are writing about their skating experiences, what they want out of their practices, what they get from them, what they understand, what works well in a practice setting, and what they like. Someone who shares many of her skating experiences is Candy Wong- see her most recent site post called Dare I Say It?.

SSW Off For The Holidays & Design Canada, Links, ZATAOSS USA ST Updates, Arndt Photos, HDB's LT Pics, Olympic Candidates Trophy

SSW Off For The Holidays & Design Canada: It's that time of the year that I travel to Quebec to be with my family in St-Tite, near Shawinigan, Quebec. I'll be there for about 5 days after which I'll make my way to Moncton, New Brunswick. I suspect that during the winter holidays, my access to the internet will be infrequent at best, so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish a merry x-mas and happy new year to all my loyal readers!

While you will be forced to cope with your intense and painful Speed Skate World withdrawl, there are things you can do to fend off the pain, including the Design Canada contest where you get to design Canada's next costume for the RSC world team.

Cheers big ears!

Links: A couple of links for you to explore; Short Track Australia and Shorttrack.com.

ZATAOSS Updates: Andrew Love's website Zen And The Art Of Speed Skating has a few updates that I am sure you'll enjoy reading- many of them contain videos from the USA short track champs; see ST nationals 1000m, Natuurijs, Men’s 500m final, Women’s 500m final, Men’s 1500m final, and Got Snow?.

In usual Andrew Love fashion, you'll be treated to fun readings, like in Natuurijs where he says 'THERE IS ICE IN HOLLAND RIGHT NOW... for the first time in a LONG TIME, this is a country that is crazy about distance skating, specifically outdoors on the canals.

Imagine if the USA’s relationship to baseball was hampered by the fact that baseball diamonds only rarely appeared, and sometimes, not for years on end.'.

In Got Snow? he says about Flyin Brian 'Before the race, Brian was in his skinsuit sitting next to the start line, on a work-realated conference call. He puts his phone down for a moment, races a 1000m, and then gets right back on the phone'.

And here is a great picture-


'I do want to call attention to one moment of perfection in this race, just as Apollo passes J.P., check out this extension & incredible compression'- caption and photo from Zen And The Art Of Speed Skating
Flyin Brian has posted some commentary about the USA short track nationals- check out US Short Track Champs and Day 2 - 'That's Short Track'.

Arndt Photos: Another entry by Aaron Arndt- this one's called Just a few pics....


'Yep, that's Bill Begg, following us on his famous cruiser scooter...'- caption and photo from Aaron Arndt
HDB's LT Pics: Harm de Boer Fotografie has quite a few photo albums of recent Dutch races that I haven't linked to yet, so here they are- Amsterdam Essent Cup #10 men, Amsterdam Essent Cup #10 women, Breda KNSB Cup #12, Haaksbergen women, and Haaksbergen men A.


Amsterdam Essent Cup #10 women- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

Amsterdam Essent Cup #10 men- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

Breda KNSB Cup #12 men- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

Haaksbergen women- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

Haaksbergen men- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie
Olympic Candidates Trophy: Here are some links that will take you to photos, results, and reports from short track's Olympic Candidates Trophy; day 1 results, heat results , picutres, Skating Sisters report, another Skating Sisters report, and again another Skating Sisters update.


OCT- photo from Slovak Skating Union

Scooter's Pics, USA ST Champs, Cat, FlevOnIce Video, Denny Morrison Site, More On Hong Kong's Santas, '04 ST WC #1 Pics

Scooter's Pics: Here are some pictures from Sunday's Scooter's Indoor Speed Club practice.


Coming out of the corner


2007-12-23 Mississauga Scooter’s Practice
USA ST Champs: You want details and reports and photos and more from the USA short track championships? You can find some details here. You can find all sorts of coverage thanks to Ohno Zone- see Final standings at Nationals, Nationals day 3 - 3000m & 1000m finals, Video clips: 500m A finals at Nationals which includes 3 videos, Overall standings after day 2, Nationals day 2 - 500m finals, Nationals Day 1 photos, 1500m finals (videos and news links now up!), Top 16 men and women after 9-lap time trials, and Photos from Thursday in Kearns. Also you can check out some day 1 photos here.



