2006 World Roller Speed Skating Championships Updates

Closing Thoughts

2006-09-12T12:58:00.000-05:00

I have a vague recollection from the last night after the party of stumbling out of a club at 3am with Gavin Pollock from Great Britain. The earth was spinning quite a bit and the music was thumping outside of the club. People in the club were dancing, some very very close to each other. I needed to be at the hotel because only a few hours away, my flight back home awaited. Before going to the street to hail a taxi, we looked to our right coming out of the club and saw some little food stand with seats.

Gavin and I sat down, and soon, we found oursleves eating like mad-men. How do mad-men eat you ask? Well, if you'd seen Gavin and I eating the delicious things we were eating, then you'd know. The coolest part of that part of the night was when I looked up and saw some news show on tv. I was thinking 'Geez, the people they're interviewing look a lot like skaters'. And sure enough, they were. After the interview, they aired one of the women's road races.

You know, this was one of the hilights of the whole trip. Here I am, worlds is finished, the party is over, but I am sitting with a good friend eating some great newly discovered food that I have no idea what it is, it's 3am, but skating is on tv. It made me smile. Just everything at that moment was just right; the temperature, the smell in the air, the noise of people yelling and laughing, the background music, Gavin drunkingly munching away on the food and me saying that this is the best food I've ever tasted- it was all perfect.

So how'd the party go? It was awesome. Everyone was in such a good mood. After the marathon, some people went to the closing ceremony but I stayed back and cleaned my bearings. The dinner was ok, but there was no chairs! The speeches were long and they kept saying 'Please do not eat the food yet'. 'Ha' I though, 'try holding back a whole swarm of athletes who haven't eaten since the marathon'. The food was good, but the real party started after the dinner.

The word got out that everyone was going to meet at the hotel where the Americans and French were staying. There was a disco right beside, so it would all work out. We all somehow got there by 9pm, quite early. I got there in a small bus with friends from Ecuador, Mexico, and El Salvador. It was so much fun listening to them all talk and laugh on our way over. I'm lucky to spend time with people from different nations.

The disco was not yet open, so about 150 of us athletes, coaches, officials, managers, and friends started going through the streets, taking over stores, chanting, and just being happpy (and rowdy). For some of the skaters, this was the end of the season, so it was time to let the elastic band snap since they'd been wound up so tight with training and sacrifice. For others, the season continued with the WIC today, so they took it easy and took in the positive atmosphere and energy.

At worlds, skaters know a few things really well: How to skate, how to focus, and how to party. I think I've been to quite a few competitions, and skaters to everything right to the max.

AJ, Alex, and Jesse unloading their luggage from the bus at the airport in Korea. Once our luggage was cleared, security called Andrew, AJ, Jesse, and I into a small room to go over the contents of our suitcases. Ends up the bottles of spray ben-gay shouldn't be in our luggage. Well, one things led to the next, a few ben-gay bottles ended up on the floor, and we almost broke into a ben-gay fight in the security room.

Mount Fuji from the air. The view was breath-taking.

The American mothers of Micheal Cheeks and Brittany Bowe; we were on the same flight back to North America. They were sitting right behind Jesse and I. Mister Mantia was also a couple of seats back and he slept the whole time!

Jack Black in Nacho Libre; Nacho Libre was one of the 5 movies that Jesse and I watched on the flight back to North America. First we watched Poseidon, then X-Men, afer that An Inconvenient Truth, followed by The Family Stone and finally Nacho Libre.

This leaves us now with the 2006 world championships as officially over...in my books that is. I'm plannning on being in Colombia next year, so until the next time, skate well.

Marathon Part 2

2006-09-09T02:55:00.000-05:00

I've uploaded the photos from the marathon here. Here's also a quick video of the senior men's marathon.

Senior women's lead pack in the closing laps

I took this photo of the senior women's sprint about 100-meters from the line. Had I waited about 1 more second, you would have seen like 15 skaters side by side! Colombia's Cecilia Baena (#87) won the gold.

Senior men's start line, about 120 skaters braved the rain and cold.

