World class speed skating in the neighborhood

Few people know that the north rink (the new one) in the Cleveland Heights Community Center has served for the past few years as a hub of international-level short-track speedskating. Last weekend (October 29-30), it hosted the American Cup, which brought elite-level skaters from across the United States and Canada in the early stages of earning their way onto the 2014 Olympic team.

If you happened into the parking lot at the community center, you would have seen lots of license plates from Wisconsin, Michigan (Marquette in the Upper Peninsula), Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania – speedskating hot spots in the eastern half of the U.S. There were also a bunch or participants from the Puget Sound area – the western hub for the sport. You could tell who was from that far away at the end of Saturday’s competition; they were lined up for the long wait for a taxi to take them to their Beachwood hotel. Apolo Ohno and Shani Davis – the sport’s superstar and bad boy respectively – weren’t here this time, but they’ve both been here before.

From closer to home, speed skating clubs in Pittsburgh, Columbus, Lakewood and, of course, Cleveland Heights all had strong participation, though not all at the elite level.

The meet was actually two meets in one – a high-level meet for Olympic hopefuls and an open meet for any speed skater age 6 to whatever who wanted a race. Some of the open skaters were really recreational racers; others – including a few from the local club – have potential to move into the elite class as they get older.

I know about this because when the new rink opened about 10 years ago, my wife was the first person in line to check out the new speed skating club, which at the time consisted of a couple volunteers who had come over from Winterhurst in Lakewood. Now she’s president of the club, which seems to get a few new kids every week during the skating season. Whenever there’s a big meet, I spend some time volunteering; the whole thing takes a lot of manpower and there are never enough volunteers. This time, I helped out as a timer, which means I stood about a foot off the starting line behind the hockey boards.

It’s was exciting to see such a crowd of committed international athletes here in town this weekend. They always seem to enjoy their time here, and the Coventry and Lee Road business districts both usually report busy weekends when they’re in town.

Here’s some stuff you may not have known about short-track speed skating:

• It’s much faster than it looks on TV. The recreational racers may do a lap of the rink in about 13 seconds. The elite men are somewhere between 9 and 10 seconds. They do 1000 meters in roughly 1:25 – somewhere between 25 and 30 mph.

• Most of the skaters don’t wear socks under their boots – for better feel of the ice.

• The skates are very slightly bent and very slightly canted on the boot for making left-hand turns. You’ll never see a speed skater moving very quickly the other direction.

• Mandatory gear includes a helmet and a neck guard, because it’s not unheard of for a wipeout to result in a dangerous gash to another skater.

• Skaters spend a lot of time sitting around between heats. A good percentage of that time is spent sharpening their very expensive skates on custom-made jigs using diamond stones. If you like sports that involve esoteric, technical equipment, you’ll like this.

• They use hockey pucks in speedskating – to flatten out gouges that have been filled with ice between events.

• Perhaps the most demanding role in the sport is that of the people who clean up the ice between races – smoothing gouges, pouring water onto the track, squeegeeing it smooth and then moving the course markers into place. It’s an important job because keeping the meet moving means squeezing 20 or more races between each grooming of the ice.

• Advanced racers buy boots that are custom-molded to their feet – costing $800 or $900 a pair. Blades are a separate purchase.

If you’ve never seen speed skating up close, it’s well worth watching. Keep an eye on the rink schedule next year for regional meets – though it’s likely to be a couple years before the city hosts another meet of this stature.

If you want to try it, the club offers learn-to-skate opportunities (they’ll lend you equipment) on Thursday evenings throughout the season for kids and adults. Call the Community Center for times.