Pictures from Ice Speedskating

On Sunday, 27 December 2009, the Christmas days were over and I headed up north for the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Thialf Heerenveen. This was it. The Netherlands have so many great skaters, each and every one of them, belongs to the top of Speed Skating world, but only having 3 or 4 spots per distance and 10 spots for the whole team, it would be a massacre.

And it was. Entering the Thialf stadium 1 hour before the competition, the stands were empty. I secured a spot at the start of the 500meters and within the hour, the whole stadium was filled with people wearing blue Aegon hats. The tension was in the air. The first 500m pair lined up at the startline and made a false start. A sigh humbed around the stadium. You could feel the anxiety in the air. Luckily the second start was okey and off the skaters went.

I withnessed some great 500 meter races. The ladies 1.500 meter was also fun to watch. The 5.000m would be the icing on the cake. With 7 or 8 people, besides Sven Kramer who already pre-qualified, it promissed to be top notch racing. There were only two spots remaining and with the withdrawel due to illness of two skaters, todays number 2, would have to re-skate the 5k again, end January. Bob de Jong did what he had to do and with an amazing race against Carl Verheijen, they finished 1 and 2. Arjen van der Kieft finished 3rd, leaving him with nothing.

Once home, I had to watch all the video's and read all the discussions on internet. I did this at home for the remaining 3 days of the Olympic Qualification Tournament. I saw hero Erben Wennemars come 0.01 of a second short to secure a spot on the team in the 1.500m and I screamed at my tv because I wanted Arjen van der Kieft to qualify in the 10k. All in all, it was more than an exciting week... let the Olympics come!

Qualified for the Olympics for the Netherlands:

Men:

500m: Jan Smeekens, Simon Kuipers, Jan Bos

1.000m: Stefan Groothuis, Simon Kuipers, Mark Tuitert, Jan Bos

1.500m: Stefan Groothuis, Simon Kuipers, Mark Tuitert, Sven Kramer

5.000m: Sven Kramer, Bob de Jong, nr 3 to be decided ( Carl Verheijen, Koen Verweij, Bob de Vries, Wouter Olde Heuvel or Jan Blokhuijsen)

10.000m: Sven kramer, Bob de Jong, Arjen van der Kieft

Ladies:

500m: Margot Boer, Annette Gerritsen, Laurine van Riessen, nr4: either Thijsje Oenema or Marianne Timmer

1.000m: Margot Boer, Annette Gerritsen, Laurine van Riessen, nr4: either, Natasja Bruintjes, Ireen Wust or Marianne Timmer

1.500m: Margot Boer, Annette Gerritsen, Laurine van Riessen, Ireen Wust

3.000m: Ireen Wust, Diane Valkenburg, possibly Renate Groenewold

5.000m: Elma de Vries,

The Utrecht City Bokaal is an event for dutch skaters who did not made it to the world cup cirquit and need some qualifying. Not only did the winnar get the Dom Bokaal, but the skaters could also earn a place at the Dutch Sprint Championship and the fastest 2 times would earn a place at the Aegeon Qualification Tournament for the Olympics.

It was the first time I went to the Vechtebanen in Utecht and off course I arrived late. I forgot my tomtom so I had some problems finding the place, so halfway in the 500 meter for ladies I entered the icerink. The icerink of Utrecht is partically covered and is know as not so fast.I stettled into the corner and tried to take some pictures of the ladies. The light was off course poorly and chatting with some other speed skating people was not so good for my concentration.

Before we knew it, the day had already finished. Times were not so spectacular and I had trouble keeping track of who's who. To my own humble opinion I think I know quite a lot of skaters, but some names were even for me completly new. New suits, new skates and new glasses, it takes effort to get to know the skaters.

Lotte van Beek, junior took the lead with the ladies Event and Michel Mulder settle in first position with the men's event when day 1 came to an end. I was not sure if I would go for day 2, but as I had a good time at the icerink, I decided to go to Utrecht again on sunday. I was not feeling so well and it was a lot colder than the day before, so I was freezing a little. Maybe I'm spoiled with all my indoor events, but it can be cold standing close to the ice and not moving around a lot.

Day 2 was a lot nicer, because by now, I recognized more skaters and this makes it a little bit easier for me. We were with quite a big group as we had a small meeting of the dutch skating forum at the UCB. Most people I already met numerous times before but there were some new faces.

