The weekend was not only great skating weather, but also a medal-winning weekend for the Moose Jaw Kiwanis Speed Skating Club. With 17 athletes participating from the club and a total of around 70 skaters from Saskatoon, Regina, Melville and other area clubs, it was the final meet of the long track season at the Moose Jaw Long Speed Skating Meet at the outdoor oval in Wakamow Valley on the weekend.
With the final meet of the season, coach Lee Moyse was more than impressed with how the athletes performed on the home ice.
“They did well,” said Moyse.
The weather couldn’t have been any better for the skaters on Sunday afternoon with temperatures around the -6 and a little bit of wind, but not enough to cause too much trouble for the athletes.
“Its as close to perfect ice conditions as you can get,” said Moyse. “We lucked out; if we had it earlier, we wouldn’t have had it because of ice conditions.”
The Train-to-Train skaters are all first and second year skaters and some are competing at a higher level than at the Train-to-Train level.
“Endurance and stamina are big things with our kids. We pride ourselves on that,” he said.
Moyse explained that with long track speed skating, many of the athletes are learning what is called the “fall” — the art of the sport where skaters get their speed. Instead of pushing off the inside blade, speed skaters learn to push off the outside blade in order to get a more powerful stride that is lower to the body. This generates a better technique and creates more power because more weight shifts to the hip as the skater pushes from one said to the next.
“The lower you are, the bigger the stride and more power you generate,” explained Moyse. “Through the season, it’s always working on technique.”
Lindsay Fish will be competing at the Canada Cup in Saskatoon next weekend as she qualified at het last meet in Regina. She had to get below a certain time in order to qualify.
“All of them have grown so much throughout the season,” said Moyse. “And they have fun too.”
See Tuesday’s Times-Herald for complete results.
