ISU World Cup Salt lake City

Written by T Dobbin
Salt Lake is one of the best cities in the World to speed skate. After hosting the 2002 Winter Olympic Games it has some of the best facilities in the World for training as well as an extremely good training group based in Salt Lake for a number of years.

Salt Lakes ice conditions were slightly better than in Calgary, especially for the distance races. The ice was fast and gliding alot, more than ice does at other rinks in the World. As SLC was the final qualification for Countries to Qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games it was the last chance for those Countries to confirm their Country positions. Some of the skaters that had already qualified their Country positions decided to head back to their home lands and train for their National Qualification to confirm which skaters will be skating at the Olympics in their Country position.

Shane Dobbin only participated in the 5 kilometer event on Saturday. He wanted to make sure that he could secure a Country position for New Zealand in the 5 kilometer event at the Olympics. Shane was set to skate in pair number four which was the first pair after the ice cleaning.

His tactics were different than any other race he has skated before setting out to hold back at the start and try to bring his lap times down by the end. See below his lap times:

200m 19.10 (19.1)
600m 49.23 (30.1)
1000m 1:19.37 (30.1)
1400m 1:49.64 (30.2)
1800m 2:19.27 (29.6)
2200m 2:49.19 (29.9)
2600m 3:18.97 (29.7)
3000m 3:48.39 (29.4)
3400m 4:17.81 (29.4)
3800m 4:47.43 (29.6)
4200m 5:17.23 (29.8)
4600m 5:47.14 (29.9)
5000m 6:17.78 (30.6)

Even though Shane set a new New Zealand National Record and a personal best time in this event he was still not 100% satisfied. Usually on faster ice it's better to get your lap times at the start and try to maintain them until the end because you glide much better, on better ice. However, it was still good enough for 11th place in the mens A grade division and hopefully ensures a Country spot for New Zealand in the 5 kilometer at the 2010 Winter Olympics. For full results go to http://live.isuresults.eu/2009-2010/salt%20lake%20city/r505.htm

Shane is now back training in the Netherlands for the next two weeks. After Christmas he will head back to Salt Lake City to get some good training done there with a good training group. Shanes next competition is the Regional Qualifer which is going to be held in Calgary on the 23rd and 24th of January. The top seven skaters from this Regional Qualifer will be able to skate in the World All Round Championships in March in Heerenveen here in the Netherlands.

Keep posted for updates and a special thanks to Daniel Yeow for his great photos.

ISU World Cup Calgary

Written by T Dobbin
Finally after returning home this week after two World Cups the first being in Calgary and the second in Salt Lake City. Calgary was an experience having never skated their before but also the weather. The days before the competition there was a winter snow storm. So for three days the temperatures were reaching as low as minus 30 degrees C.

Having trained on the ice all week prior to the 5 kilometer on Saturday, the ice conditions were extremly fast. The weather and ice conditions changed for the race on Saturday with a high pressure system moving in which as we learnt can change the ice conditions alot.

Shane skated in the second pairing in Calgary, and was paired with Japanese skater Hiroki Hirako. Shane skated a clean race and went out as hard as he could and just tired to hold on the the finish. See below his race lap times:

200m 19.33 (19.3)
600m 48.57 (29.2)
1000m 1:17.78 (29.2)
1400m 1:47.50 (29.7)
1800m 2:17.78 (30.2)
2200m 2:48.10 (30.3)
2600m 3:18.16 (30.0)
3000m 3:48.10 (29.9)
3400m 4:18.04 (29.9)
3800m 4:48.51 (30.4)
4200m 5:19.04 (30.5)
4600m 5:49.87 (30.8)
5000m 6:20.97 (31.1)

This time was good enough place for 10th position in the A grade mens division and a New New Zealand National Record which was set earlier in the season in Berlin. For full results go to http://live.isuresults.eu/2009-2010/calgary/r405.htm

Special Thanks to Daniel Yeow http://www.danielyeow.com for his great photos.

ISU World Cup in Hamar

Written by T Dobbin

It was a devastating weekend in Hamar for Shane last weekend at the ISU World Cup. With Hamar being the one and only chance to qualify for the 10km at the Olympics he knew that it would be a very important weekend and the first part of his training was revolved around that weekend.

Saturday night was the draw for the 10km and Shane was third pair with Olympic Champion from Italy Enrico Fabris. It was a very good pair for Shane as Fabris skates a very steady laps and this would be a benefit in the 10km.

Shane started out skating very good lap times. He was looking in good condition and everything was going great throughout the race. He was three seconds under his schedule and was skating right with his opponent Fabris. With 9 laps to go Shane was on target for a time of 13.25 or faster which would be 5 seconds under the Olympic qualifying time. Shane felt really good during the 10km and plan was to try to conserve energy through the start and then with 6 or 7 laps to go bring the lap times down and finish with all he had.

With 8 laps to go, Shane was on the exit of the final corner on the inner lane and dug the front of his blade into the ice, crashing and sliding into the outer lane hitting the wall. Immediately his first reaction was to get up and finish because he needed the points in the overall so that if he can still finish instead the top 10 in the ISU Overall standing for the distance he would be able to still compete in the 10km at the Olympics. After crashing into the barrier Shane got up and skated some meters in the outer lane before realizing that he needed to get across into the inner lane.

Having blurred vision and pain from crashing Shane kept going for the final 8 laps and still crossed the finish line just 8 seconds from his previous personal best with a time of 13.47.

See Shane’s lap times below:

400m – 35.3
800m – 1.06.98 (32.2)
1200m – 1.38.82 (31.8)
1600m – 2.11.09 (32.2)
2000m – 2.42.87 (31.7)
2400m – 3.14.47 (31.6)
2800m – 3.46.29 (31.8)
3200m – 4.18.45 (32.1)
3600m – 4.50.52 (32.0)
4000m – 5.23.30 (32.7)
4400m – 5.55.15 (31.8)
4800m – 6.27.51 (32.3)
5200m – 6.59.35 (31.8)
5600m – 7.31.73 (32.3)
6000m – 8.03.68 (31.9)
6400m – 8.36.04 (32.3)
6800m – 9.18.69 (42.6)
7200m – 9.54.77 (36.0)
7600m – 10.27.73 (32.9)
8000m – 11.00.51 (32.7)
8400m – 11.33.54 (33.0)
8800m – 12.06.98 (33.4)
9200m – 12.40.30 (33.3)
9600m – 13.13.46 (33.1)
10000m – 13.47.1 (33.7)

After warming down the referee came over to Shane and explained that he would be disqualified. The reason he was disqualified is because when he got up after crashing, he skated in the outer lane and the rules state that when someone crashes, they must immediately go back to his/her lane. Because Shane skated on the outer he was disqualified.

Right now Shane is currently sitting in 19th overall. It will be a very difficult task to try to get back into the top 10 in the overall so from here Shane is going to go to Calgary and Salt Lake World Cups and try to secure his place at the 2010 Olympics in the 5km. With only a very select few skaters skating under the Olympic qualification time everyone is waiting to hear what will happen with the remaining places for the 10km. In the rules it states that each athlete MUST skate the under the maximum qualification time to skate at the Olympics and for the 10km it's either 13.30 or faster than a 6.30 in the 5km. If there is any chance he can skate the 10km at the Olympics we will take it but right now the situation doesn’t look good. Our fingers are crossed!

Saturday night Shane will be racing his with Marathon team in Amsterdam before flying on Sunday to Calgary. Keep posted for more updates through the upcoming World Cups.