Eventhough Sophie Nijman won the 500 meter, Lotte van Beek still won the Utrecht City Bokaal Title, bringen a huge smile on her face, which was nice to see.

With the Men's event, Michel Mulder succeeded his brother Ronald Mulder by winning this years event. All in all, a nice event and I think I will go again next year if I have the possibility!

At the very last moment, I decided to make the journey to the north and to go to the ISU Junior World Cup in Groningen. And mind you, I live in a very small country, but nevertheless, the trip to Groningen took me 260 kilometers and due to some serieus speedy gonzales actions of my red voiture, I arrived after two hours at Sportcenter Kardinge in Groningen.

This was my first Juniors event and I must admit, I did not know many of the skaters. I knew some dutch speedskaters and I knew some names vaguely but as the World Cup in Hamar was not broadcasted live, I thought: it's speedskating, so why not.

I was warned up front about the cold in Kardinge, so with an extra layer of cloths, I entered the icerink. And wow, I was surprised by the nasty wet cold inside. Luckily, the hot tea make me warm again. The icerink was nearly empty and I decided to take my position in the corner. The 500 meter Ladies and Men was not so nice for me. It was a drama to find the right settings on my camera and eventhought, they are Juniors, the boys and girls skated pretty fast!

I was also very surprised to find out, there were icebreaks every 15 minutes. Resulting in 500 meter ladies for 8 pairs (15 minutes) and then an icebreak of 15 minutes. Luckily, the 1.000 meter ladies was a lot nicer and went a lot faster. I managed to take a few more good shots and it was nice to watch the flower ceremony.

The sun came out, giving some interesting shots and some pleasent light at some moments.

After day 1 I went home and worked on the pictures. It was pretty difficult to find out which picture belonged to which skater as most of the names (especially the ones from Russia and Kazakhstan and Belarus) are pretty difficult for me to remember. But I think I managed. In case I did make some mistakes, please let me know so I can correct it.

All in all, it was a fun weekend and a nice experience. The Youth has the future!

The second meet of the season was again in Thialf Heerenveen. The speedskating mekka of the world. I can't even count the times I've been to Thialf, so I was not as excited as last weekend. But nevertheless, I looked forward to a new speedskating event.

Rain was gushing down on the Netherlands, causing massive traffic jams, making me arrive 2 hours late to Thialf. The people of the security gave me a hard time, by instecting my bag, having me unfold my flag to check for sicsors and inspecting my camera. Apperently, there is a new rule in Thialf, that no 'proffesional' camera's can be brought inside. As if I can compete with the real photographers...

Nevertheless, I finally managed to get inside and installed myself at the 1.500m startline. The men's B-division 1.500m was about to start. The light was terrible in Thialf and I was a little bit annoyed with everything that already happend that morning, so my pictures from day 1 are crap. Also the fall from Marianne Timmer and the Chinese Jing Yu left everybody in shock. Day 1 was a very weird skating day. I have never seen it so quiet in Thialf.

Luckily, day 2 brought me some more sunshine and I decided to hit to the southside of Thialf, at the end of the crossover. The stands at the Southside were packed, but on the other side, at the North corner, there were empty places everywhere. The athmosphere was differant from normal. Not so busy, not so much enthousiasm. I don't know what it was. But we did see some amazing races. Ireen Wust finally managed to win again in the 1.500 meters and Bob de Jong set a fast time, giving Havard Bokko and Sven Kramer a though job to beat it. We finally saw an amazing exciting race between the two of them.

After the A-division I sayed for the 5.000meter B division, which was a weird experience in an almost emply Thialf. At 8 o'clock I left again.

On sunday, I installed myself again on the Northside for the 3rd and final day of skating for this year. Today, there were even less people and the athmosphere was dull. I really don't know how this can happen but the races were intens. Shani Davis beat everybody in the 1.000 meter, again and the Team Pursuit was exciting as always!

The Canadian Ladies, Schussler, Groves and Nesbitt set a new trackrecord which was amazing to see! Who can beat this team during the Olympics?? The Men's Pursuit was also very exciting, with a tye for team USA and team Netherlands.

