This past week was an exciting one for Velocity skaters, as both our Beginner and Intermediate groups began their participation in the Canadian Youth Challenge organized by Speed Skating Canada and the I Skate Fast! challenge organized by the Federation de Patinage de Vitesse du Quebec.

For the Canadian Youth Challenge, skaters participated in the 2-Lap Individual Time Trial, where skaters start from a standing start and sprint as fast as they can for 2 laps. For the I Skate Fast! Challenge, skaters participated in the 3 flying laps event, in which skaters get a rolling start to get up to speed before sprinting for 3 laps. Each skater is given two attempts to put in their fastest time.

For some of our skaters this was their first exposure to a competition format, and they made the most of it! Many of our skaters saw their times drop in some cases by almost 2 seconds between attempts. Those that were able to participate on Wednesday’s practice saw even more improvement. The results from those days are posted below.

Those who are age eligible will have their results submitted to Speed Skating Canada and to the Federation de Patinage de Vitesse du Quebec and we are proud that they will represent our Velocity team amongst skaters from across Canada.

Tonight’s practice will continue with the 1 flying lap and the 400m and 500m time trials. We are looking forward another night of fun and to more strong performances from all our skaters!

Coach Keven

We have received confirmation from BCSSA that our High Performance skaters (currently skating at the Richmond Oval) will be allowed to skate at the Vancouver Speed Skating Club's practices once their Richmond Oval training ends on March 18th, 2021.

This means is that Charlotte, Adam, Wilfred, and Simon will be able to attend the Vancouver Speed Skating club's last three practices of this season, March 21st, 24th, and 28th.

​Last December, Adam Mong, Charlotte Sernoski, Wilfred Chan, and Simon Mikulash had to chose one venue as their "home club", due to BC SSA COVID regulations. Since then, they haven't been able to skate, or coach, with the other VSSC members. We recently reached out to them and their coaches, to see how they are faring during this challenging season.

From the Oval HP coaches:"All VSSC skaters have shown incredible amounts of resilience and adaptability despite COVID restrictions and other major changes in the program. At the beginning of the season, VSSC skaters completed over 140 online training hours! This did not include the hours the athletes put in for solo training or in-person training once the facility reopened in August. Online training sessions included online circuit/dryland training, mental performance, yoga, baking sessions, racing analysis and intro to journaling. New sessions introduced to the athletes this year were Mental Performance training with Matt Fisher and Yoga sessions with Madeline Martin. Focus this year was technique, team unity, coach/athlete feedback and mental wellbeing.

OvalHP coaches and support staff are very proud of the work the VSSC athletes have done this season! Everyone truly went above and beyond! Great work!"

Watch a pre-skate warmup and a snippet of a practice.

The BC Speed Skating Association has posted a very interesting article about the challenges of coaching during this pandemic, and how coaches are adapting practices to keep their skaters engaged while maintaining fitness and improving technique.

From the article:
"Speed skating through a pandemic has been a season of challenges, improvement, and reward.  Coaches throughout the province have remained resilient to ongoing changes to keep both participants and volunteers safe while advancing skaters’ abilities."

Click here to read more.

The Canadian Youth Challenge is open to all skaters from 10 to 15 years old, inclusive, and also includes mixed-gender team categories.

Running from February 22 to March 28, inclusive, it allows short track skaters to compete locally, observing all official COVID-safety precautions, and have their results compared against other participating clubs.

Coaches will submit results for a variety of individual and team events to Speed Skating Canada, which uses them to award prizes in individual, team, and club categories.

Kai Barnett, Will Bird, Max Dohm, Nathan Lee, Arjen Sander, Edwin Voong, Anthony Wong, and Della Young will participate through our Vancouver Speed Skating Club, while Adam Mong, Charlotte Sernoski, Simon Mikulash, and Wilfred Chang will participate through the Oval HP Program.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask any of the coaches.

Detailed rules about the Challenge can be found here.

Congratulations, Stanley!Congratulations to Stanley Chang, father of Trevor and one of our long-standing members, for having achieved his FUNdamentals Coach Certification last week.

