MIST Games 2019

Well, this is my first post in 7-years, but WOW, hasn't the Masters Short Track scene just taken off?

So many people in so many countries now coming back into the sport and building membership and also building the Masters to be coming up to its 5th event in Melbourne next April 2019.

Be sure to switch across and check out www.mistgames2019.info for information about registration and the competition.

Carnival of Short Track - Sheffield ENG

Carnival of Short Track Speed Skating

To coincide with the 45th Aniversary of Sheffield Speed Skating Club, a 3 day event has been organised to run alongside the World Championships in March 2011. All the events will take place in Ice Sheffield which is 200m away from the main Arena where the world Championships are taking place

The events are as follows

Friday 11th March (7.45pm till 9.45pm)

General Skating Session for all skaters, Parents, Grandparents, Brothers, sisters, friends etc to come onto the ice and skate around for fun and enjoyment

Cost off Session £3.00 per skater

Saturday 12th March (10.00am till 1.00pm)

Will be a fun morning and hopefully involve all skaters and anyone else involved in the sport. The events are below

10.00am - 11.00am Seminar 1 (Held in the Glacier Suite in Ice Sheffield)

11.00am - 12.00pm Seminar 2 (Held in the Glacier Suite in Ice Sheffield)

Events on the main concourse (10.00am till 12.30pm)

Characature Artist, Video Wall (Showing videos from old World Championships, Olympics etc), Merchandising Stands, Ps3 Short Track Challenge, Photograph Wall and other events

Saturday 12th March (7.00pm - 10.00pm)

Ice Training Sessions

Individual training sessions will be ran with both top coaches. The sessions will be based upon ability and times and limiited to 30 skaters per session on a 1st come 1 served basis. These are open to all skaters of all levels and age groups)

7.00pm - 7.30pm (Skaters whose pb times for 500m are 60 secs above)

7.35pm - 8.05pm (Skaters whose pb times for 500m are between 55.00 - 55.99 secs)

8.10pm - 8.30pm (Skaters whose pb times for 500m are between 50.00 - 54.99 secs)

8.35pm - 9.05pm (Skaters whose pb times for 500m are between 45.00 - 49.99 secs)

9.10pm - 9.40pm (Skaters whose pb times for 500m are below 45 secs)

Cost for all skaters per training session £5.00

Sunday 13th March 2011

8.00am - 9.00am (Sheffield Speed Club Weekly Training Session)

9.00am - 10.00am To develope and encourage and promote the masters catergory there will be a specific masters skaters training session and make this a social event at the same time

Posters are being made which will be circulated when ready however in the meantine could you inform all of your club members that there will be lots for them to instead of just watching the event

Keith Wright

Recent Competitions

Over the last few weeks, there have been a couple of competitions with great Masters representation.

On the weekend of the 25th & 26th of July, Australian Ice Racing ran the Duke Trophy in honour of great Australian speed skater, Len Duke.

Three state teams (Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales) competed for the prized Duke Trophy, with the winning team entitled to the bragging rights as the best short track state team for the year.

Masters compete in 12 races in three sessions over the two days, which makes for some very tired bodies, skating 2 x 1500, 4 x 500m, 4 x 1000m, 1 x 3000m and 1 x 3000m relay. The skaters race placing gains points for the overall team total, so there are no heats, or finals.

New South Wales took home the overall competition honours. Two special awards are also presented in the Spirit of the Duke Trophy for the skater who personifies the spirit of the competition and the Len Duke Fairest and Best Trophy.
Toby Dite of Victoria took out the spirit of the Duke Trophy and Frank Anderson took out the Fairest and Best award.

Duke Trophy Protocol

On the weekend of the 6th and 7th of August, the Trophée Léon Quaglia was contested in Chamonix, France.

Eight Master skaters from 5 countries, including my good friend Spaniard Marcello Bresin competing in his first ever short track event after having competed in the Masters division of LT for several years.

Barrie Barreto from Scottish Club Dundee took out the overall division win from Joel Martin of France. Barrie is a keen photographer and videographer with a full compliment of video on his YouTube page.

Congratulations Barrie.

Trophée Léon Quaglia Protocol

With the season now officially underway, I look forward to updating more results soon.

A Big Weekend

It will be a big weekend of skating with the last two big events for the season being run.

