New ingredient adds spice to skating

Press, 16 July 1982, Page 15

New ingredient adds spice to skating

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

An ingredient which has been missing for many seasons in New Zealand speed skating has been rediscovered this winter. That important ingredient, competition, has brought so much more meaning to the national long-track, ice-skat-ing championships at Lake Ida this week-end.

For the last seven years, Mark Atkinson, of Canterbury, has ruled supreme. Atkinson, aged 26, has put much time and effort into preparing himself for the skating season and his endeavours have been rewarded by a bountiful supply of national titles, both indoors and outdoors. However, this season Atkinson has found two worthy challengers in the senior men's events from two members of his own Mainland club, Tim McDonald and Tony Smith.

As Atkinson himself realises, he can no longer take to the ice pre-occupied by what his winning time will be rather than by what distance he will win by.

The national short-track championships last week-end were the best for many years as far as competition in the senior men’s grade was concerned. Atkinson won two of the four events, McDonald and Smith one each, and the aggregate was shared by Atkinson and McDonald. An early fall by Smith in the 500 m prevented his making a serious challenge for the aggregate. But Smith’s performance in winning the longest of the short-track events, the 3000 m, has opened the door to possibilities that might occur this week-end. Atkinson, a proven performer over all distances, was expected to be too strong for his two less-exper-ienced club-mates. Instead, it was Smith, aged 20, who outfoxed his older opponents.

He admitted that he did not give himself much show in the long race, but he stayed in the slipstream of McDonald, who set a hot pace throughout, and Atkinson.

When the pressure was applied over the last 400 m, it was the rangy Smith who had the most punishing sprint.

The fast ice surface and McDonald’s bold, pace-setting tactics resulted in Smith covering the distance in record time. Atkinson held the national record at smin 30.2 s and Michael Hearn, an Australian international representative, held the open record at smin Ils, set at the lake five years ago.

Smith obliterated both records with a time of smin 1.9 s and McDonald and Atkinson were both well inside the previous marks. In the senior events, only the 500 m record stayed intact. Atkinson took • almost Is off the 1000 m held -by Mike Richmond (Australia), who won last year’s world 500 m championship. The 1500 m was won comfortably by McDonald in the outstanding time of 2min 26.35. He removed an incredible 10.7 s off the previous national record and was exactly 4sec faster than the open -record set by Australia’s experienced world championship competitor, Colin Coates, in 1979. The Mainland trio will provide the spice to this week-end’s racing. Longtrack racing is so very much different to short-track in that competitors race in pairs instead of a full field. Essentially, it is a race against the clock and, with Atkinson, McDonald and Smith obviously so wellmatched, they will have to give of their best from the start to the finish. '

Atkinson will start favourite in spite of his defeat over 3000 m. A pulled muscle in his lower right leg prevented him from doing the road work over the last month that he would have desired.

He took a gamble in the 3000 m race last'Sunday, but it was one that did not pay off. He wore a pair of indoor skates — the .shorter blades negated some of the gliding power down the straights but the higher hone allowed for better cornering. Atkinson cornered expertly but his lack of thrust down the straights had him pushing harder than either McDonald or Smith and his energy was spent at the vital stage.

Atkinson has had much more experience over the longer long-track distances, 5000 m and 10,000 m, than either of his two main rivals. But both McDonald and Smith showed enough stamina over 3000 m to suggest that they will not be found wanting in the skate against time over the extra distance.

Unfortunately, Ans Kremer (Westland), will again have no challengers for the senior women's title. She bettered her own New Zealand record when, skating alone over 1000 m in the short-track championships. She holds the New Zealand records for all four longtrack distances and three of the open records. If the ice remains good, she might well lower her times once more.

A very fit and much-im-proved Jon Havenaar, of Canterbury, should have little difficulty in' adding the intermediate men’s longtrack title to the short-track aggregate which he won easily last week-end. Over the shorter distances, Mike Richardson has the ability to push him close if he can keep his balance when reaching top speed.