Eventual winner of the men's senior marathon Joey Mantia (USA) is followed by Spain's G. Lerga (in yellow).

I like this shot that Jesse took of me in front of my group. This was the first marathon at worlds that I didn't get lapped out on!

Colombia's Jorge Botero in his last race at worlds before he retires, leading Italy, Scott Alridge, another Italian, and a skater from Australia (I can't tell if it's Mick Byrne or Danny Finster).

Marathon is Over

2006-09-09T01:42:00.000-05:00

Marathon is over. Jesse was 15th in junior men. I finished, first ever marathon at world that I finish, I think 72nd. It was pouring during the races. All races were won in BIG sprints. Great pictures coming in a couple of days plus some videos. We're off to the party! Oh, and I traded for a few skin suits.

Final Day of Road Racing: Relays

2006-09-08T01:30:00.000-05:00

The relays took place today. Both the Canadian junior (Jesse, Jade, Alex) and senior (Andrew, AJ, and I) managed to finish the heats. For my relay, we lucked out and the USA, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and Netherlands took it easy, so we were able to stay in the pack for 8 1/2 of the 12 1/2 laps. The pace got too quick for AJ and a gap openned up, but we managed to stay in and finish.

I hope you're checking out the videos on PatinCarrera. They're awesome. Also, I've got my videos and photos linked in the bar to the right.

Oh, before I go on, I forgot to talk about yersterday's 20km elimination race. It was pretty nutty because they lined all of us, 60 or so skaters, in a specific order. The race was started but a false start was called! Everyone was laughing it off. We all sort of went back to our original spots, and after some confusion, the race was off. I was really happy because I was able to stay with the pack the entire time and actually feel like I could keep the pace all day long. I was not moving up much though. I skated 19 of the 50 laps in the pack and I was called off then. One of my goals was to get eliminated from the pack rather than being dropped, and I met that goal. They did put me 4 or 5 positions lower in the results for some strange reason.

Jesse Pauley, Jade Pauley, Alex D'mello, and Alex Perrie before the junior men's relay.

Race officials preparing the timing system before the relays begin.

Senior women's relay heats: top 3 teams move on to the final here, including the USA, Korea, and Chinese Taipei.

Alex D'mello was molded for Luigino boots. Andrew, Sigrid, Jesse, and Jade went to get molded for Schankel boots.

Junior women's relay final: they are starting to crank it up. The USA was poised to win the gold medal, but the skater crashed less than 50-meters to the finish line. The gold medal went to Colmbia, with Argentina taking the silver and Germany the bronze.

Senior women's relay early on. I was eating my dinner and taking pictures, and next thing I knew, the Colombian team was quite a ways back and the Chinese Taipei team was disqualified. The USA won the gold medal.

The spirit of sportsmanship- Ceclia Baena went over and congratulated the USA team after their victory in the senior women's relay.

Dash to the line for the gold medal! This is about 20 meters before the line. New Zealand won the race, Italy placed 2nd, and the USA 3rd. New Zealand also won the gold in the junior men's relay. What a night for them!

Road: Day 2

2006-09-06T23:50:00.000-05:00

I am not trying to make myself seem like a hero. In fact, if you look at the results list, you'll usually find me near the top of the bottom 1/3 of the resutls. Neverthelss, I love this picture. AJ Perrie took this picture, my 'claim to fame in front of Luca Presti in a 500', during my 500-meter heat. Once we started, I noticed the pace was quite slow for the first 100-something meters. I had a feeling that I wouldn't be finishing ahead of Luca Presti, Vincent Henry, or Alan from Mexico, so I went to the front and pulled so that I could bring my time down and earn a better ranking. Skating for time does work; I placed 26th in the 1000-meter race...mind you there were a couple of DQ's and one slow heat. Still, for us in Canada, each position counts, and everyone on the Canadian team, although closer to the bottom of the results page than the top, is trying their best at placing the highest possible. Remember this; we fundraised ourselves to get here and each got about $300 or so. The coach (Alex Perrie) and manager (Tyler Congdon) receive minimal financial support as well.