The Closing Games in Turnhout, Belgium will start on Saturday but reports suggest that there will be less Masters than usual due to the fact that the British ST Championships will be held on the same dates in Nottingham, England.

Many of the regular GB Master will be competing in Nottingham as opposed to Turnhout, but both competitions expect a good turnout of Master skaters.

I can attest to the fact that Masters short track is definately growing around the world and many skaters who had thought there was no ST life after retirement from the senior divisions are starting to filter back into the sport. Any committee member of a National association that thinks that Masters are not or should not be a valued member of their ST community, should not be in a position of authority for their association. In Australia last year, the biggest division competing was the Masters! Why would you exclude such a group? Sport should not be about elitism but participation - only when you encourage ALL to participate will you find the elite amongst them.

Good luck to all skaters competing this weekend, I am extremely envious that I can't be there myself. I will post up the results after the weekend and as soon as I have them.

Frank

Ellis Edge

Sue Ellis of The Ellis Edge has run training camps in North America for many years and she also has a comprehensive site with many coaching tips. I know that many skaters have really benefited from her tips so I thought it high time to share her site here.

Enjoy - The Ellis Edge

SEBRA - Cutting Edge Technology in action

Barrie Barreto, a UK Master, produced this video for the new Sebra cut resistant body suits. Barrie has a YouTube account of Barraldinho with plenty of video and photo shots.

I am not normally commercially minded on the site, but I think it is a very frank video, stating what we know but never put on advertising. And anything that keeps skaters safe has to be a good thing.



www.sebrasports.com

Barrie and his partner Alison Gilkes run ALBAR Photo Media.

Sheffield Masters Event Wrap-up

Four Ayrshire Flyers Master skaters travelled to Sheffield at the weekend (27th - 28th Feb 2010) for the first of its kind masters only event. Benny, Brian, Stewart and Paul took part in the event with 19 other skaters form all over the UK.

This was a packed weekend with a hard training session on the Saturday night in the pub with a pool competition which Brian Logan won.

On the Sunday, the event was full of a whole range of races, with a difference. There were 444m, 555m, 666m, 777m, distances which were competitive at all levels. There was also team pursuit races and relays.

The best race was left till last Scotland vs. England Relay - this got the crowd going with loud cheers. Scotland took the lead with 2 laps to go and managed to hold their position right to the Finish line. Well Done Scotland's Masters Team: Stewart Logan, Brian Reid, Alan Dobbie and Keith Wright.

This event was never about trophies however there was one trophy THE SKATERS/SKATER TROPHY. The winner of this trophy was voted for by the skaters for not necessarily winning but for trying hard and never giving up.

This trophy was won by our very own Paul McKeen. Well Done !!

Stewart Logan

Article and photos from Ayrshire Flyers Speed Skating Club website

Update - The Lazy Blogger

I must apologise for not dedicating as much time to this blog as I have previously, but after many emails and being in contact with people who advised me that they looked to this blog for all info on Masters ST around the world, I will dedicate more time to updating it. I have been involved in a variety of other works of late, and as there were only 24 hours in any one day, some things had to give.

Please be patient whilst I catch up with and locate results from some recent events around the world. Also, for those that have emailed without a response, this was a hiccup with my email and laptop which crashed with those emails which I have now recovered and will respond to shortly!

If you have any upcoming events, or you want to publish a write up about your local event, feel free to email it to me and I will post it up ASAP. Photos and video links will be appreciated as well.

regards
Frank

Opening Games 2009 - Turnhout, Belgium

Competition Report – Turnhout, Belgium, October 10th 2009

Five GB Masters competed in the event to make up a total entry of 20 masters from GB, Belgium and Holland.

Alison Gilkes competing in the Ladies category made an excellent start winning a closely competed 1000m heat to then skate an excellent 1000m final, taking maximum points. The 500m was even more closely fought, Alison winning her heat then closely beaten in the 500m final by 0.29 secs. Ladies results

After the 2 distances Alison was tied on points with Fenna Pel of Holland but was given the overall title by winning the longer distance. This was an excellent result for Alison who after working so hard during the off season saw the results of her efforts.

In the men’s category 4 skaters competed in an entry of 14. Barrie Barreto from Falkirk, Stewart Logan from Ayrshire, Steve Spence, making his international competition debut, and Keith Wright from Sheffield competed against skaters from Belgium and Holland.