This is an important milestone for anyone wishing to develop their skills and knowledge in how to be an effective, considerate, and safe coach, and spread the fun of speed-skating while maintaining a structured environment.

Click here if you wish to learn more about this certification.

Well done, Stanley: our Club has benefitted greatly from your contributions!

We're so happy that our Special Olympics skaters are back with us again, starting with tonight's practice! Huge thank you to June Lum, and others, for working so hard to make this happen. June was recognized as a 2020 Community Sport Champion by the City of Vancouver. Check out her video here, filmed last season before COVID distancing protocols.

Any of us who know Michael and his volunteer work will not be surprised that he was selected by BC Speed Skating to receive the 2020 President's Award. These awards are given to volunteers from Sport BC organizations who demonstrate "the spirit of volunteerism through the dedication, commitment, and tireless energy they give to their sport organizations". 

Michael is well-known in the speed skating community for his fabulous photos of speed skaters. He volunteers his time and the sale of his photos provide funds for the Vancouver Club.

You can see his amazing work at the Vancouver Speed Skating Club's SmugMug site.

​Were it not for the COVID-19 outbreak, Michael would have been celebrated at this year's Sport BC Athlete of the Year Awards night, on March 12, 2020.

Congratulations Michael, and thank you for all you do for speed skating in British Columbia!  

​​Charlotte Sernoski, one of our long-standing club skaters, won a Gold medal at the Canadian Youth Long Track Championships, held in Red Deer, Alberta, on the weekend of February 8/9, 2020.

Charlotte placed first in the 7-Lap Mass Start, a race of 3000 metres and 16 skaters on the starting line.
She finished in 4th place overall in the T2T (Train-to-Train) 14 year old Female Division. Detailed results are available here.

Team BC skated hard, won many medals and and had a great time in Red Deer, Alberta.

Congratulations to Charlotte and her BC Teammates!

Charlotte Sernoski, one of our long-standing club skaters, won a Gold medal at the Canadian Youth Long Track Championships, held in Red Deer, Alberta, on the weekend of February 8-9.

Charlotte placed first in the 7-Lap Mass Start, a race of 3000 metres and 16 skaters on the starting line.
She finished in 4th place overall in the T2T (Train-to-Train) 14 year old Female Division.

Team BC skated hard, won many medals and and had a great time in Red Deer, Alberta.

Congratulations to Charlotte and her BC Teammates!

We would like to acknowledge and thank George and Annabelle Gaffney, of the Rick Hansen Foundation, for donating $1000 to our Club.

We would also like to thank Sasha Faris for coordinating with the Rick Hansen Foundation.

We'd like to extend our gratitude to Intact Insurance, for having named us a winner of the Podium Tracker Program. The award is accompanied by a $5000 grant.

Our thanks also go to Ed Sernoski and Beth Elliot for their work in applying for the grant.

A 100m and a 111m track has been set at the Kitsilano Ice Rink ready for the start of the 2015 season. ​More information about how 11m tracks are laid out can be found here!

For the 2014-15 Season, our Club received a $1,000 award from Intact Insurance's Podium Tracker Program which supports our national athletes and the regional clubs.

Check out all of the recipients in the video.

The BCSSA's AGM and Excellence Retreat will be held on May 22, 23, and 24 (Fri eve - Sun midday) in Richmond. This year in addition to the AGM, there is an opportunity for skaters to train with High Performance coaches on and off ice, and meet Olympian silver medalist Jessica Hewitt. For coaches, or those parents who want to grow into the role of a coach, there is a similar variety of events. Please take a look at the following link which has full details and registration information.

http://www.speed-skating.bc.ca/agm/
​
Dry land training is now up and running on Sunday mornings in Connaught Park just outside the rink. Meet at 9am for 1.5 to 2 hours of training on technical aspects of short track and conditioning exercises too. For more information, please contact Alex at straussal@yahoo.com 

 

The Year End Party and AGM will be held on Sunday, April 12 between 3pm and 5:30pm at the Kitsilano Community Centre.