USA's Joey Mantia following France's Thomas Boucher- Mantia is an animal; he set the world record in the 10km last night (13:46) and set the world record in the quarter finals of the 500-meter today as well as in the semi-finals (high 38)!

One of the giants of our sport: Italian sprinter Gregory Duggento shows off his hardware that he collected at this year’s world championships.

The junior women coming to the line during the elimination race.

A skater from Chinese-Taipei leads the way. You can make out Australia’s Mick Byrne in the white as well as USA’s Joey Mantia and Dane Lewis on the right.

This is the most perfect picture I have ever taken. After I was eliminated, I cooled down and then watched the race from the sidelines. Jesse Pauley had my camera and gave it to me, so I started to shoot the race. I love this photo. It’s of Joey Mantia finishing the 20km elimination race. He stopped skating before the line and realized that there was someone (Colombia's Nelson Garzon) challenging him for the victory, so after he turned back, he broke out in this hawk.

There was some kind of soccer game going on. If someone broke one of the rules, then the person had to stand against the wall and get the ball kicked at them. Quite a large crowd looked on. Amongst other exciting hapennings, there was a great wrestling match in the Mexican's tent between Mystico and Senior Loco. Senor Loco won the match and keeps the championships belt. I know Senior Loco quite well, he's a good guy.

Italian skaters watching the medal presentation for the 20km eliminations right before the 500-meter sprint finals. Italian skater Patricio Triberio (spelling) won the 500-meter sprint and was mobbed buy his country mates who were just so pleased to have a well earned gold medal going to Italy.

Italy’s Patricio Triberio on his way to winning the senior men’s 500-meter sprint.

Joey Mantia’s father stands proud during the US national anthem playing for his son’s victory in the 20km elimination race.

Road: Day 1

2006-09-06T01:53:00.000-05:00

The first day of road racing was as expected: fast. Gregory Duggento broke his own 200-meter world record, not only once, but twice with a final time of 16.209! For the 200's, Andrew skated a mid-19, AJ a high 19, Alex and Jade mid 20's, and Sigrid skated a low 22.

The elimination races were f-a-s-t. The junior men skated in 14:22, but get this: the senior men finished in 13:45! That's crazy! I was looking at the splits and the times were 32's, with a few laps in the low 30's.

A rival from Mexico named Mystico and I after our wrestling match.

A junior skater from Korea finishing his 200-meter time trial.

Sigrid Ziegler mid-way through her 200-meter sprint.

Great Brittain's Vincent Henry flying through the air.

Dane Lewis qualified for the 200-meter final. Here is the form of his start in 16 pictures. Earlier, Italian sprinter Gregory Duggento broke his own 200-meter world record in a time of 16.317.

The afternoon was quite 'fun'. A bengay spray bottle fight at the hotel, jamming up Alex & AJ Perrie's room door, and a wet towel/ throwing things around fight in the athlete's tent helped release some tension. Mystico egged many of us on and ended up getting the short end of the stick in terms of wrestling. AJ Perrie got nailed in the face by a flying towel.

German skater Matthias Schwierz during the 200-meter final skating in 16.776.

Beautiful to see: Italian Gregory Duggento was in tears (of joy) after winning the 200-meter in world record time.

Argentina skaters out on a break earning enough points to ensure that Silvina Posada earned the gold.

Senior men's 10km points race action.

Alrighty; off to bed in about 1/2 hour. On the menu for tomorrow are the 500's and the 20km elimination races.

Last Day of Track Racing

2006-09-04T23:43:00.000-05:00

The last day of track was another action packed day. Despite a lengthy rain delay, things were quite heated as the action moved to the 500-meter and relay races.

I know that you know this guy between Jesse and I: It’s Mau Pan Lau, all the way from Montreal! He was shouting ‘Peter, Peter!’ right when I was cooling down on the road after our relay heat. I was so happy to see him. He was in Hong Kong for a few months and now he's on his way back home. You can look for him at the WIC in Suzhou, China next week.