In the 1000m distance the final was made up of the 4 fastest times from the heats. Stewart and Keith making the A final, Barrie making the B final and Steve making the C final. In the A final Keith took out the pace leading for 8 laps and in a very close fought race Stewart made a move on the last lap overtaking on the straight to win. In the C Final Steve skated well but found the pace difficult finishing 4th. In the B final Barrie redeemed himself skating an excellent race leading from start to finish.

The 500m was a different story. Again the 4 fastest times made the final. Barrie skated an excellent heat setting the fastest time. Stewart and Keith, racing against each other, set the 2nd and 3rd fastest times. Steve having an unfortunate fall again made the C final. So the scene was set for a high tension race with 3 GB skaters in the final. After 3 dramatic false starts to the race, Keith led from the front with Barrie in 2nd and Stewart 3rd. With 1 ½ laps to go Barrie made a move taking the lead and despite Keith’s efforts he could not get back in the lead and in a close finish Barrie won with Keith in 2nd and Stewart 3rd. In the C final Steve redeemed himself by winning in a new Personal Best in the Masters.

The Overall Standings was a clean sweep for GB on the podium: Full Results

1st - Stewart Logan
2nd - Keith Wright
3rd - Barrie Barreto
11th - Steve Spencer

In the relay Event, GB, entering a Masters team for the first time ever, competed against teams from Holland and Belgium winning from the start to establish a new GB Masters record.

Overall this was a fantastic event with a large Masters entry and hopefully many more in the future.

Article by Keith Wright

2009 Australian Short Track Championships - update

Masters 500m A-Final Results:

1st Herbie Labiche
2nd Frank Anderson
3rd Michael Attwood
4th Alan Luscombe

Anderson lead the field with a quick start but Labiche fought through the field to overtake with a half lap to go. Anderson went wide then cut up the inside to almost snatch the win, missing by just centimetres.

Nationals this year is very small due to the absence of the national team and a variety of other skaters. The Masters division is the biggest division with 13 competitors but they are also supplying the greatest display of racing for the crowd.

Tomorrow morning kicks off with the 1000m heats. More for you then, hopefully with times and complete results from today.

2009 Australian Short Track Championships

The first session of the Australian nationals has been skated.

1500m A Final results:

1st Herbie Labiche 2:51.707
2nd Frank Anderson
3rd Michael Attwood
4th Igor Ozerov
5th Simon Leadbeater
6th Michael Gusi


Labiche had lead out the first 5 laps when Michael Attwood overtook and increased the pace. At 4 laps to go, Ozerov, sitting 4th, moved to overtake the group on the inside whilst Anderson, in 3rd, made a move on the outside and stumbled slightly, missing his opportunity to take the lead.
Labiche then overtook Attwood and the race was on. Anderson overtook Attwood in the next straight and although he took some ground off Labiche in the final three laps, Labiche was too good and held on to win by just under a second.

Next session - 500m

Turin Olympic Oval Open for Skating

I recieved an email from Paolo Gemme advising the Turin Olympic Oval is open for skating. Find all the details below:

Dear Friends,

Good news from Italy !!! The Olympic Ice Oval in Turin is open till October 18th 2009 !!!

The ice is really good and the room temperature is pleasant. We would like to inform all the Masters that is possible to skate with the following time schedule:
• Monday to Saturday: from 14:00 till 17:00
• Sunday: from 10:00 till 12:30

The entrance fee for each training session costs 8 €. The entrance of the Olympic Ice Oval is located in Via Nizza 294, Turin. If you plan to come please check with the track responsible, Mr.Davide Carta, at the following e-mail address davedany@libero.it.

A special hotel rate is available for the skaters at Euro Motel – Via 1° Maggio, 57 – Nichelino (Torino) - web: www.euromotel.it e-mail: euro@euromotel.it - that is located 5 Km from Ice Oval by car or easily joinable by bus number 14 (stop 100m from the hotel and few hundred meters from the Ice Oval).

The rates are the following (at the reservation please state that you are a skater and the prices are those agreed with Davide Carta):

• Bed & Breakfast: 25€ per person per day in double room
• Half board: 37€ per person per day in double room
• Full board: 43€ per person per day in double room
• Single room: add 20€

Only for next week end the time schedule is as follow:

• Saturday 19th Sept. from 17:00 till 19:00
• Sunday 20th Sept. from 10:00 till 12:30

Please inform the skaters of your club or country.

I wish you a nice week end.

Paolo