News Update

Written by T Dobbin

Another week has already passed and before we know it's Friday. Both Shane Dobbin & Dj Nation have had a hard week of training preparing for their next race. This weekend the next Essent Cup will be held in Amsterdam at the Jaap Eden Ice Rink. The weather forecast is for storming very cold temperatures with the chance of snow. Those that will be racing in Amsterdam on Saturday night will have a tough race ahead because it's the only rink in the Netherlands that is totally outside and uncovered.

Shane Dobbin & Dj Nation will have the weekend off racing in the marathons but have other events on the schedule. Shane & Dj got the go ahead that they are confirmed starters for Sunday night's racing in Thialf. http://www.thialf.nl/ For a few weeks they have been trying to get put on the list to race in Thialf to make times but unfortunately were unable to be confirmed until this week. Shane & Dj will be racing the 5km long track event paired with each other. They are both very lucky because the organisation are specifically putting on this event for them to be able to set a time for themselves and to get some training in on their weekend off marathon racing. http://www.knsb.nl/upload/wedstrijdinschrijving/html_files/HV2008_HV015_sta.htm

Unfortunately Shane Dobbin's coach Peter de Vries has work committments and is unable to be on the ice that Sunday evening but organised for the farther of the most famous skater Sven Kramer to be on the ice for Shane on Sunday which will be an honour to have him help. Not only will Shane & Dj be racing this weekend in Thialf but in the city of Enschede Wayne Begg will be taking part in the 500 meter and 1000 meter on Saturday night along with Australia's Sophie Muir.

Keep posted for results and news that will be coming over the weekend.

Essent Cup 3 Eindhoven

Saturday evening was third race of the Essent Cup in Eindhoven. It wasn't as cold as last time the race was in Eindhoven with temperatures in the low teens. The first race of the evening was the ladies marathon. Mariska Huisman (Viks) won her first marathon in two years with a lunge at the line with USA's Chris Witty (Landjuweel). See below for ladies results


Ladies Results
1st Mariska Huisman (VIks)
2nd Chris Witty (Landjuweel)
3rd Maria Sterk (DSB Bank)

The men's A grade race got off to a slower start than usual. The action would first start at the first sprint points where Douwe de Vries (Adformatie), Bob de Vries (Bam), Cedric Michaud (Nefit) and Jan Maarten Heideman (DSB Bank) were sprinting for the three sprint points. It was close between all four skating with Douwe de Vries trying to hold onto the gold jersey and the other three skaters trying to win the gold jersey.

With approximately 35 laps remaining a breakaway group with 18 skaters were off the front of the peleton. In this breakaway included DSB Bank's Arjan Smit and Ingmar Berga trying hard to gain a lap over the rest of the peleton. When the team of Safan went to the front they pulled back the breakaway group just in time for the final elimination sprint where only the top 20 skaters across the line finish the final 20 laps.

The finish of the men's race finished in a sprint finish where the victory went to BAM with Arjan Stroetinga.

Mens Results
1st Arjan Stroetinga (BAM)
2nd Cees Juffermans (TNT Express)
3rd Jan Maarten Heideman (DSB Bank)
4th Karlo Timmerman (Renault Eco2)
5th Cedric Michaud (Nefit)
6th Douwe de Vries (Adformatie)

The final event of the night was the first division starting their marathon at 21:00. Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) and New Zealand's Dj Nation & Wayne Begg were starters in Eindhoven. It was a very hard race from the first lap. With many A grade skaters starting in the first division the field each lap was getting smaller and smaller. A group of approximately 20 skaters including Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) and Dj Nation lapped the peleton after approximately 40 laps. Willem Hut (BAM) made the race very difficult always attacking every moment possible. Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank) skated the race on the front always trying to either close down breaks or make breaks himself. He did a good job of controlling the race with Dj Nation pulling through for some very strong leads on the front trying to not let Willem Hut (BAM) breakaway.

It wasn't until the final 30 laps where there were only 18 skaters left in the race and Willem Hut (BAM), Casper Helling (Safan) and Koss Kortekaas (Vlasman) broke away together and ended up gaining another lap over the remaining 15 skaters. In the final 20 laps Dj Nation & Engbert de Vegt broke away together for the sprint for 4th place which after two sprint finishs from lap 11 to 10 and then again 6 to 5 it was Dj Nation who crossed the line for 4th just ahead of Engbert de Vegt. The rest of the peleton's sprint finish came across the line all together with Shane Dobbin crossing the line in 11th place.

The victory went to Willem Hut (BAM) from second Casper Helling (Safan) and third Koos Kortekaas (Vlasman).

First Division Results
1st Willem Hut (BAM)
2nd Casper Helling (Safan)
3rd Koos Kortekaas (Vlasman)
4th Dj Nation
5th Engbert de Vegt (GIBO-BEKA)
6th Johan Bakker
7th Martijn van Es (TNT Express)
8th Pieter Albada
9th Klass de Weerd
10th Roelof Koops
11th Shane Dobbin (DSB Bank)

Full results are at http://www.knsb.nl/content/marathon/wedkal_detail.asp?ID=303

For more photos from Eindhoven go to http://www.fotohdeboer.nl/index.php

The next race of the Essent Cup is in Amsterdam but both Shane Dobbin & Dj Nation will be having the weekend off from the marathon racing. Keep posted for more news coming soon.

Written by T Dobbin

ISU World Cup Heerenveen Day 3

Written by T Dobbin

Sunday was the final day of the ISU Heerenveen World Cup. It was a day where Shani Davis, Chad Hedrick and Trevor Marciano all got together and skated for the first time their top skaters in the team pursuit and ended up finishing in second. The news Shani Davis skating the team time trial was headlines here in Netherlands because for many years Shani has been against racing the team pursuit so that he could concentrate on his own individual races. But this year things have changed and he, Chad and Trevor plan to train together and get the best possible result that they can in Canada in 2010. See below for results from the final day in Heerenveen.

Ladies 1000 meter Final
1st Christine Nesbitt (Canada) 1:16.18
2nd Kristina Groves (Canada) 1:16.76
3rd Beixing Wang (China) 1:17.01

Men's 1000 meter Final
1st Shani Davis (USA) 1:08.99
2nd Pekka Koskela (Finland) 1:09.05
3rd Simon Juipers (Netherlands) 1:09.26

Ladies Team Pursuit
1st Netherlands 3:01.32
2nd Canada 3:02.34
3rd Germany 3:02.51

Men's Team Pursuit
1st Netherlands 3:42.29
2nd USA 3:43.48
3rd Sweden 3:47.20

For more results go to http://www.isuresults.eu/2008-2009/worldcup/heerenveen-1/index.html
For more photos go to http://www.fotos.desg.de/