Anthony Lobello & Jordan Malone at the front- photo from Ohno Zone
Cat: Below is a picture of my dumbface (Presti) that I took on Saturday night. Presti's hobby is to pounce on and attack Zoe the elderly white cat. Zoe's hobby is to freak out when Presti the young orange cat jumps on her.


Presti
FlevOnIce Video: I don't remember if I linked to the Flevonice 16 dec 2007 video. One of my friends sent the link in an e-mail. I have NO idea what they're talking about in the video as it all sounds like jibberish to me, but I do understand and also love the crunching and clapping sounds.


Denny Morrison Site: Check it out; Denny Morrison- all about Canadian speed skater Denny Morrison.

More On Hong Kong's Santas: The thread SANTA CLAUS SKATE Hong Kong has comment from Bill Begg that I like; he says 'Don't anyone ever tell me that they cant promote & develope speed skating as they do not have the facilities... The Indoor rink Choca this morning 20 meters by 16 meters, with two poles in the middle... The outdoor rink a 75 meter slippery concrete one with the end slopping the wrong way at the ends, to allow the water to drain off, go more than 10 kmph & you have to be a magican to get around the corners.... The worlds least facilities, but the organization & enthusiasm shown by checker sport Officials & skaters, is 2nd to none' and he goes on to write 'Well I nearly chocked on the fluff from the wiskers getting down my throat... this ring in Santa Claus job, was really tough stuff, with dishing out a sackfull of goodies 3 times over, with more than 100 plus little Santa Claus rushing for their gifts'. Hehehehehe.


Which of these guys is Bill Begg? Let me give you a hint; he's not the one not holding the mic- photo from Checker Sport
'04 ST WC #1 Pics: These pictures from the 2004 short track world cup in Saguenay are pretty sweet.


'Tightly-bunched skaters: Apolo Ohno, Junji Ito and Steve Robillard, 1500m heat'- photo & caption from ozannex.typepad.com/

KNSB Cup 12 Breda Updates & Video, RRC's Low & Pics, IP Skate Tip, Challenge Update, CW's Dare I Say It?, Trans-USA Record Update, Santa & Hong Kong

KNSB Cup 12 Breda Updates & Video: I am glad Skate Podium is on top of things such as making sure that live udpates from the KNSB Cup #12 in Breda is posted. Oh and just when I am about to head off and have some fun with some friends, I stumble upon a video of the men's A race.

Below are the top-20 finishers of the men's A race. When I look at that list, I realize that I forgot to change my Marathon Manager team. I am a bad manager. I've changed my line-up once of twice during the competition and I did fairly well those times, but I usually forget to change my skaters, and that's why I am floating around in 350th place or so...eeek! 3 of my guys are in the top-20 this week, with Sjoerd Huisman being my highest placed skater. You can find all the results by prodding around here.
1 Arjan Stroetinga
2 Sjoerd Huisman
3 Bob de Vries
4 Ingmar Berga
5 Bart de Vries
6 Ralf Zwitser
7 Roy Boeve
8 Durk Fabriek
9 Gary Hekman
10 Jasper van Tol
11 René Ruitenberg
12 André Withaar
13 Rob Hadders
14 Arjan Mombarg
15 Peter de Vries
16 Douwe de Vries
17 Alain Gloor
18 Geert-Jan van der Wal
19 Douwe Bierma
20 Rob Busser

Here's the video from the KNSB Cup #12-


RRC's Low & Pics: The people who work for an write at the Road Rash Chronicles updated their website with a positive review of my Inline Planet article The Low Down- see SpeedSkateWorld.com and the Down Low for more. I think they are applying some of the ideas in their training; see A true Road Rash Chronicle. The post that got my attention though was Last pics of Indoor until the new year.


A bearded skater- photo from Road Rash Chronicles
IP Skate Tip: The newest of the Inline Planet's skate tips is written by none other than Nicole Begg- it's called Warm-ups and Cool-downs.


Nicole Begg (in black) in the thick of the action at the 2007 world roller speed skating championships in Cali, Colombia
Challenge Update: Andrew Hegarty has posted an update on The Challenge- see The Challenge - Update #1 for more.