There was a whole situation where a Colombian skaters was disqualified from his semi-final but after a protest, was allowed to move on to the final. Joey Mantia was supposedly disqualified for the same infraction, but the protest was not upheld. The crowd got behind Mantia’s back, shouting ‘Mantia! Mantia!’ as he skated around. Watching him from the stands, he was very composed and a class act.

The other fun thing that happened was in the athlete’s area. The Outback restaurant has been providing teams with boxes of bread each day. Today was different because one piece of bread flew from one of the change areas into another country’s changing area, and a massive food fight erupted. It continued until a bunch of security guards in suits rushed into the huge tent to control the situation. This brought back memories from the massive food fight at the party at the 2000 world championships in Barrancabermeja, Colombia.

Jesse Pauley getting his posted signed by Luca Presti.

Relays took place today. The USA broke out of their what I would call ‘medal slump’ and earned a few including a win the senior women’s race with Jessica Smith out-hawking Colombia’s superstar Cecilia Baena. There were of course a few crashed taking teams out of contention including Italy in the junior men’s and Chinese-Taipei in the senior women’s. The Korean junior men won the relay by a significant margin, with the finishing skater giving high fives to the crowd as he came up to the finishing straight.

Chris Creveling skating in the 500-meter quarter final.

Andrew Gonzales ahead of Cecilia Baena and Jessica Smith- Smith crashed right after I took this picture.

Kalon Dobbin won the senior men’s 500-meter final, stopping a Colombian medal domination. I was talking with Jesse Pauley while we were watching the Colombian team win I think 5 medals in the span of about 5-minutes. The Colombians won more medals in 5 minutes than Canada has won in 30 years! That makes them probably about a billion times better than us!

Kalon Dobbin after his victory in the 500-meter.

Bodies all over the place during the senior women’s relay final.

USA senior women holding their flag up high and proud after their victory in the relay.

The French relay team leads the way in the senior men’s relay on their way to a gold medal.

Jade and Alex skated their 500’s in low 48’s. I think Andrew was in the 47’s while AJ was in the 51’s. I think Sigrid came in the 54’s, but the track was wet- she skated right before the rain delay was called, so she got the short end of the stick with this one. The junior guys skated a good relay heat and just missed finishing it by about 1-lap. The seniors, Andrew, AJ, and I lasted 7 ½ laps. Eek, the other countries are fast!

The skaters from the Netherlands were happy. They had a good reason. They placed 2nd in the junior men’s relay final! It was so nice to see such joy from these guys who put together a solid race. This is their first ever junior world medal.

Jesse Pauley with Chinese Taipei’s Chris. Jesse and Chris are going to trade skin suits after the uniform. Each time a skater from Chinese Taipei crashes, Jesse is quite concerned whether it is Chris or not.

Today; rest day. Yay! Over and out!

Internet is Down

2006-09-04T22:55:00.000-05:00

It's the day off and I can't really update the blog because the internet is down at the hotel. That's ok, everything from yesterday is writte and is ready to go online. It was some exciting stuff! I bet you can't wait to read it all.

Day 2 at Worlds: New Zealand and Mantia

2006-09-03T06:45:00.000-05:00

The second day of racing here in Anyang, Korea at the 2006 world roller speed skating championships is over. The two big stories of the day include New Zealand sky-rocketing up the medal standings with two gold medals in the 10km points/ elimination senior and a silver in the junior men’s followed by a bronze in the senior 1000-meter. The other story is Joey Mantia’s fantastic race in the 1000-meter final, earning the silver medal while being fouled left, center, and right by a Colombian skater who was protecting gold medal winner Jorge Botero. Botero received many boos from the skaters and fans watching the race while Joey Mantia was greeted off the track with applause.

Race & Roll Skating Magazine in one of the 4 skate shops close to the track.

USA skaters at the Outback at the track.

Calgary’s Alex D’mello receiving last minute instructions from coach Alex Perrie.

Junior men early on in the 10km points/ elimination race. A skater from Korea won the race in a breakaway.

Vive la France! Thomas Boucher and Cindy Etonno.

