Sunday, November 15, 2009

ISU World Cup Heerenveen

Written by T Dobbin

This weekend was the second ISU World Cup for the 2009-2010 Winter held in Heerenveen, Netherlands. Shane decided on Friday that he would not take part in the 1500 meter on Friday morning and would only take part in the 5000 meter on Saturday afternoon.

With Shane's previous sponsor going bankrupt, last week he was able to secure some new sponsors to help him throughout this winter. Shane found sponsors from the marketing company Sport Navigator http://www.sportnavigator.nl taking up five out of the eight logos on Shane's uniform with logos from Kia Motors, Clafis Engineering and G4S. We are hoping to finalize the remaining three logos positions very soon!


After finishing second in Berlin, Shane moved into A grade and 14th in the ISU World Cup 5km overall. Heerenveen would be his first ever start in the A grade competition which is live on television here in the Netherlands. Shane was set to start in the fourth pair with Marco Weber from Germany starting on the inner lane.

After a hard few weeks and continuing the hard training this week, Shane knew his legs weren't would not be completely prepared for the race on Saturday. However, Shane set his lap times that he felt he would be able to hold throughout the race and ended up with the finishing time that he predicted. See below the race lap times:

200m - 19.57 (19.5)
600m - 50.35 (30.7)
1000m - 1:20.73 (30.3)
1400m - 1:51.91 (31.1)
1800m - 2:23.22 (31.3)
2200m - 2:54.00 (30.7)
2600m - 3:24.52 (30.5)
3000m - 3:55.36 (30.8)
3400m - 4:26.54 (31.1)
3800m - 4:57.28 (30.7)
4200m - 5:28.23 (30.9)
4600m - 5:59.31 (31.0)
5000m - 6:30.90 (31.5)



Shane finished in 13th place in A grade which moves him up once place in the ISU World Cup overall for the 5km and is now currently in 13th place.

Next weekend is the one and only 10km World Cup race held in Hamar, Norway. Shane travels with his Coach Roy Dobbin Monday to Hamar where he will train and prepare for the 10km held on Sunday afternoon. Shane will once again start in the A grade in Hamar and hopes to have a successful weekend. With Hamar being the one and only 10km during these ISU World Cups before the Olympics, it's the only chance he has to qualify for the 10km at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The minimum qualifying time is 13.30 last year finishing 14th place at the World Single Distance Championships he hopes to have a good race and set a new personal best time hopefully under the minimum qualifying mark.

Keep posted for more updates this week and this weekend with results from Hamar.

For photos from Shanes 5km in Heerenveen please go to: http://www.desgphoto.com/desgphoto/gallery/index.php?p=event&id=171&day=2009-11-14&distance=6&division=9&gender=men

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

ISU World Cup Heerenveen

Written by T Dobbin
This coming weekend is the second ISU World Cup which is held in Shane's home rink Thialf in Heerenveen. Heerenveen is always one of the most exciting World Cup's to be a part of because the crowds in the ice rink get behind each and every skater. At first Shane was going to be taking part in both the 1500 meter and the 5000 meter, however has decided to withdraw from the 1500 meter and for this weekend only participate in the 5000 meter held on Saturday afternoon.

Shane Dobbin will be starting in the A division this week. Friday evening the pairs will be drawn so we will know then the exact start time is for his event.
The schedule for this weekend is as follows:

PROGRAM
Thursday, November 12:
16.30 hrs. Team Leaders meeting
18.00 hrs. Opening draw,

Friday, November 13:
11.30 hrs. * 500 m. (1st) Men B-division
500 m. (1st) Ladies B-division
1500 m. Men B-division

16.00 hrs. 500 m. (1st) Ladies A-division
500 m. (1st) Men A-division
3000 m. Ladies A-division
1500 m. Men A-division
3000 m. Ladies B-division (quartet starts)

Saturday, November 14:
09.45 hrs. * 500 m. (2nd) Ladies B-division
500 m. (2nd) Men B-division
1500 m. Ladies B-division

13.45 hrs. 500 m. (2nd) Ladies A-division
500 m. (2nd) Men A-division
1500 m. Ladies A-division
5000 m. Men A-division
5000 m. Men B-division (quartet starts)

Sunday, November 15:
09.30 hrs * 1000 m. Ladies B-division
1000 m. Men B-division

13.00 hrs. 1000 m. Ladies A-division
1000 m. Men A-division
Team pursuit Ladies
Team pursuit Men

Keep posted for results and updates throughout the weekend. After this weekend is over its off to Hamar, Norway on Monday for the third World Cup of the season and the only 10,000 meter event for this season before the Olympics.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

ISU World Cup Berlin

Written by T Dobbin
After a last minute decision Shane decided that he would skate Berlin after being giving permission from his marathon team. Luckily he did because Shane skated the 5 kilometre on Saturday morning skating a personal best time and a very respectable time under his belt this early in the season.

Wednesday morning, Shane drove to Amsterdam airport to pick up his father/coach Roy Dobbin and from there we headed to Berlin. Thursday morning Shane had a good but hard training session on the ice to get the feeling following by an afternoon/evening trip to star bucks to keep him grounded.

Friday followed with a final training session and full race preparation for Saturday morning's race.

Shane started out with his best opener ever in a 5km, and from there the goal was to average 30.5 seconds per lap.
After an amazing skate his final time appeared on the board and it was 8 seconds faster than his personal best time set in Salt Lake City in January this year. See below each lap time.

200m - 19.30 - 19.3

600m - 48.79 - 29.4
1000m - 1:19.18 - 30.3
1400m - 1:49.88 - 30.6
1800m - 2:21.28 - 31.4
2200m - 2:51.97 - 30.6
2600m - 3:22.51 - 30.5
3000m - 3:52.71 - 30.2
3400m - 4:23.03 - 30.3
3800m - 4:53.32 - 30.2
4200m - 5:23.77 - 30.4
4600m - 5:54.22 - 30.4
5000m - 6:24.88 - 30.6

This personal best time put Shane Dobbin in second place in the B division and it was the days 9th fastest time. For full results go to: http://live.isuresults.eu/2009-2010/berlin/

This following weekend Shane Dobbin moves into the A Division for the 5km in Heerenveen.

On Sunday morning Shane skated his season's best 1500 metre race with a time of 1.52.28

Keep posted for more updates throughout the winter.