With mixed feelings I left the Thialf. These two weeks have been very intense with the two competitions so close together. When will all the international atheletes be back? I guess some will come to the world cup finals in march or the World Allrounds, in March 2010 aswell.We'll see what the rest of the season will bring...

After the Dutch Nationals, I was very much looking forward to the next event. The first international meet of the new season, the Olympic season.

On Thursday we left by car to Berlin. It was early morning and rain was pooring down. Off course, on Holland's busy roads, we got stuck in traffic immediatly. We also had to stop near the border at a photoshop for my new lens. I now have a 55-300 mm lens, F 4,0- 5,8

By 6 pm we entered East Berlin and drove along the dark and empty streets of Berlin. We checked into our hotel and went to the nearest subway to enter the city center. We went to the Alexanderplatz and went up the Tower.

We had a great view across the city and could see all the city lights and even the U2 Concert at the Brandenburger Tor. We spent a good hour in the nice comfortable enviroment of the tower. After that, we continued by U-bahn to the Potzdammerplatz to look at some West-Berlin architecture. We spent our time waiting for the Ritz- to check the celebreties, look around the Sony Center where the European Premiere of '2012' would take place and walked around the Christmas market.

At 10 o'clock we found our way back to East Berlin, where we found all shops and foodplaces had closed. We ended up in a great Argentinian restaurant (Rio Negro) where we had some delicious steaks for an absurd low price. We soon decided this would be our restaurant for the upcoming days.

On friday we woke up early for the breakfast and some sightseeing in Berlin. We went again to the Potsdammerplatz to walk from there to the Brandenburger Tor. But this was not as easy as it seemed. Eventough it was only 700 meters, we managed to take 1.5 hours to get to the Brandenburger Gate. We walked at the sidewalk at the West-Berlin side, along the crowd control barrier, for the 20 year Wall festivities. They were busy placing giant Domino's at the place where the Wall used to be, replicating the Wall. As we were walking on the west side, the road was blocked and we thought to take a de-tour and walk around. Unfortunatly, the road ended and also the shortcut throught the park was blocked. At the backside of the Brandenburger Tor, people were building up or breacking down stages, lightmasts and electronic equipement.

Finally we decided to walk back to the Potsdammerplatz, as the people at the other side of the barrier, in East Berlin, were walking freely and managed to get to the Gate. Off course, 20 years ago, it was probably the other way around, people in East- Berlin wanted to go to West-Berlin, seeing them walk freely and doing what they want. But for us, this was such a frustrating and confrontating experience. At this place, 20 years ago, this was the reality and now we experienced the same. For the same reasons, the Wall, we could't go to the other side the way we wanted to.

Off course, we managed and walked freely past the Holocaust memorial and onwards to the Brandenburger Gate. There we spent some time in a coffee place with "Kaffee und Kuchen". We also went to the Reichtag to view the building and enjoy the city view. At this point we went underground and onwards with the S-bahn to the Kurfürstendamm where we also enjoyed the city, the sights and the shops.

In the evening we returned to East- Berlin, because off course, we wanted to see something from the speedskating. It was not very busy at the icerink and we enjoyed a nice evening of skating. It was great to see all the skaters again and try out my new lens! Wow, what a differance with the one I used to have before. And then they say size doesn't matter....

It was great to see Sablikova win again. What a race and what a great athlete. On the stands behind us, the Czech Martina Sablikova fangroup was cheering for her and she and her coach, Petr Novak, thanked them extensively. I always enjoy this kind of open and real joy very much. In the 1.000 meter, Shani Davis won seemingly easy and before I knew it, the first day of the new season had already finished.

We paid a visit to our Argentinian restaurant, where I had Italian wine with Australian Kangaroe steak and went to bed. I was knackered. On Saturday morning, the sun was welcoming us to go outside and at 9 am I was at the icerink. I went to the accreditation office to get my press pass and after some burocratic nonsens, I walked outside again with an official press card which gave the opportunity to go everywhere around the icerink and enter the press tribune.

For me, this was a huge thing. Being a speed skating fan, I can never get close enough and after all those times, paying for the entrane tickets, waiting outside the ice rink to get in and standing in the crowd, it was really nice to be able to walk around freely. And don't get me wrong, I know who I am and I guess this was a once in a life time opportunity and next week, in Heerenveen, I will just be part of the common people again, but for now, this was just extraordinary!

