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The fast and the curious (page 3)
Like many Canadians who grew up on hockey skates, I have a lot of questions about the long blades. Like: How speedy are they? Where can I try them? And how can I avoid a face plant?
By Jerry Kobalenko with photography by Todd Korol
Both technique and equipment have evolved from the years
when people in medieval England first shimmied on the leg bones
of small mammals. Speed skates are now scientifically crafted
instruments. Upend a competitive skate and peer down the blade's
approximately 40-centimetre length and it looks pretty straight. It
is not. It has subtle amounts of rocker and bend, which can only
be measured with special gauges, for superior control on curves.
The blades can also be shunted forward or backward, or offset
toward the inside or outside of the boot, depending on the skater's
preferences and technique. And since the 1998 Olympics, all
speed skaters use clap skates, which allow the heel of the boot to
lift like cross-country ski boots for that all-important longer power
stride. Clap skates increase speeds by three to five percent, which
can be huge in races decided by hundredths of a second.
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JOIN THE CLUB: WHERE TO SPEED SKATE IN CANADA
Eleven thousand people speed skate in Canada, competitively
or recreationally. Most join one of the clubs that are
located in every province and territory. Speed Skating
Canada lists the clubs at www.speedskating.ca/clubs.cfm.
Calgary has the only permanent indoor oval, although
construction of a second in Fort St. John, B.C., is nearly
complete. Richmond's new oval will become a genreal
sports cente after the Olympics. But many cities have
seasonal outdoor ovals, listed at vorino.com/icespeed/.
Don't try to do long-track speed skating on a hockey rink;
it's like trying to run 100 metres in a bathroom. On the
other hand, short-track speed skating - which is how
many long-track athletes enter the sport - takes place on
Olympic-sized hockey rinks and involves turning at sharp
angles in a peloton, one hand on the ice, with only one or
two strides between curves.
Speed skating equipment is available from outlets
such as www.shop.albertaspeedskating.ca and
www.speedskatingontario.org. Clap skates range from about $300
to $1,200. As you might expect, the custom-made skates
of Olympic athletes cost considerably more. Calgary's
www.vhfootwear.com supplies several noted Olympians.
J.K.
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The most recent breakthrough has been the racing suits. At
the Oval, I met two “sports engineers," Sean Maw and Clifton
Johnston, who helped design the “skinsuits" used in the last
Olympics in Turin, Italy. The chatty, enthusiastic pair have worked
together so long they often finish each other's sentences. They
explain how until the late 1960s, skaters wore wool tops and tight
track pants, and then switched to spandex and lycra. Then at
the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Nike introduced its Swift
Skin suit. “After that," says Maw, “it became like an arms race."
Today's outfits, heavily engineered using wind-tunnel
tests, employ several different materials. The shins and arms and
parts of the hood, which bear the most wind, use a pitted
fabric called Dimplex. Maw compares it to the dimples on a golf
ball, which permit longer drives by maintaining smooth air
flow behind the ball. “Dimplex has 50 percent less drag than
lycra," he explains. Smooth, coated materials are superior in
less windy areas, such as the chest. Low-friction patches on the
crotch and underarms further reduce drag. And unlike swimming,
where high-tech suits will be banned as of early 2010, no
restrictions apply in speed skating.
CINDY KLASSEN, who won five medals in Turin and is
Canada's most-decorated Olympian, cut short her 2008 season
to care for her sister, who was injured in a car accident,
and lost the 2009 season to knee surgery. She only returned
to the ice last summer, and no one, including herself, knows
how she will do in 2010. Clara Hughes, Canada's other goldmedal
skater from Turin, had a poor last season, but her
ability to dig deep at the right time keeps her in the running.
For her part, Le May Doan believes that the three likeliest
long-track medallists in Vancouver are Denny Morrison,
Kristina Groves and Christine Nesbitt.
By the time you read this, the skaters will have completed
most of their training for the Olympics, Klassen may have a
better idea what to expect from herself, and Canada's medal
favourites will begin to feel the pressure of expectations ramping
up. Just don't expect world records, caution the experts:
Vancouver's sea-level ice does not support blazing times.
Although you only get a sense of how fast speed skaters go by
being there in person, it's also a good sport for television, which
is how I'll be watching the Olympics. Speed skaters compete in
pairs against the clock, which makes the races more subtle than
those in which everyone starts together. In some ways, it is wonderfully
primitive. The skaters may wear engineered garments
while doctors analyze their blood and coaches analyze their
stride in super slow-mo, but once the race gun fires, it's mainly
about the ability to endure. And to avoid falling.
Jerry Kobalenko lives in Canmore, Alta. Todd Korol lives in Calgary.
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