Last meet of the season

Last weekend marked the last meet that speed skating daughter will compete in for the 2011-2012 season. She has decided that she does not want to participate in the Masters & Regional Championships to be held March 31-April 1 in Kitchener. I would like to attend to see how it works and how she would end up ranking, but I'm not going to push her.

That being said, we did attend the Silver #13 (E) Ability meet in Gloucester this past weekend. As I expected, she moved up a level to compete against "faster" skaters. With the new OSSA track rules in place, all skaters in the Juvenile and below categories skated the 100m track (as oppose to the 111m track). This meant that new distances would be skated. 111m races turned into 100m races, 222m became 200m and 333m became 400m. In the older groups, several kids skated 800m races, along with 500m and 400m. Overall, PB's would be set as nobody had skated many of the distances set up for the meet.

In my daughter's 1st race (200m), she did ok, but ended up finishing 3rd (out of 4). That left her out of the 'A' finals for that distance, and I knew right there that there would be no 2nd medal (the points drop off quickly the farther down the list you finish). In the 'B' finals, she had a good start and was in 2nd place heading into the 3rd corner. Unfortunately the leader fell and took out several of the track markers that ended under speed skating daughter's skate as she did a crossover, causing her to fall. She ended up in last place for that final, only to be moved up 1 spot due to another skater being DQ'd (for skating inside the track). 9th place did not get her a ribbon, leaving her a little sad, especially since her friend finished 7th and received a ribbon.

In her 2nd distance (100m), she finished last in her heat and ended up in the 'C' finals. In that final, she skated faster than her prelim race, but ended finishing 2nd (10th overall). Again no ribbon and very little points. With little points gained throughout her 'finals', she was placed in the 'B' 400m Super final (seeding was based on accumulated points). At this point, the coach came up to her and said that if she wanted a ribbon, she needed to finish top 2 in a distance she had never skated before. She wasn't too optimistic about it, but she had a great start, managed to take the lead early and never looked back, finishing 1st in the 'B' final (7th overall). She received a ribbon, which made her super happy (making the day a success). When I saw her time, it turned out to be the same time as when she skated her best 333m earlier in the season. That meant she skated 67m farther in the same amount of time (I'd say she's getting faster). I then did the conversion and it turned out that in comparison, she would have skated a 333m race in 59 seconds, essentially breaking the "1 minute" barrier that many of the kids strive for at an early age. I'll have to talk to the coach and see if she is required to bring in cupcakes as a celebratory gesture for breaking the 1 minute barrier, which is something the club has implemented.

Speed skating daughter leading the pack in the 400m race