The ladies 500 meter was not won by Jenny Wolf, but Sven Kramer won the 5.000m. It didn't look as easy as other times, but still, he got the job done and won the distance. Surprise of the day was probable te 3rd place for Marianne Timmer in the 1.000 meter. Once the flower ceremony was over, we stayed a little longer to watch the training, which is always fun as there is so much going on at the same time. After a visit at the Argentinian, we went to bed early.

Sunday, the Berlin weather showed herself. Grey, misty and cloudy, bringing a sad tone to our mood. We each went our seperate ways. My dad, into the city center for some more (window) shopping and looking around the trainstation and expensive car dealers and I went to the icerink for the B division. We met up again at 2 pm for the A group, me walking around the icerink, my dad in a seat, in front of the television at the corner. It was fun to watch the races. The emotions of Jenny Wolf once she crossed the finish in her 500 meter race, breaking her own track record and winning again.

Highlight of the weekend and day, was diffenatly the 1.500 meter race of Shani Davis. Sensational and amazing to witness. The power and accelaration is just astonishing!! And what a great winnar he is. Really wonderfull to withness such a great sports moment. After the races, we jumped in the car and stepped on the gas to make it home. At 1 am sunday night we arrived home, tiered but absolutly satisfied with the first weekend of the new skating season. This weekend will be one to remember.

After a calm and relaxing summer, without much ice, it was time again to make the drive up north to Heerenveen for the NK. In English: the Dutch Single Distance Championships. Outside it was 15 degrees, grey sky and autumn colours, inside it was cold, intens and competitive. Not only the National Title was at stake, also placing for the upcoming World Cup events could be earned. I had a great weekend and took some nice pictures.

Highlight would be Erben Wennemars onboarding the World Cup team 1.500m with a 5th place.

As much as I like our Dutch skaters, I can hardly wait for the 'real' thing to start again. Don't get me wrong, as long as it involves speed skating, I'll go and be happy, but there is just that extra little something with the international skaters. And so.. in about 12 hours I'll be on my way to Berlin for the first World Cup of the season. It goes without saying I'm looking forward to it tremendously!

After two weeks of travelling and watching several speedskating events, it was nice to be back home again. On one hand I was excited about the World Cup in Heerenveen on the other hand, I had a little bit enough about it. But, as usuall, on Saturday morning, my alarm went of and within no time, I was geared up for another speedskating weekend.

The 1.500 meters Ladies and Men would be skated this weekend and the 5.000m for Ladies and the 10.000m for Men were also sceduled. Aswell as a new event; the Mass-start. For a while now, we'd been contemplating which skaters would be participating in this mass-start.

Usually, I'm not a big fan of the longest distances for ladies, as they normally take very long to skate 5.000 meters. But this weekend, thanks to the quartet pairing in the B-group and the limited participents in the A-group, the day progressed rapidly. The 1.500 meters men is one of my favorite distances and with allmost all the skaters there, it promissed to be an excited event. For the Dutch guys there was also a skate-off in this event where tickets for the World Single Distance Championship in March could be earned.

Nevertheless, Shani Davis won the distance and the Dutch guys were no way near the podium. After the 1.500m A division, the B-group was sceduled and it was nice to see how much people stayed to watch this distance. Jay Morrison got second and after the competition he gave his flowers to me. This gesture was off course highy appreciated by me and my whole house is still smelling of them.

After a nice dinner and some drinks, we returned home. We set the alarm for the next morning at 6.30 am as the 10k B-group would start at 9 o' clock. I must admit, I wasn't fully awake during the first quartet, but after that, things moved quite rapidly and because of all the action going on on the ice, this long disctance was highly entertainingly for us. At a distance like this, the guys start in 2 pairs and due to the differance in speed or personal best, it happens a lot that a skater is passed by a skater that started either before or after him. It's costs energy and strenght to overtake somebody on the ice and skaters often lose their rythm. But for the audiance it's exciting and you have to pay attention who's skating what time.

By the time the B-division was finished it was only 11 o' clock. The normall A-division wouldn't start untill 13.30 and it felt like we had been at the icerink for 24 hours straight. Luckily for us, there was plenty to see and talk about. It wasn't really a surprise that Sven Kramer won the A-group 10.000 meters, so the 1.500 meter ladies was more exciting. Anni Friesinger skated her second international 1.500m and she won it, again! Really amazing how well she came back after her injury.