CW's Dare I Say It?: Here's a good read from Candy Wong; Dare I Say It?.

Trans-USA Record Update: There is a new post in the Trans-USA Record Attempt thread. How about getting involved if he's skating near you? Danny Dannels says 'Guinness has decided that I am allowed to pace with people. I will try to keep as current an update as possible of my route and location. I would be honored to share the road with other skaters. If you care to, call your local media and see if they are interested in carrying the story, even if you don't live near the route. We can use this to raise awareness for our sport and teams. I could honestly use the help in getting the word out. Maybe we could get some face time for the local teams on the news. It's current events, health, and sports'.

Santa & Hong Kong: This one seems like jolly 'old fun; SANTA CLAUS SKATE Hong Kong. Bill Begg says '... have also been fitted with a Complete Santa Uniform'. Heheheheh, I would love to see that!!

USA Short Track Speedskating Championships Webcast, Japan Allround LT Champs, A Kiwi Year, Venezuela Games Marathon, Arndt- Pics & Holidays

USA Short Track Speedskating Championships Webcast: Just in case you don't about this yet, I thouht it would be a good idea to inform you that there is a webcast of this weekend's USA short track speedskating championships- check it out by clicking here- they are broadcasting the events live. Results should eventually be posted here.


A screen shot of Chris Creveling during his first race earlier on Friday
Japan Allround LT Champs: You can find a non-English report with results from Japan's allround long track championships. You can find all the results here.

A Kiwi Year: Here's an article from New Zealand- Kiwis hope there's always next year.


The New Zealand skaters were competitive at the 2007 world roller speed skating championships in Cali, Colombia- Scott Alridge and Reyon Kay in New Zealand's black uniform during the 10km points elimination final
Venezuela Games Marathon: Patin Carrera has a Spanish language report with results from the Venezuela Games marathon.

Arndt- Pics & Holidays: Aaron Arndt is posting more and more material- see his most recent entries including Pics and moving forward... and Holiday Clarity...- he writes '...indoors will make you a more skilled, stronger, fitter, more efficient, more proficient, and simply better skater. But this is the product of a full season of hard work and effort. Those that attend regularly showcase these improvements made....The group as a whole learns, improves, grows, matures, and finally, moves on. This process is of a long term course and can even be held back by those that attend intermittently. Please, don’t allow the gap to become any larger. From here, the process of joining or rejoining the group or closing the gap quickly gets harder and longer, then finally impossible. So, get up and join us...’'


'Tuggen 100m Sprints'- 'For the record, I made it out of the first round.... (to the crowd’s amazment)'- photo and caption from Aaron Arndt
Here's Aaron's video of Argentina's Ruben Martinez skating- see Ruben Martinez (Argentina) training.

Plyometrics For Speedskaters, South American Racing News, SSO- Olympics and Wotherspoon

Plyometrics For Speedskaters: SpeedSk8ers.com is the source for a very good and comprehensive plyometric guide- see Applied Plyometrics For Speedskaters.


South American Racing News: Patin Carrera has posted some reports and results from recent races in South America. Use the following links for the Copa America event in Panama; photos, report, and results.


Gladys Stranges, Diana Platero, Silvana Stocco and Sandra Gomez- photo from Patin Carrera
You can find a report with results and a 2nd report with results from the Venezuela Games.

SSO- Olympics and Wotherspoon: Speedskating-Online has some articles and information that you might like to have. The first is an article called Wotherspoon happy about first World Cup results.

If you're interested in checking out the speedskating schedule for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games taking place in Vanouver, click here. Better yet, I'll take a screen shot and put it below- even better, you can go straight to the source; see the long track schedule and the short track schedule.

Design Canada, Matthew Whitty's 2008 A2A, IP Articles, Beautiful Ice Video, Lots Of Blog News, Canadian ST Juniors

Design Canada: This is a really competition; Design Canada- 'In collaboration with Roller Sports Canada, Il Peloton is proud to announce a contest to design two skinsuits, one for the Canadian National Team and for one for Canadians skating abroad. This is a unique opportunity to show your artistic skills. Using a blank Skinsuit template, you have until January 14th to send us your design. People will then vote for their favourite design. Before sending any designs please read the contest rules'.