The senior women’s 10km points/ elimination winning wheels; Matter and MPC.

Scott Alridge; winner of the senior men’s 10km points/ elimination race. Prior to the senior men’s race, Scott’s country mate, Nicole Begg went on a big breakaway and won gold in the race. Scott won the race in the same style with a beautiful break with the help of Shane Dobbin. Does anyone remember the 2004 Italy 5km points race on the road? Scott sacrificed his race so Shane could win the gold. It was Shane who paid Scott back this year.

Senior women during their 1000-meter race.

Senior men’s 1000-meter race. You know the story- Joey Mantia was clearly on his way to 1st place when he was fouled, on my count, 3 times. The USA coaches and skaters, amongst many, were livid and going crazy!

Ok, what about Canada you ask? Our 1000’s were ok. I finished with a 1:34 which placed me 30th of 45. Sigrid was around 1:50, Andrew around 1:37, Jade 1:38, and Jesse 1:35.

For the 10km points/ elimination races, Alex and Jesse were eliminated earlier but still put forth a strong effort, fighting for each position. Andrew and I skated the 10k and I finished somewhere around 33rd of 50-something. I am feeling much more comfortable on the track now and my results and my skating are getting better. I’d like to crack the top-30.

Racing: Day 1 Track

2006-09-02T08:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, where to start. First what a night I had last night. At the opening ceremony, I took a bag from Tyler, our team manager. Well it ends up that I forgot the bag at the ceremony. That was quite the smooth move because in the bag were all our team’s bibs. Well, a few hours later around midnight, Tyler and I found ourselves digging through garbage bins trying to find the numbers.

Tyler and I were really excited when our numbers turned up this morning. It ends up that the skaters from Portugal picked them up and gave the bibs to the officials.

It’s quite hot and shade is hard to come by. Skaters were even trying to find shade under the giant floating balloons and banners.

Jesse Pauley (in red to the right of the USA skater) put together a great 15km elimination race. He finished top-20 and avoided some pretty crazy crashes that saw dozens of skaters go down at a time. There was also some pretty intense falls in the senior women’s race where again, about 15 skaters went down at once. Sigrid Ziegler was one of the victims of a fall in the 2nd lap of her 15k.

The junior women’s race was just awesome to watch. With about 11 laps to go, a skaters from Korea just took off. At that point, it was like the pack exploded! I just looked like 12 skaters skating a time trial on the track. The Korean was caught by Chile’s Catherine Penan who also looked like she was out of gas. Then two Colombian skaters went after for 1st, but one of them ended up 2nd and the other dropped out.

USA controlled the front of the men’s 15k elimination race. Joey Mantia won the race passing the two Colombian skaters with 100-meter to go. Colombia placed 2nd and 3rd.

The vendor’s area is usually bustling with people. There’s food, equipment vendors, tables, an internet café, souvenir tents.

Colombia’s Berenice Moreno after her senior women’s 300-meter victory. New Zealand’s Kalon Dobbon won the men’s race, just missing breaking 25 seconds. 2nd was USA’s Joey Mantia and 3rd Italy’s Gergory Duggento. There was no crashes in the senior men’s race and racing was quite calm with not a lot of change of positions in the top-6 or 7.

While I was watching some of the races, I kept my eyes on the referees. Things were quite serious, but they were also able to have fun. These two referees came to see someone on the sidelines right after the finish line. The referee who rings the bell rang it. The referees on the track thought a skater was coming and scampered off the track in a panic that they clearly did not want to advertise. They obviously laughed it off afterwards.

Guido Ferra is putting up live results on PatinCarera. He’s updating his website from track-side. They’ve got a press section with internet connections! I wish I had that last year.

Amazing Opening Ceremony

2006-09-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

All I can say about the opening ceremonies is that they were absolutely incredible. The organizers have their act together and it was proven tonight. Before some athletes marched out, there was a great show featuring breakdancers, tae kwon do, traditional dances, choir, fire and fire works, and speeches.

