LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

Ray · Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 806 Location: Dagenham

Thanks for these Steve, thay let those of us who couldn't be there get a feel of the event.

Looks like Mario, Tanya and Peter are tro be congratulated on winning medals - well done folks Very Happy

Fred_Paris · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:02 am Subject:

Well it was a great week end of racing, thank you to the organisation and people that made it possible, there are many Smile

I didn't get a program so I didn't have an idea of what was coming and when, so that was interesting.

I didn't know what to expect for these races, last year wasn't great and my season on the track was far from being a good one. but overall it was ok, well Saturday was rubbish and Sunday was better Smile

Saturday - -

1000M heat
I went off ok, tried to get a place in the pack and for a time it was going ok, but after only two laps out of 4 I was done, so very bad first race.

200M Time trial
I was expecting a lot from this race I have to admit relying on my start and leg speed to get a good time, well it didn't happen.

I am happy with the start I did, but almost went in the middle of the corner during the running phase and lost a lot of speed, on the opposite straight I tried to make up for it but was all over the place, and felt like I was bouncing off the track, and almost went again... finished with a bad time, worse than the one I was doing a week before training. A huge disappointment Confused

15K point race
My aim in this race was to get a good place in the pack and stay in contact, but just didn't manage it, I was of the pace, and soon lapped by the 4 first skaters and then waved off the track, blue flag.

And that was the end of the day... I never felt like I was really in any of the races and it felt just like last year. And I didn't like it at all.

Sunday-+

I started the day with a new resolution, to give it a better start, went back to basics and did some running and exercises I know too well, then went on the track and skated, I was aching a bit at first but it went soon enough.

500M heat
Went off the line well and got a good place, as the race went on Doon attacked and matt P followed him, I tried to do the same but couldn't get pass the previous leader, and ended up skating high on the bend and lost a lot of time, when finally I got him it was too late to do anything in the race.

So it wasn't the greatest race, but it was an honest race, with some good things, just need to work a little bit more.

5000M Elimination race
I was on the line at the start and it was great, my goal was to make sure I will last as long as I could in this race.
I went off well and placed myself behind the Cado motus train, the race went on, and I lost a few places as people were moving around, but I was getting myself back in a good position when needed. In terms of race tactics, it was my best race of the week end, I was in place and when the elimination started I was in a good position and managed to last a little while. Eventually I got tired though and was eliminated, but I was happy about it as it felt like I was actually part of the race rather than trailing at the end of it.

1500M Handicap race
Then came the handicap race, which made me almost happy I didn't do well in the 200M as handicaps were based on it, unfortunately it was calculated using a formula, meaning that people that did well in the 200M had next to no chances to do anything. The other thing is that it was a separate entry so there were only 5 people in the race.

I started with the second best handicap, went off well, after a while I caught up Andy P, and made my first mistake of seating behind him and slowing down, then took the lead to ensure that we would not be caught by the other guys, Ben joined us still, I wanted to give the lead back but they were happy to seat behind me... At that point I wasn't paying enough attention to the race and went on maintaining the pace but no other skater was going to catch us, then I got the lap board wrong and thought I had 2 laps to go, when we were going to start the last lap Sad

So I finished 3rd, too many mistakes in this race, by far my worse race of the day.

5000M relay

I wasn't supposed to race in the relay, but after Gav accident on Saturday Confused

I was in.
I have mixed feelings about the relay, unfortunately the dominant one is disappointment... I was really pleased with the way I skated in the race and stayed in contact, or closed gaps with other teams, I was up to speed and that felt great, it felt so good that I was enjoying it very much and wasn't feeling tired at all, where I do when we practice it training, it was far too exiting Razz

.

Now... we finished 4th and with it came the realisation that this race is very much about relay changes rather that speed. we have shown so much inexperience in this race it was silly, we probably didn't make half of the changes properly, for some of them it was due to the fact it was busy on the track and it was difficult to get a good line and it's fine. But for most of them we were just not adjusting the speed causing team mates to slow down in order to be able to push in the zone.

I noticed that I was often starting just too late and almost struggle to reach the zone in time to get a push from Hans, and it's probably the main difference between race and training I was aiming to get a push by a point, but the margin for error is so small I was often afraid I might not make it to the entry of the relay zone before Hans caught me.

We lacked communication badly and I was so focused on the race that I just couldn't say anything, my changes with peter were almost all too short, I could have push him 10 meters before the zone 4 times, but not once it occurred to me that I could tell him to go earlier. I guess that it is just the lack of practice as a team, I think we should have been chasing second place in this race, instead we kept losing ground badly in the changes.

For next year, we will have to get together more often and practice a lot more, because 4th is just not good enough...

Anyway, I enjoyed Sunday a lot more that Saturday, and it went better and better, a lot to think about the coming season, and new ambitions on the track. Smile

Thank you to everybody there this week end, to support, or help, it was great Smile

Super mariyo · Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Posts: 52 Location: LONDON

A big thanks to andyman for great support on sat and sunday it relly made me try harder! thankyou hans for fantastic generousity you are my freind. and big BOOOOS!! to spoilsports who made me search in my cupboards for passport! hello to illona who i met saturday and well done for just 3month skating!and hello to peterand fred it was very,very exciting first championship for me -- mariyo

Fred_Paris · Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2008 4:27 pm Subject:

Hello Mariyo,

Congatulations for all your medals this week end, it was great to have you guys around.

You did great and were trying really hard it was a pleasure to watch.

Super mariyo · Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Posts: 52 Location: LONDON

ive got say big thanks for bigsteve taking photos otherwise hes going to get my mum to stop my pocket money! Evil or Very Mad

MARIYO

BigSteev · Joined: 04 Jul 2006 Posts: 282 Location: London

'cos I am THAT evil. Laughing

peterc · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 1284 Location: M3 somewhere

I hear what you were saying about the changes in the Relay Fred, yes they were wrong more often than right, while it's something we can practice, but that needs two things to happen, which are kinda rare in LSST land.
1. All the relayers at the same training session. I'm just in the wrong place for that right now.
2. A relay team that is the same on the day as it was planned the day before the event, that's 1 out of 3 for the last 2 years.

But yes, I did get the timing wrong, and that is one thing Ice can't help with, sorry to say the zone thing messed me up.

Fred_Paris · Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:42 am Subject:

Don't worry about it Peter, it's just something we need to be aware of, it's just a painful lesson to learn Razz

I'm sure that's something we can figure out, my main point was that once you are in the race you focus only on that so it's impossible to correct much.

Like I said I did practice on the track, and I still struggled with the zone too, that's where team mnbers not in the race are helpful as they can see what we can't and tell us.

I still had an amazing race though and really enjoyed it Razz

huphuphup_ilona · Joined: 03 Jul 2008 Posts: 22 Location: Finsbury Park

Could you point me to the results URL? I can't seem to be able to locate them.

Thank you for everyone there, it was a great experience.