Andrew Hegarty has already submitted his design- see 2008 Skinsuits. I went to skating practice tonight and I tried to convince Andrew to show me his design but he refused. He thinks I will steal his design and submit it in his place.

The fine folks at Road Rash Chronicles also have a reaction to the project- see Fate? Project Inline.

Matthew Whitty's 2008 A2A: Here is some Matthew Whitty news for you. He is Matthew planning on skate 87 miles of Athens to Atlanta to build a village and school in Nicaragua- 'Matthew Whitty was unable to skate the A2A event on October 7, 2007 do to a stress fracture in his foot... Matthew is starting to train again and will be more then ready to compete in the A2A next year on October 12, 2008'.

IP Articles: The Inline Planet has a couple of articles of interest, including the latest Bill Begg column called Pronating Pros! ... What's Up? and a health and fitness article called 20 Tips for Active Aging.

Beautiful Ice Video: Skate Podium has a video in the dump section that I can only describe using the words 'Het eerste natuurijs van dit jaar met Geert en Gerco ontmaagd'- the ice is beautiful!


Lots Of Blog News: Many of the internet blogs have seen interesting updates go up in the last few days. There is plenty of good reading and many diverse perspectives for speed skating fans to immerse themselves in as we head into the winter holidays.

Aaron Arndt's site has seen a few posts in the last few days. Check out hmmmmm…. email response string and Wait a minute, maybe I am an asshole....

Andrew Love's website Zen And The Art Of Speed Skating has a few recent entries as well. See Outdoor Tough Guys about the Dimon Sports Marathon and All things excellent–.


Photo from ZATAOSS
Flyin Brian's site has an interesting entry with a video of a man doing squats. Here's the SSW challenge; try to calculate how much weight the guy is squatting- see Tapering & High Altitude training & Best Burger in SLC for the video and more.

Michael Cheeks' skating site Cheex Skating Blog has a cool entry called GIMMI, EQUIPMENT, SPONSOR.

Andrew's Speed Skating Blog has a few entries that will give you lots of information on the German skating scene including information on teams- see More News: Täubrecht, Wilking, Cuncu, Rehse... and Rumors.

Canadian ST Juniors: Patinage Vitesse Courte Piste has a picture of the junior team that will represent Canada at the 2008 short track world junior championships.

Rink Roof Collapses, Links, Kalon Dobbin Got Robbed, Skate Podium Articles (Helling, WOW, FlevOnIce), OISC Indoor & Minto Run For Reach

Rink Roof Collapses: This sounds like no fun; 5 injured in Aurora Township skating rink roof collapse. You can view a video and article by clicking here. You can read and post some reactions in oh man........

Links: Here are a few links for you to explore and check out; Speed Skater’s Blog- A skating comeback at 28 years old. Check out Andrew's Speed Skating Blog- Speed Skating in and around Germany. Giving insight on the German Blade Challenge, new material tests, race reports and personal thoughts.

Kalon Dobbin Got Robbed: This is from Powerslide Racing; 'Heart break, physical pain, frustration are just a few words to sum up Kalon´s 2007 World Championships campaign. He went to Cali, Colmobia, with possibly the best form ever prior to a World Championship, but hopes to defend his titles came to a screeching halt as he pulled his groin muscle in the series of the 300m race.

Kalon had his best WIC season ever when the injury stopped him finishing the series.

Finally he got robed after dining in a restaurant back home in NZN last week. A guy took his mobile and money and punched him a couple of times in his face. Kalon was too surprised to defend himself and his bodyguard Peter Michael, also known as "Arnold" was not there to help him.

Kalon went to hospital to see if all is ok as due to the blow was close to the tempel.

He´s back now. The eye is still a little bit sore, but all good. He can continue to prepare for 2008'.


Kalon's eys after 5 days- photo and caption from Powerslide Racing
I got into a pretty nasty fight with a couple of guys some 16 years ago when I used to sell be a Dickie Dee, selling ice cream on a bike. Some guys wanted to rob a friend and I. Punches were thrown, knives were pulled out, and the police was involved. Getting robbed is no fun.