Every single smallest detail is taken care of. The pamphets, the flags, the glow sticks for the audience. Even Tyler Cogdon today who was at meetings all day received a beautiful belt with a clock in the buckle featuring worlds logos embossed into the metal.

I've eated my dinner early because I went shopping the other day (you probably saw the vide0- if you can't find the videos, look right and scroll down and you'll see them). Most of the team is out right now at a Korea grill. I'm just sitting down, lying down, and listening to music.

Tomorrow will be the 300-meter and the 15km points/ elimination races. I'll be in the 15k with Andrew. Andrew and AJ will skate the 300. Alex and Jade will do the 300 and Alex and Jesse will do the 15k. I think Sigrid is doing both. I'm going to warm-up for the 300's so I can get more time on the track and learn the corners some more.

The Canadian team before the opening ceremony. Jesse and Sigrid are not in the picture because they had to leave 3 hours earlier from the hotel to rehearse the flag ceremony. Alex Perrie and Tyler were away at meetings and missed the start of the ceremony.

Tea Kwon Do- the demonstration squad from the university. These people were amazing. Just amazing.

The city youth choir- they had 4 melodies going at once and sounded amazing. They had dance rituals and their timing and tone was bang on.

People dressed as something that I can't describe came out with a wheel. The skate was lowered from the ceiling and the wheels were attached. The whole skate was then lifted.

Jessica Smith and Brittany Bowe- two great american skaters. I've never seen them not smiling. They're even always nice to me!

50 coutntries at this year's worlds. Thousands of people filling the arena for the spectacle.

The Italians were super enthusiastic, waving flags and being happy and proud about their country. They just all seem so super happy to be at worlds, I find the joy really shines through in them.

One Day to go, Opening Ceremonies Tonight

2006-08-31T23:49:00.000-05:00

The opening ceremonies will take place tonight. Sigrid Ziegler and Jesse Pauley will carry the Canadian flag. The rest of us have a nice 6-hour break. This will be the last big break for a while I think. Jesse thinks that carrying the flag will be fun. It's like he's going to be leading us out and he likes that.

Tyler Congdon, from Calgary, is the team manager. He is spending a lot time in meetings today. The meeting he went to this morning confirmed that next year's worlds are in Colombia and the following year in Spain.

About the meeting, Tyler said that parts of it were in English, but that when there were other languages being used, he could use a multi-channel radio and tune into the one where they were translating it into English. They did this for many different languages.

I like this shot of Sigrid Ziegler and Alex D'mello. It was taken during our practice. Today, we were doing some fast laps and openning 100's. We're getting our times down, but we need way more time on the track. Unfortunately, we have no more time left! We race tomorrow.

The Mexican team has 17 skaters according to my friend Alan who is part of their squad. He said that he doesn't feel like it is hot here in Korea, but rather it is humid.

The team from Iran sent many skaters.

The guy on the right in the green shirt is Jason. He used to live in Missisauga right by square one. Now he works for Hyper in Korea.

Training Day: Practice with Colombia

2006-08-31T09:09:00.000-05:00

Today was one of those regular days at the World Championships. I had like 6 hours to just lay around in the morning. Some of the Canadian team members toured the city, a few others slept, and some walked around the hotel.

At training, we got to skate at the same time as the Colombian team. There's a lot of them and they are good. Of course I was all giddy because I got to talk to a few skaters like Diego Rosero (Colombia), Pier Davide Romani (Italy), and Jorge Botero. When I said hi to Jorge Botero, I called him Mr. Botero.

I love the Netherlands suit this year. I will definitely try to trade for one of these.

Alex D'mello in good company- red on red. Canada right on Colombia's tail.

We concentrated on 2 things at practice; trying out different wheels and trying to get our lap times down. We're all improving, but there's still a lot of room for improvement in terms of being 'up there' with the most competitive skaters.

The big red Colombian machine; the train gets rolling and doesn't stop until the finish line. Their practices are like clock-work.

Information center at the track

Waiting for the bus after today's practice.

