Pictures from Ice Speedskating

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!