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Links

"We are not alone"

One of the great things about the internet age is that we, in our small community, can connect with like-minded individuals dispersed across this globe. We hope this annotated list of speedskating links helps you connect with some of the rest of the speedskating world.

Vendors

There are no walk-in full service speedskating shops in the US, thus you have to buy by mail or web order. The ones listed below are the ones we have experience with.

Alaska Mountaineering and Hiking (AMH) - OK, they don't sell 'real' speedskates, but they are in Anchorage on Spenard, they do sell nordic skates (the skates that clip onto nordic ski boots), and they have a full fleet of long-track rental skates, and the best apparel for outdoor skating. If they hear of enough people interested in buying speedskates, they may begin to carry them. And AMH is a supporter of long track ice and races! Note: their rental skates will not work for short track, as the blades have a much flatter radius.

Special Equipment - Mario at Special Equipment has sold more speedskates to Alaskans than any other vendor - by far. And for good reason - he's knowledgable, reliable, and has great service and selection. Email or call him up and he'll help you out. He's on Pennsylvania time.

Skate Shop Now - In the US these guys are the new kids on the block, but they also offer great selection, and I've been told their service is excellent. As they are located near the Salt Lake oval, they sometimes have access to newer gear and ideas than some other vendors. They also have a fairly extensive selection of used gear online.

Red River Speed - Randy Plett runs what is sorta the Canadian version of Special Equipment. And he's a superb master's skater, so he cares about getting you the right gear. If the Canadian dollar is weak, he can give you a better bang for the buck than a US vendor. He's also very reliable and highly recommended. You can pay him with PayPal and then you don't have to deal with exchange rate issues.

Used Gear

Various clubs and a couple of shops have used gear for sale. Club websites suffer from "link rot" more often than commercial websites, so if one of these links doesn't work, let me know.

http://theskateshop.home.att.net/consignmentshop.html

http://members.tripod.com/skatewmsc/used.htm

http://www.skatersjunkyard.com/

http://www.midlandspeedskatingclub.com/skate%20exchange.htm

http://www.nbssc.org/Equipment/Equipment_Sale.htm

http://www.ottawapacers.ca/Club/For%20Sale.html

http://www.nettracing.com/used.htm

http://www.gloucesterconcordes.ca/Buy_Sell_Trade.html

http://www.speedskaters.org/bssc/gear.php

http://www.gatewayspeedskating.org/equipment.html

http://champaignspeedskating.org/for_sale.htm

http://franklinparkspeedskating.googlepages.com/equipmentexchange

http://glenellynspeedskating.org/need.aspx

http://www.wassc.org/equip.htm

http://www.midwayspeedskating.org/

Organizations

U.S. Speedskating - this is the mother ship of speedskating in the US. We encourage you to join USS for a bunch or reasons. You get news about the elite US Speedskaters, but you also get regional and national speedskating news. In addition, your membership in USS pays for liability insurance during practices and races.

Team Alaska Arctic Winter Games - here's where to go to get lots of info about the upcoming games.

Whitehorse Rapids Speedskating Club - This is the closest group of skaters to Alaska, and we travel to skate with this wonderful group one or more times per year.

News, Blogs, and Skaters

You probably won't see news about speedskating in the mainstream media. Unless you can read Dutch. However, there are now some excellent websites and blogs with news and info about life as a speedskater. This is a small selection.

Zen And The Art of Speedskating - is written by Andrew Love who is an elite speedskater, and this is the best blog about speedskating - mostly about long track. He writes about life as a speedskater, athlete, the "skate tribe" and balancing it with the rest of life. Great stuff.

The OhnoZone - this website started as a fan site for Apolo Ohno after the 2002 Olympics, but now it's the best place to go for short track news on all North American skaters and big events.

UniversalSports.com - is about the only place to get live speedskating TV coverage. This website covered quite a few major competitions in both short track and long track last year.

Liam Ortega - Alaska's very own elite speedskater. Liam is making a hard run at the 2010 US Olympic team. Follow him on his website or by twitter. Liam did an awesome camp for us in the spring of 2009.

Michael Gilday - is a short tracker from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and he writes a blog about elite level short track. Although he's not from the US, he's known to many Arctic Winter Games skaters, and he's the highest achieving AWG skater ever. He's competed on the world cup circuit, and he even beat Apolo Ohno. Follow him on his quest to the 2010 Canadian Olympic team.

DeafBlindSpeedskater.com - Do you need inspiration? Kevin Frost is amazing. He's got Usher Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, which has left him being able to see only through tiny holes looking straight ahead. I've met him at a couple of Canadian Master's Long Track meets, and he's an incredibly upbeat and optimistic guy. He always travels with his service dog, Nemo.

Masters Speedskating News - for us old folks, this is a great place to look for masters skating news from Canada and the US.

Tips, Training, and Discussion Boards

Ellis Edge Tips - Susan Ellis was the 2002 Olympic short track coach. She has a monthly tip on her website, or you can sign up and get it by email. She's a superb technique coach.

Ellis Edge Discussion Board - Susan also moderates an online forum on speedskating. Much discussion is on technique. It's a great place to write a question and get an answer from one of the best coaches in speedskating.

Winning Factor - This guy has some different philosophies about weight training for speedskaters. He's trained Apolo Ohno as well as Liam Ortega. The website is basically to sell his training programs.