After skating, it was time to eat. After a lot of indecision, we settles on a Korean Grill (there's only hundredes within a stone's throw from the hotel). It was nice to experience genuine Korean culture, you know, the excessively spicy food (Alex D'mello and I love it!). Jesse Pauley, who's eating habits were described to me as someone conservative is really indulging himself with all the different foods. It's great because people are teaching us how to speak Korean, what the manners are, certain philosophies, and about the history of the area.

We've Finally Skated

2006-08-30T10:18:00.000-05:00

We skated on the track today…at last. We kept hearing that the track is bumpy, but looking at it, you wouldn’t think so. Once we got onto the track though, we realized that it is monster to tame, and a fast one at that.

We almost left AJ behind at the hotel because he was ultra late for the bus. But he was lucky to make it to the track. This was after a nice dinner at the Outback restaurant in town which served amazing food and drinks including Fruit-Ade.

The team before lunch at the Outback.

During today’s practice, we were definitely not at our best. Bill Begg was coaching the German team while we were skating. We also skated with the Spanish and the Argentina teams and they are definitely skating fast. While we skated, the entire USA team was out on the road in force looking very good.Good ‘old Jesse tripped himself up in his skates in the corner and went down. Jade tried to jump over him. As Jade was going down, I tried to jump over him and went down. That was a nice little incident. Before this one, I was skating around and all of a sudden, the track workers decided to connect come electrical lines across the track during our practice. They warned us when we were maybe 10-meters away. I was the only one who could not make it off the track, so I tried to hop over the wire. As I was hopping, they lifted the wire and I got all tangled up.

Bill Begg talking to us as soon as we arrived.

Argentina's legend Andrea Gonzales.

That's me during my flying lap. It wasn't too 'flying'; it was a sad 18.3. Mind you I was skating about 85-90%. Bill Begg was saying that if we want to be in contention for medals, we've got to have our laps into the low 16's.

Chinese-Taipei skated after us. They came out in full force with very nice suits.

The best part of the championship so far is how well organized the championship is. After our practice, we were taken to a restaurant and greeted by local people. They paid for our meal, gave us gifts, and will come out to cheer for us when we race. It’s amazing so far.

There was a sign welcoming us. They ate with us, dined us, were very nuice, and they're coming to watch us race!

The plan for tomorrow is pretty basic: sleep, chill, and practice in the early afternoon, and then more sleep and chill. We get to skate with the Colombian team tomorrow.

First Practice Will be Tonight

2006-08-29T20:43:00.000-05:00

Good morning (to most of you it is goodnight). We've had a ton of 'chill-out' time so far, but that will change once we start racing. I was looking over the (amazing and well done) booklet that we each received and noticed a crazy schedule that will have many of us at the track for almost the entire day.

Once the racing begins, I think that we'll be at the hotel pretty much only to sleep. That means the videos (linked in the box on the right) will become less frequent and the blog will take a back seat. Racing is the priority, and I won't be touching the press room this year like last year.

The plan for today is pretty simple: team meeting, lunch, buying groceries, our first practice (with Belgium, Germany, and Argentina), and then a reception courtesy of the organizing committee- they're coming to our hotel to visit us and they're bringing us some food.

Trip #1 to the Track

2006-08-29T05:20:00.000-05:00

Our second day here in Korea's been nice. We got to see the track, and it is amazing. The most important thing that I have to say about these championships is that even though we're 4 days away from the first races, the organizers have their act put together. What I've heard is that they are wishing to apply for the 2011 world championships with the promise of having the facility completely indoors.

We missed our practice today because of the rain. We spent most of the evening playing cards and just chatting. We'll try to skate the track tomorrow.

Driving to the track, the streets were covered with posters, flags, and banners promoting the world championships. The bus ride from the hotel to the track is about 20 minutes. For about 15 of those minutes, we were constantly passing all the flags and posters. It was quite impressive to see a 5 storey poster of Jessica Smith.

The beautiful track- it is an amazing facility. The world championships organizers have their act T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R. Everything is ready. With the city converted into a skating mania place, vendors settling in, skate shops with a stock of wheels and clothing, the lawn in the middle of the track a beautiful green- we're ready to be part of the greatest show on earth.

