ISU World Cup Berlin Day 1

Written by T Dobbin

Last night was the first event for the ISU speed skating with the Berlin World Cup. The first events on the schedule were the men's and ladies 500 meter sprints, the men's 5 kilometer and the ladies 1500 meter. See results below:

Mens 500 meter Final
1st Keiichrio Nagashima (Japan) 34.92
2nd Pekka Koskela (Finland) 34.99
3rd Kyou-Hyuk Lee (Korea) 35.01

Ladies 500 meter Final
1st Jenny Wolf (Germany) 37.75
2nd Beixing Wang (China) 37.75
3rd Sang-Hwa Lee (Korea) 38.12

Men's 5km Final
1st Sven Kramer (Netherlands) 6:15.74
2nd Havard Bokko (Norway) 6:20.03
3rd Carl Verheijen (Netherlands) 6:20.87

A big congratulations goes out to Elma de Vries (DSB/Netherlands) who skated in the A division ladies 1500 meter final last night and was pair with Martina Sablikova (CZE) and finished in 7th place to be the first Netherlands ladies skater.

Ladies 1500 meter Final
1st Kristina Groves (Canada) 1:57.65
2nd Brittany Schussler (Canada) 1:57.74
3rd Shannon Rempel (Canada) 1:58.04

On the events schedule for today is the second round of 500 meter finals, the men's 1500 meter and the ladies 3 kilometer finals.

For full results of the Berlin World Cup go to http://www.isuresults.eu/2008-2009/worldcup/berlin/

For more photos go to: http://www.fotos.desg.de/

Mid-Week News update

Written by T Dobbin

It's already mid-week but the first Wednesday in a month where there is no mid-week racing. Yesterday the boys (Shane, Kalon & Dj) took a visit to the Dutch boot maker Groothuis. Last week Kalon was moulded for some ice boots and yesterday Dj got himself moulded. Shane has decided that his boots of last year need a change and is in the process of getting them re-leathered. http://www.groothuisschoenen.nl/

This week has been a week of recovery for Dj who will be starting his real training this week for the ice season and Shane has been organising his schedule for the next few weeks. Kalon flies to Argentina tomorrow so Saturday in Amsterdam was his last marathon for this season but hopes to be back as soon as he can for more of the ice skating life. Both Shane and Dj will be racing on Saturday night in the First Division marathon in their home club rink Assen.

Both Shane and Dj are trying to organise themselves to get into a long track race to set some times and train themselves to know their limits. It's not so easy to get to race on good ice to set the long track times but we are working on it.

Winter has started to set in early this Winter. It's already quite cold and very gray skies. The trees have already lost their leaves and the prediction is for a cold winter but only time will tell. Keep posted for more updates and results that will be coming soon.

Essent Cup 1 in Amsterdam

Written by T Dobbin

Last night was the first evening of racing for the Essent Cup. Amsterdam is the only rink in the Netherlands that is completely outside. We were driving to the rink in the pooring rain along with when we arrived but as soon as the racing started it had gone.

The Rules: In the Essent Cup the races are like a points race on inline skating. At lap 80 to 78 there are three sprint points, again at lap 60 to 58 and at 40 to 38. Then at lap 20 the bell is rang and only the first 20 skaters across the line make it to the final 20 for the sprint finish for the victory. If the peleton is lapped those skaters complete the 100 laps. Those skaters that are not in the breakaway finish their race for the sprint with 5 laps to go but if there are more than 8 on the breakaway that lap the peleton the main peletons sprints for the finish with 10 laps remaining. It's a very exciting race and the highlights from these races are on television on Sunday's here in the Netherlands at 12:30.

A Grade: Shane's team mate Jan Maarten of DSB Bank made a spectacular finish in his breakaway group. Skating a very smart race he managed to hit the lead with one lap to go and made his sprint from the front. He had a few meters on his opponent Cedric Michaud going into the last corner but with the cut ice took a very wide final corner sprinting down the outside of the final straight and still managed to cross the line in first place with his first victory of the season.

Results
1st Jan Maarten Heideman (DSB Bank)
2nd Cedric Michaud (Nefit RH Ketels)
3rd Bob de Vries (BAM Schaatsteam)

First Division: Racing at 22:00 in the first division from New Zealand was Shane's brother Kalon Dobbin & Dj Nation. In the B grade there were five teams from the A that for the Essent Cup now start in B so the pace was alot faster tonight in this division. Kalon Dobbin made it to the front in the first 10 laps but after a hard training with the DSB Bank team on Friday morning his legs were feeling a bit under the weather. Dj Nation skated a good race and had good position throughout the race. He missed the group of 9 skaters breaking away off the front who ended up taking a lap from the peleton so there wasn't alot that he could do to cross over solo to these 9 skaters. Finally Dj was a bit tired this evening and ended up not contensting the final sprint but still a very strong race from the young New Zealand only 19 years old.

Results
1st Tristan Loy (Adformatie)
2nd Klaas de Weerd (Dorcas Hulp)
3rd Engbert de Vegt (GIBO-BEKA)

Next Saturday evening is held in Assen for the Essent Cup 2 and Shane will be racing in the first division along with Dj Nation.