The B-group 1.500meters was also after the A-division but contained only off 6 pairs or something. I must admit that by that time, my feet were killing me, but I wouldn't want to miss the mass-start off course!! It was only for guys and was a competition over 10k. Longtrack skaters and Marathon skaters aswell as a shorttrack skater were present. The speaker introduced all the men and they started off with a slow lap. When they took off it was hard to keep track who was were but it was extremely exciting. For somebody who loves the woosh woosh of speeding men racing by, and the clap clap of the skates in the corner, I had a field day! It even motivated me to check out the calendar to see if I would be able to watch some marathon competitions live!

In my opinion it was over too soon and when I drove home, I felt a little bit sad. This was the last big international event I would watch for this season and it would take a long time before I would be able to go to the next event. Next season....

My friend and I are huge fans of cheap city trips and we have some good adresses to book cheap flights. So, when we were planning our travel to the World Allrounds in Hamar, Norway, we couldn't find a ticket to Oslo that was cheap enough. But we did find an affordable ticket to Stockholm- Sweden.

And that's why we were travelling to Hamar via Stockholm. On tuesday we left from the local airport to Stockholm. The flight was fast and nice and soon we found ourselves in a Ford Focus Wagon, driving through the Swedish country-side. For two girls who both have a little box on wheels, this felt like living life the extra-de-luxe style.

We arrived in Stockholm and had 2 amazing days. What a nice and friendly town. The old city center was pretty and pleasant. The people were friendly and we had a blast going in and out every souvernir shop and shooting pics of our selves.

On thursday we left for a long roadtrip to Norway. We stopped at the local Bauhaus to get some new sticks for the Forza Enrico banner and we decided to visit the mother-ship of mother-ships: Ikea in Sweden. We had a nice breackfast and in little over 7 hours we arrived in a small town, close to the norwegian airport.

We would stay with Kirsti, a mutal friend who loves speedskating and is a highly skilled and wellknown speedskating photographer. You can visit her website: www.speedskatingphotos-by-biseth.com.

On friday we visited Oslo and prepared for the tournament to come.

I was quite nervous as I have never been to the Vikingskipet in Hamar before and from what I've seen on tv it was a great place to see some speedskating. We drove to Hamar and we could walk in the Vikingskipet without any troubles. No waiting in line, no pushing, no shoving and no running. We found a great spot, just at the 1.500m start and waiting for the things to happen.

And I must say, I was overwhelmed. I've never been to such an imposing icerink. The roof is amazing and the lines of the wooden beams almost hypnotise you. Soon, the event started and we had a great time. There were a lot of norwegian and dutch fans, and the athmosphere was enthousiastic. We were all there for 1 common goal: to have a great time and watch some nice speedskating.

The ladies kicked off with the 500m that Nesbitt won. Martina Sablikova did really well and was ahead of her closest opponants for the title. The men 500m was exciting, because Sven Kramer didn't do as well as he might have wanted to and Havard Bokko skated to a time of 35,99. But, Denny Morrison was faster and skated to 35,55 a seasons best for him.

The 3.000m ladies was next and was won by Martina Sablikova. She was steady in the lead and seemed to go straight for the title. The 5.000m men was exciting and at that time, the vikingskipet was packed. It seemed like half of Norway was there at the icerink. Sven Kramer didn't start in the last pair and had to set a time for the rest. He was in the lead by the end of day 1.

In a heavy snowblizzard we drove home. Normally it would take 1 hour to drive back from Hamar, but now it took us 2,5 hours. All stressed out we finnaly made it home. It snowed so badly, they even had to close the airport. Therefor we decided to leave earlier on sunday and at 10 o' clock we were at the oval. We had to wait a short while, but again, without any problems, we got inside the Vikingskipet.

Today wasn't nearly as packed as the day before and with the start of the 1.500m right in front of us, we had a nice spot at the oval. I met with some familiar faces again and heared Claudia Pechstein was out. She had a high fever and stayed in bed that day. This news gave a big blow to the biggest dutch Claudia Pechstein fan.