MPC wheels are said to be red-hot here in Korea. Our first practice tonight was cancelled due to the rain, so instead we had the chance to visit Seoul thanks to Kevin Noh.

While we were walking around, we found a 400-meter track with skaters training. It was funny and strange for us to see a dozen skaters on the track...just skating around. They've got TONS of skaters here.

Travel Day

2006-08-28T09:42:00.000-05:00

We're here (not that you didn't know that already). A relaxing but sleepless flight with two stop-overs including a meeting with the Chilean team brought us to Korea.

We flew right over Duluth. The funny thing is that I will be 'flying' to Duluth in my car in a few weeks.

Everyone is excited to be going to Korea.

Flying into Japan.

Go sushi! Mmm, it was good (and bloody expensive).

The beautiful sun setting as we approach Korea.

Once in Korea, we were greeted by a team of translaters and guides. One of my good friends, Kevin Noh was also there. He lived in Toronto last year, in fact, him and I were teammates last year in the 24-hour Montreal inline relay. Kevin is going to be spending time with our team, helping guide us through the journey that is called the 2006 World Roller Speed Skating Championships in Anyang, Korea.

Canadian team manager Tyler Congdon with the welcoming party in Korea.

I have no idea what Anyang looks like because we flew by day and arrived by dark. We're going to sleep a good solid 10 hours or so and then head to to the track to pick up our accreditation and watch the USA and Colombian teams practicing.

We're Here

2006-08-28T09:21:00.000-05:00

We've arrived- 30 hours of no/ very little sleep! All went really well with the travel. We were not on the same flight as the American team; I was mis-informed. I found out they arrived on Friday. More to come tomorrow. Goodnight (or good day to you).

Lock Tight

2006-08-27T05:11:00.000-05:00

Here's a good little quote from Alex Perrie from an email that I just received: 'It's 4.30am I'm getting ready to leave for the airport, but first I wanted toremind you to bring your locktight LOLCheers Alex'. He's reminded me quite a few times to make sure that I've got some lock-tight so that my skates don't come apart like they have in the past. My mom and brother are driving me to the airport in 40 minutes...bye.

My skates are ready to go. My cat is in the picture too; it is drinking water.

Getting Ready to Leave

2006-08-26T16:07:00.000-05:00

Last minute details- making sure my bearings are clean, laundy is done, bags are packed, cats are fed, and that I am rested- that's what I've got to do. Oh, also as you can tell, I am using this fancy blog and getting away from the cheap chezzy looking one that I had before.

I've got all my wheels now. Coach Alex Perrie met Sigrid Ziegler and I yesterday in Toronto. I have like 10 sets of wheels, including matter and MPC.

The Canadian team- we will meet tomorrow morning (7am)at the airport and our flight leaves at 10am. Looks like we're going to be doing what the USA team is doing; we're only allowed to sleep for the first 4-hours of the flight so that we can get accustommed to the time change quickly. I think we might be on the same flight as the USA team because we're both arriving in Korea at 8:20pm on the same day. The cool thing is that we get to stop off in Japan on our way over.

Updating this blog is super easy! Heheh, ok , more news from Korea when I get there.

August 19th 2006

2006-08-26T14:46:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to figure out the best way to cover this year's world championships without compromising the hard work that I've put into my training. I figured the best way to do this would be via a nightly diary that is not intrusive on my time at worlds. I'll post quick entries into these little boxes.I know this page isn't fancy and the content likely won't be up-to-the-minute as it's been in the past, but I hope to give you a glimpse into the unique and special world championship experience.

I know, I know, you LOVE to see pictures. Here's a few you can check out: World Team Fundraiser Clinic photos from Harriston and Canadian Team photos. Here are photos of the USA World Team and their camp.

Just a FYI: I am planning on a super great article covering that world championships for Race & Roll Skating Magazine. Alright, before I go, here's a newspaper article from New Zealand: Skaters Never Looked Back.

2006 Canadian World Team at the CITC