Actually, I've seen a few videos on the internet of people getting beat up. Since my knee is injured, I've started beating on a defensless boxing bag, sharpenning up my punching skills in case someone tries to mug me, especially here in dangerous Mississauga... I hope you don't think I'm serious about my fear of getting mugged or that Mississauga is dangerous.

Skate Podium Articles (Helling, WOW, FlevOnIce): Skate Podium has a couple of article of interest; see the one about Casper Helling; Casper Helling: 100% natuurijsspecialist.


Casper Helling- photo from Skate Podium
You can check out a provisional calendar of Netherland races- see Concept wedstrijdkalender zomer 2008- the calendar includes many dates for the World On Wheels series.

Here is a sweet video of the FlevOnIce- check it out- oh and by the way, droooooooool!!!


OISC Indoor & Minto Run For Reach: If ever you're in the Ottawa area and you want to skate indoors, check out the Ottawa Inline Skating Club's indoor program.


The Minto Run For Reach is one of the first Canadian events to take place in 2008. The 21.1km event will take place in Ottawa on April 13th in Ottawa- click here for more information.

Trapped In Thunder Bay, Dimon Sports Marathon, KNSB #11 Videos & Pics + Essent, LT World Cup Erfurt, Canada JR ST, Skating Low Vid, REL Article

Trapped In Thunder Bay: Ok, I'm not trapped, but I was supposed to be back in Toronto on Sunday night. Thanks to a snow storm over the weekend in Toronto, my flight was cancelled. Air Canada has re-scheduled my flight to Toronto via Winnnipeg on Tuesday. I expect to be home sometime on Tuesday evening.

Hmm, a delay of only 2 days...


Blue skies on Sunday in Thunder Bay meant no good news for my flight to Toronto- the flight was still cancelled thanks to a snow storm in Toronto
Apart from missing two days of work, I do get to spend more time with my family and my nephew Sebastien. His first birthday was yesterday.


Papa Olivier, Sebastien, and Mama Marlene
Along with spending time with my family (ie sleeping in very late), I got to reinforce my new found obsession with Cream of Wheat. That cereal is fantastic! I think it's the next big thing. On my way to the grocery store today, I picked up a newspaper called Thunder Bay Sports Scene and noticed a picture of speedskaters on the front page. According to an article in the paper the Thunder Blades Speed Skating Club will have an open house tomorrow. Maybe if there's another snow storm and my flights are cancelled, I can go check it out!

Dimon Sports Marathon: MSI's Dimon Sports Marathon took place this past weekend. Use the following links for results
- 10km results
- 25km results
- 1-hour (blizzard race) results

KNSB #11 Videos & Pics + Essent: Let's get you started with some results- click here to plow through the KNSB Cup #11 results. You can find all the Essent Cup #9 results by clicking here.

While we've been stuck in Thunder Bay, Skate Podium has been kind enough to put up some videos from this past weekend's KNSB #11 (The Hague) for Morgane Echardour and I to watch- click here for the women's and here for the men's A.



You can find some very nice photos from the Essent Cup #9 (men's photos and women's photos) and KNSB Cup #11 (women's photos, men's B photos, and men's A photos) thanks to Harm de Boer Fotografie.


Essent Cup #9 Amsterdam women- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

Essent Cup #9 Amsterdam men- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

The Hague KNSB Cup #11 women- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie

The Hague KNSB Cup #11 men's sprint- photo from Harm de Boer Fotografie
LT World Cup Erfurt: All the results are in (since yesterday) from the essent long track sprint World Cup in Erfurt, Germany- view all the results here. Here are a couple of articles; Morrison and Klassen earn medals at speed skating World Cup and Canada concludes successful first half to long track speed skating World Cup season

Canada JR ST: The Canadian junior short track championships took place this past weekend in Ottawa. You can find all the results here. Check out the SSC article for more- Mendes-Campeau and Blais-Dufour Become National Junior Champions.

Skating Low Vid: Following my Inline Planet article The Lowdown, check out Skating Low - Video- you can view the video here.

REL Article: Roller En Ligne has a good article in French called Le mariage de la technique et du matériel