This past October, Roller Sports Canada sent a team to the World Roller Speed Skating Championships which were held in Colombia. The team featured skaters from Calgary. This is unusual in itself because past teams were mostly made up of skaters from the East. The skaters raced with incredibly fast and well trained & experienced skaters from across the globe. Although the Canadian skaters weren't near the top of the rankings, their times have improved. I believe their improved performance & times is a testament to improving quality & knowledge of coaching, skaters gaining more racing experience, and strong commitment from the skaters themselves. With inline & roller speed skating in deep infancy here in Canada, the plan is to build on these better results, share strong coaching practices, develop officials, and work with Roller Sports Canada to continue to pioneer and build the sport.
2011 may end up being a very expensive year; with the possibility of racing at the Pan American Championships in Argentina, the World Championships in Korea, and the Pan American Games in Mexico, we're looking at upwards of $15,000 just for these three events! Roller Sport Canada may offer some funding and we'll try to fund-raise through our club in Toronto- preparing and then actually going to these events is why support from CAN Fund is incredibly helpful.
In looking at the 2011 Pan American Games, Canada will field a team of three skaters at the Pan American Championships, which take place this March in Argentina. Jade Pauley, Morgane Echardour, and I aim at placing Canada in the top-10. Doing so will qualify Canada for the Pan American Games. The three of us are reasonably competitive racers- we're in good shape, our technique is strong, and we're tactically smart. We'll be racing against much more experienced skaters than us- athletes who are used to racing in larger packs (groups) at higher speeds.
To prepare for the Pan American Championships, we're skating at an indoor roller speed skating club in Mississauga- the Scooter's Indoor Speed Club. We're cross training by short track speed skating, running, doing weights, and cycling. We need to overcome the lack of skating on specific skating tracks- 200-meter banked tracks- by making sure we have a quality training program. Our coach from Dundas, near Hamilton, is helping us with with our training program.
2011 may end up being a very expensive year; with the possibility of racing at the Pan American Championships in Argentina, the World Championships in Korea, and the Pan American Games in Mexico, we're looking at upwards of $15,000 just for these three events! Roller Sport Canada may offer some funding and we'll try to fund-raise through our club in Toronto- preparing and then actually going to these events is why support from CAN Fund is incredibly helpful. I've had a number of challenges to overcome this year. My training has been affected by my commitment to a sick family member. Despite severe time restraints this past season, things have gone fairly well with racing. I won the NROC- North America's racing series. Funding from CAN Fund was instrumental in helping me win this series because I was able to attend three key races three weekends in a row- one in Chantilly, Virginia, one in Brooklyn, New York, and the other in Duluth, Minnesota- earning enough points to win the race series.
Because skaters in Canada receive minimal funding and have very limited sponsorship opportunities, athletes have to balance full-time work with school, training, and racing. In that sense, roller & inline speed skating is a true amateur sport in Canada. With all the races I competed in and won in 2010, I came in with $350 in prize money. Doing the math, I competed in some 15-20 races in 2010, with competitions easily costing $200-$400 per weekend. Add to the cost of competitions the cost of equipment, nutrition, club fees, travel; this equals a huge gratitude for support from CAN Fund.
Hopefully the lac
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