But soon the championship started again and Kristina Groves won the 1.500m ladies. The 1.500m men was tradition one of the most exciting races during the allround competition. My favorite had to race against my friends favorite. This caused some friendly rivalery on the stands. Enrico Fabris and Denny Morrison set out for a great race. Too bad, they didn't beat the best time at that moment and neither of them ended up on the podium at this distance. At that moment, I could feel people moving in on me and the excitement was bussing in the air. It was time for Sven Kramer against Havard Bokko.

I must admit, I can't remember the last time I saw such an exciting race. At home, I watched it over and over, but on tv it doesn't capture the madness going on at the icerink at that time. The crowd went mad when Havard Bokko was in the lead. The dutch fans cheered for Sven Kramer and the whole icerink was standing, afraid to miss a little bit of the race. When Havard Bokko came over the finishline as the winner, a huge smile broke through on all the stands. What an amazing race.

Unfortunatly, it didn't change anything in the overall classification, but it was a race to remember! The ladies 5.000m was won by Martina Sablikova and at the moment she realized she also won the overall championship, she jumped up in the air. Threw herself in the arms of coach Petr Novak and made a spontanuous victory lap around the track.

The mens 10.000 meter was a real fight. Havard Bokko and Sven Kramer made it into a real spectacle. They challenged each other and one lap Kramer was leading the race, the other Bokko took over and was leading. It was an amazing fight with some weird laptimes, but it was exciting to watch. Who ever thinks the 10.000meters should be skipped from the programme because it's boring, should watch this race. But, Sven Kramer was too strong for Havard Bokko and at the end, he skated away from his opponent and won the 10k and the World Allround Championship title. This for the 3rd time in a row making him already a legend.

After the victory ceremonie we left Hamar and we left the Vikingskipet. It was amazing to go there once and see the Norwegian Oval and experiance the atmosphere. The championship was exciting and we saw some amazing races and had a good time.

On monday the snowing had stopped and we drove from Norway back to Sweden in a winter wonder land. The sky was crips and clear and bright blue. The roads were clean and everywhere we looked we saw heaps and heaps of snow, making it like a magical christmas card where we had to drive though.

After a nice tour around the Swedish countryside we arrived at the airport and crashed in a hotel. What an exhausting week it had been! On tuesday we flew home, back to Holland and said goodbye. But not for long, because we would meet again on Saturday for the World Cup in Heerenveen.

After the Dutch Allrounds Championship after Christmas, I was contemplating about some events to go to. I was considering the Dutch Sprint Championship in Groningen, but finally I choose to go to the World Cup in Erfurt- Germany. I have been wanting to go to this oval for a long time now, but it never happend.

And with the already planned trip to Stockholm and Hamar for the World Allrounds and the World Cup in Heerenveen right after that, going to Erfurt before all this seemed a bit much. But I already had the time of from work and I was feeling okey, so I decided to book the traintrip and arrange a place to stay.

On thursday 29 January I took the train to Germany. It would be a long journey and I was very excited about it. After 4 differant trains, I arrived right on scedule in Erfurt. I found my way to the hostel in the centrum and went straight back to the city center to go to the draw. I've never been to something like that, but another skating fan told me it would be fun, so I found myself sitting in the Erfurt City Hall. There wasn't much to it and I don't think I will go to such a thing again.

I was there for the speedskating and not for the bla-bla-bla around it. So I was very excited when it was Friday morning and I found my way to the Gunda Niemann- Stirnemann Halle in Erfurt.

The B group had already started and I was moving around a bit to say hello to all the people I know and knew would be there, so I missed the first distances a bit. On friday it was free seating, but I decided to go find a nice little corner and I stood there the whole weekend. (start 500m). Luckily I was installed already for the 5k men, B group in which one of my favorite Canadian climbed on the podium. Jay Morrison got 3rd, which made some nice waving pictures at the podium.

By that time I also found a place to hang my Canadian flag and during the weekend I was able to collect all the signatures of the Canadian skaters. Even the authograph of Jeremy Wotherspoon who was in Erfurt aswell.

The 1.500m Ladies was won by Anni Friesinger, which was really cool as this was her first international 1.500m this season. The 5k for men was spectacular as Bob de Jong ensured himself off a ticket to the World Single Distance Championships in Vancouver in march 2009.

