LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

Curlie · Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 4:12 pm Subject:

Cat 1 races looked very impressive. Cat 2 looked like an LSST training session at points given the lack of anything but blue out there - made for a good looking podium though!

Harry looked slightly out of place in his age category, and looked like he might actually take Speedy Dave up on the challenge of double lapping the rest of the pack!

Was lots of fun to watch, but we need to get more blue out there!

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Looked excellent from the middle. Not sure why Gav was spending all his time on the front. Better for training maybe but not the best for racing.

The pack was not keen to let Harry in when he tried to move up but he kept up very well when he did get in.

Was great to see our numbers swelling up in cat 1 all the same. If only we could get some more. Is Kimmo coming back?

Garan owned cat 2 but may need a little more nouse to go into cat 1 and make any kind of impact. You have the legs for it and the only way you are going to really learn is to race with them. Perhaps another session in cat 2 and if you dominate again then I think an accelerated promotion may be on the cards.

Had a couple more officials than we expected on the day which made for a comfortable meeting in the middle. 50 skaters is a good turn out for the current number of FISS members. The weather had something to do with that.

Good feedback from everyone I spoke to so very well done everyone. Great day!

andyman · Joined: 05 Apr 2006 Posts: 1945 Location: Suffolk

Good report but couple of slight corrections.

In second race, Michael MN did indeed lap the field, this may not have been clear due to some appalling lack of yellow flags from marshals Wink

Was also good in that after the Bham cover dropped off, James A jumped to the front of the chasing pack and made sure he towed them in to let Michael get away

In the final race, Harry was not in it as it was a senior age race. (He had previously, completely dominated and won his race at a cantor) In an almost reversal of the second race, James A made the break and Michael got to the front and held up the chasing pack

It was not only good to see such great improvement and numbers from LSST but generally the racing was very good for the spectators

Alas, I was on other duties at presentation time and as such didn't get any photos of the podiums - Apologies particularly to Garan and Harry as winners Confused

(I will try and get copies from other clubs)

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

He didn't quite lap the field. There was already an attack off the front of the chasing pack by the time he was anywhere near with Staffy and Sooty in it so officials were keeping an eye there in case of any shenanigans. At the time the break happened it looked like Macca was hanging clear of the main bunch as he had been staying back about 30 yards and not closing for 4 or 5 laps. However, that is no excuse and yellow flags were indeed very late when he made his move to pass. We were quite critical of ourselves in that though when a skater is trying to pass 8 or 9 skaters all racing each other it would probably have made no difference to whether they would have made way effectively enough for him to pass without hindrance. There were flags once he was in them and still they didn't move over. Needed to have more shouting from flagginf officials. I don't think there was much more than loud talking. Macca was too polite to shout himself so Dan Ibbotson got vocal for him and he got past.

A similar thing happened in the senior race when James went round the outside. I'm pretty sure there were flags out that time as Gwen was shouting at the track officials to wave them and she doesn't hold back. Though no official on the back straight to make the point when he went for it. We could do with some more officials if anyone would like to join in*. James did manage to lap the entire field, though only briefly as there was an almost immediate break to decide second and third places once he went through.

* There will be another officials course in Brimingham later in the year if you consider becoming an official. Even racers can benefit from knowing what the officials look out for so why not attend. It's free and if you officiate enough you can get a discount on your membership in the following year. We missed the one in London as it was on photoshoot day.

Speedy Dave · Joined: 07 Jun 2008 Posts: 251 Location: Derby

A big thanks to all for a lovely days racing. Very Happy

Gav · Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2009 1:04 pm Subject: