News Update

This morning both Shane Dobbin & Dj Nation got on the plane to fly to Salt Lake City for this weekend's North American & Oceania All-Round Championships. Both Shane & Dj have only skated the five kilometer in previous races having raced twice this winter. The 500 meter & the 1500 meter will be new distances for the boys so after Salt Lake they will both have times on the board in these distances. Dj Nation set a personal best time of 6:53 and Shane Dobbin set a personal best time of 6:37 in Thialf, Heerenveen in Novemeber. The competition starts on Saturday with the 500 meter and the 5000 meter. Followed by Sunday's races of the 1500 meter and the 10,000 meter.

Other big news in Netherlands today is the confirmation of the Natural Ice National Championships for the Netherlands which is going to be held on Thursday at 13:00. The National Championships is for Dutch Skaters only racing for the rights to wear their Natural Colours. It is live on television in the Netherlands and will be held on a frozen lake close to Lelystad. The Nationals will be the day after the next Prestige Race in Biddinghuizen which is held on Wednesday but the organisation has changed the distance from 75km to 50km. Some skaters will be sitting out of the Prestige Race to save themselves for the Nationals. It will be a great lift to the sport of Speed Skating here in Netherlands.

It will be a great week of ice skating so stay tuned!

Shane Dobbin takes his first Victory in the Essent Cup A grade Marathon in Assen

Written by T Dobbin

Last night in Assen was a very successful night for the men's team of DSB Bank. Shane Dobbin & all the skaters from DSB Bank skated a great team effort and all contributed to the victory of Shane Dobbin in the Essent Cup number 10 in Assen.

The race started with many breakaway attempts and it was a hard race with an average lap time of 31.3 sec laps. Bob de Vries (BAM) & Cedric Michaud (Nefit) were sprinting for the first set of sprint points in the race for the Gold Jersey. At approximately 55 laps to go the half way point of the race Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) attacked with Durk Fabriek (Schuurman), Ralf Zwister (Adformatie) and a skater from BCT. These four skaters ended up half a lap in front of the peleton when Ralp Zwister (Adformatie) crashed and ended up going back to the peleton and the skater from BCT dropped off the breakaway leaving only two in the lead group (Shane Dobbin DSB Bank and Durk Fabriek Schuurman).

These two skaters kept trying to keep the pace hoping the peleton would stop the chase. After a few more laps of working together the team of Schuurman Schoenen dropped back to the breakaway escapees to help their team mate Durk Fabriek and of course included in the break Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) to try to take a lap over the peleton. With approximately 30 laps remaining and after a long hard chase the two escapees lapped the peleton and waited for the sprint for the final 20 laps to make their next move.

After the final sprint / elimination for the last 20 laps there was just two skaters from DSB Bank in the final Shane Dobbin who was one lap in front and Ingmar Berga. Ingmar Berga did a great job in making sure no one escapeed off the front to catch Shane Dobbin & Durk Fabriek. Arjan Stroetinga (BAM) & Roy Boeve (Safan) tried very hard and made many attempts to escape off the front. In the end the peleton received the bell for the last lap with five laps to go and it was Cedric Michaud (Nefit), Bob de Vries (Bam) & Ingmar Berga (DSB Bank) who were sprinting for third place. Crossing the line in third place was Cedric Michaud (Nefit), in fourth was Bob de Vries (BAM) and fifth Ingmar Berga (DSB Bank).

When the sprint for third place took place Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) took advantage of this opportunity and made his move to breakaway from his rival Durk Fabriek (Schuurman) Shane Dobbin broke away in the last five laps to maintain a strong gap and cross the line for his first victory for DSB Bank and in the Essent Cup. Second place went to Durk Fabriek from Schuurman. It was a very successful team effort from the DSB Bank team including Jens Zwister, Arjan Smit, Ingmar Berga & Shane Dobbin.

Mens Marathon Results
1st Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank)
2nd Durk Fabriek (Schuurman)
3rd Cedric Michaud (Nefit)
4th Bob de Vries (Bam)
5th Ingmar Berga (Dsb Bank)
6th Sandor Stuut (Vlasman)
7th Douwe de Vries (Adformatie)
8th Kurt Wubben (TNT Express)
9th Roy Boeve (Safan)
10th Jan van Oosterom (Goesting.nl)

The ladies race was first in Assen and Chris Witty (Landjuweel) broke away in the final 20 laps solo and lapped the peleton to cross the line for another victory for her in this ice season in Assen.

Ladies Marathon Results

1st Chris Witty (Landjuweel)
2nd Liesbeth Hijlkema (Cakyline)
3rd Jolanda Langeland (Steenbergen)
4th Sandra t'Hart (Landjuweel)
5th Maria Sterk (DSB Bank)

The final event of the night was the first divison marathon. The young Dj Nation from New Zealand raced in the marathon tonight trying very hard and working hard throughout the race to make attacks and follow them. Dj made the top 20 at the sprint/elimination and in the final 20 laps was very active. Unfortunately he couldn't follow the strongman Willem Hut (BAM) and Willem broken away solo to cross the line for another victory in the first division.

First division Marathon Results
1st Willem Hut (BAM)
2nd Peter Nauta (Schaatsteam)
3rd Frank Posthumus (Schaatsploeg)

For full results go to: http://www.knsb.nl/content/marathon/wedkal_detail.asp?ID=310

For more photos go to: http://www.fotohdeboer.nl/

To watch the race on internet click on the link: http://www.sbs6.nl/web/show/id=258665/langid=43

Prestige Cup 3 Biddinghuizen Results

Written by T Dobbin
Yesterday was the third Biddinghuizen Prestige Race which is one of the biggest having highlights shown on tv on one of the biggest sport channels here in the Netherlands.

In the ladies finish it ended up coming to a final sprint where Mariska Huisman (Viks) crossed the line with yet another victory for 2009 in Biddinghuizen.

Ladies Results
1st Mariska Huisman (Viks)
2nd Margo van de Merwe (Team de Sprinters)
3rd Danielle Bekkering (Frisia)
4th Anniek ter Haar (Aavas Groep)
5th Mischa Top (Landjuweel)
6th Jolanda Langeland (Steenbergen)

The mens race also came to a sprint finish after many breakaway attempts throughout the race. The team of Nefit made the sprint for Sjoerd Huisman and DSB Bank's Ingmar Berga lead out the sprint for his team mate Arjan Smit.

Crossing the line in first with his first victory in Biddinghuizen from the team of Nefit was Sjoerd Huisman. Second place went to DSB Bank's Arjan Smit who was the winner last week in Biddinghuizen and third Cedric Michaud also from Nefit.

Mens Results
1st Sjoerd Huisman (Nefit)
2nd Arjan Smit (DSB Bank)
3rd Cedric Michaud (Nefit)
4th Sandor Stuut (Vlasman)
5th Roy Boeve (Safan)
6th Martijn van Es (TNT)
7th Yoeri Lissenberg (Foekens)
8th Arjan Mombarg (Nefit)
9th Geert Plender (Safan)
10th Sander Kingma (Team Care Group)

For Full results go to: http://www.knsb.nl/content/marathon/wedkal_detail.asp?ID=328
For more photos go to: http://www.fotohdeboer.nl/

Saturday another Essent Cup race which is held again in Assen. Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) will be racing on Saturday in Assen before his flight on Monday to Salt Lake City for next weekend's North American & Oceania All Round Championships. The ladies race is the first event of tomorrow night's races starting at the usual time of 18:30 followed by the mens A grade race at 19:30. Keep posted for more news and results!