It was fairly late and I went back to the hostel and fell asleep almost immidiatly and when I woke up, it was time to run to the oval again. Because the tram was only 5 stops away from the oval and I seemed to miss it everytime I wanted to take the tram, I walked most of the time. On Saturday it started to snow a little bit, so by the time I was at the icerink, I needed to de-frost a little.

This time I was in time for the B-group and saw some nice skating of some familiar faces who are not so known to the big horde of speedskating-watchers in Holland. This was one of the first times I saw some people race, which gave a little extra to the anynomous B-division.

By the time the A group started, I barely had enough room to stand at the ice-rink. The place was packed with Germans, wanting to see the skating. They all had annoying clap-things which made an awefull sound banged on the boarding and most of them kept pushing me aside. Nevertheless, I saw some great racing. A new trackrecord in the 500 meters by Tucker Fredriks and always waving Martina Sablikova with a wonderfull 3.000m. After that I got nervous because it was time for the 1.500m men. One of my favorite distances and canadian favorite Denny Morrison would race it. The last 2 races he raced, he won both of them. Those were 1.000meters, but it showed he was in good shape.

Anxiously I watched the skaters glide by and when it was time for him to race, I saw he set a good time. Best time so far. There were 3 pairs left after him and at that time I was bitting my nails. I had never seen him win a competition before and his time was good enough in my opinion. When Shani Davis passed the finish I saw my favorite won the 1.500m and I was more than happy. I got some weird looks from all the Germans around me, but that didn't bother me at all.

This and other things made me have a great day in Erfurt and that night I fell asleep with a huge smile on my face. When I woke up on sunday whole Erfurt was covered in snow. The historic city looked even more amazing than it did before. The smile was still there and I walked to the oval again. The races started a little bit later than the other days, as today only the 1.000m and the Team Pursuit were sceduled.

The 1.000 meters was exciting, with a 3rd place for my all time favorite Jan Bos, which made him the best Dutch guy and gave him a ticket to the World Cup Final in Salt Lake City and the World Championship in Vancouver. Denny Morrison got second, right behind Shani Davis.

A lot of the German people already left by the time the Team Pursuit started. This is really a shame, as this race is so excited and always something unexpected happens. This weekend, the unexpected things would be the dutch Ladies falling and the dutch guys ranking not even in the top 5. However, I still had something to cheer for, as my favorite 3 Canadians were up on the podium together as Team Canada won the Team Pursuit, ensuring them the overall Team Pursuit World Cup and providing the whole oval with smiles all over the place. Including mine!

It's not hard to imagine it was a great weekend. Although I did like Erfurt, I was in a rush to get home as my plane for Scandinavia would leave the other day.

This weekend, the European Allround Championship was sceduled in Heerenveen. When tickets went on sale, I decided not to go. The price of the tickets has become outragious and for 3 days it would mean a little too much. It also didn't help that tickets were sold out within half an hour.

However, a few weeks ago, tickets went on re-sale again and now also the progamme was confirmed. Men 500meters and 5.000meters on friday and no ladies on that day. Excellent opportunitie to get the very best out of our expensive ticket. So me and my friend decided to go that friday and I'm very happy that I did.

We had an excellent day. It has been very cold the last 2 weeks in Holland, but nevertheless we arrived at 11 o'clock at the Thialf stadium. The doors opened at 2 o'clock but after half an hour all our hands and feet were defrosted again. The atmosphere was excellent. People were singing and cheering and clapping even before 1 skater set his skate on the ice.

The 500m was thrilling and we were getting ready for the 5.000m. We saw some nice races and fired on our favorites as best as we could.

I have the feeling I'm getting more used to my camera and get better every time I'm at an icerink.

However, after the last cleaning of the ice, the best pair were called to the start and some people were moving in on us, making it more difficult to stand properly. For some reason, almost all my pictures from the last and most exciting pairs were of very poor quality. I obvious have to control my excitment more in order to make better pictures.

It didn't help either, that Enrico Fabris crossed the blue line in the first corner of his 5k and was disqualified. Our mood changed dramatically after that and even a good pizza at our favorite Italian restaurant couldn't wash away the bitter taste that remained after we left Heerenveen.

The next two days, I watched the event on television and I was hoping and wishing for fellow Italian Matteo Anesi to do well enought to secure a spot for 1 Italian at the World Allrounds. And he did. Thank you Matteo!! Gracia mille!