 Give
it a try! The Club is a great place to learn to
speedskate, from the basics to advanced techniques.
There is always room for new skaters, and plenty of
people to help you learn. |
Olympian Eric Flaim leads a group of ASC skaters during a recent
clinic.
Information for Prospective
Speedskaters
Short track
and long track speedskating
The Alaska Speedskating Club (ASC)
offers year around short-track
speedskating. Short track was perhaps
made most famous by US skater Apollo
Anton Ohno at the 2002 Salt Lake
Olympics. It is the most common form of
speedskating, because it takes place on
a hockey rink, and there are lots of
those across the nation. Each lap is 111
m, and short track has been described as
"NASCAR on ice". In short track races,
it's the first one across the line that
wins. Our skaters reach speeds of 25
miles per hour around the rink! Races
are commonly 500 m (4.5 laps), 1000 m (9
laps), 1500 m (13.5 laps).
When there is ice on Westchester
Lagoon, a roughly regulation size 400
meter long track oval has usually been
maintained in recent years. Long track
speedskating is perhaps the best known,
with the likes of Derek Parra, Bonnie
Blair, and Eric Heiden as notable
Olympians.
How well do
I need to be able to skate? Is it hard
to speedskate?
We allow skaters of almost all abilities
to attend speedskating practices. We
have had skaters from age three to
seventy on the ice at practices. We do
ask that skaters have at least
rudimentary skating skills. Speedskates
have an advantage to beginning skaters
over figure or hockey skates in that
they are longer, so it's a bit harder to
tip over on them. However, they don't
have a hollow grind on the blade (like
figure or hockey skates - it's a flat
grind), so you don't dig into the ice
until you are leaning on your edges.
Most people catch on to the feel of the
blades pretty quickly, and most everyone
feels like they are going really fast!
When and where are practices,
and what do you do during practices?
Most of the ASC's activities relate to
short track speedskating. We have
practices almost every Saturday from
8:45 to 10:15 AM and on Monday from 7:45
to 8:45 PM at the Harry J. McDonald
Center in Eagle River. To get there,
take the North Eagle River exit, turn
towards SBS and the new Fred Meyer.
Turn left at the light, and then turn
right at the first street past Fred
Meyer. We ask that skaters get to the
rink at least 30 minutes prior to ice
time, and ideally 45 minutes. That
allows 15 minutes to pull safety
mats from a trailer, 15 minutes to warm
up, and 15 minutes to change and get
ready to get on the ice.
A typical practice consists of some
work on speedskating technique and some
work on conditioning. Although it may
not look like it, technique is very
important to speedskating. Even good
skaters spend considerable time
perfecting their technique at low
speeds. Conditioning workouts often
consist of doing intervals. We usually
split the skaters into faster and
slower groups. Then each group takes
turns skating and resting. We often do
relays to work on things, or do games
for fun. Tag on speedskates can be
pretty entertaining.
How much does it cost?
First time skaters are free! Speedskates
in all sizes and safety gear are
available to rent for $5 per session. If
you come more than a few times, we ask
that you join:
Club ice fees
This year, we are charging either
$20/session, or we have "punch cards".
You pay for 9 sessions, but get
to skate in 10. Punch cards are the most
popular form of payment for club
members.
What equipment is needed?
For safety, we put out 60 safety mats
along the corners to protect people from
hitting the boards, if there is a fall.
On the ice, we require skaters to wear
long pants and long sleeve shirt,
cut-resistant gloves (leather gardening
gloves work fine), a helmet (a
multi-sport helmet works fine),
volleyball style knee pads, soccer style
shin guards, and a hockey bib-style neck
protector (to guard against cuts to the
neck). Dedicated skaters usually wear
"skin suits" that reduce wind
resistance, and these often have
built in knee pads and shin guards.
Where do you get speedskates?
How much do they cost?
There are no stores in Anchorage that
sell short–track speedskates. Boots and
blades are commonly sold separately. The
best sources are either mail
order, Internet or used equipment from
local skaters. Used skates are the
cheapest. If you can find your
size you can get a good quality, a low-end
pair of skates can be bought for as cheap as $100. New
entry level skates can be as cheap as
$200. High quality boots can run
$250-$450, and custom molded boots can run
into the $1300 range. Blades can run
from $150-275. More expensive blades are
harder and don't dull as quickly as
cheap ones. Better skaters use blades
that are slightly bent, and better
blades hold their bend better.
Serious skaters use different skates
for long track. Short track boots are
higher and stiffer; long track are
lower. Some long track skaters use "clap
skates" that have a hinge beneath the
ball of the foot, allowing the blade to be in contact
with the ice longer. After the foot
comes off the ice, springs pull the
blade back to the heel with a "clap"
sound. The clap mechanism and blade are
commonly sold together, and range in
price from about $190 to $375, with some as high
as $650.
So you thought that was it? You will
also need sharpening equipment. All
speedskates are hand sharpened. What
you'll need is a jig, a sharpening stone or two, a burr
stone, and a rag. The club has jigs you
can borrow, but if you are a serious
skater, you will need to get your own.
The rag is the cheapest part. A good jig is
about $130, stones range from $30-$100,
and burr stones are about $5-$15, but
there is a device that also does it for
about 20 bucks.
Sources of speedskates?
US Speedskating lists all vendors at:
http://www.speedskating.org/vendors.html
The vendor that the most club members
have used is Mario at Special Equipment,
Inc.
http://www.specialequipment.com/
What speedskating events can
I participate in?
We have short track races about every
month during the winter in Eagle River.
We have long track races with about the
same frequency. Every year we do a
"marathon" which has 25 and 50 kilometer
events. Beyond Alaska, if you are in
middle school or high school, you can
participate in the Arctic Winter Games,
which occur every other year. For most
school age kids this is the biggest
event that kids train for. Other skaters
have gone to the National Championships
for short track, long track, and
marathon events. For serious skaters, we
do have a "Comp Team", which consists of
skaters who are willing to work hard on
their speedskating skills and do
additional strength and conditioning,
apart from the two days per week of
practices.
Do hockey skaters make good
speedskaters?
You bet. Both hockey and figure skaters
have learned a lot of agility, which
people who only speedskate tend not to have in abundance. The main
differences are that proper speedskating
form requires
more of a bend in the knees, so that
you have a longer and more powerful
stroke, and you push more from the
middle of your foot, rather than from
the toe.
Can hockey or figure skaters
improve their skating by speedskating?
You bet ... again! Efficient speedskating
technique transfers to other types
of skating very well. One of our club
skaters grew up playing hockey, and
later in life took up speedskating. As a
hockey player he was always one of the
faster players, but after taking up
speedskating he became by far the
fastest hockey skater. He could catch
people in breakaways that didn't think
they could be caught!
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