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Provincial Inline Skating Championships, Harriston, ON, May 19-20, 2007
by Lisa Meyer
It was a great weekend at the Harriston track for the OISC racers: Annick, Mike, Dominique, Allain, JF, Pascale, Lisa, Stephane, Andrew, Bailin and Hugh.
Annick showed great sprint skill all weekend, and finished 3rd in the sprint category in Senior World Class.
Mike, the weekend underdog from Ottawa, moved up from Novice to Masters, where he seriously scared the skilled and experienced skater Morgan Williams, keeping pace with him for the most part. He showed us he now has the capacity to skate with that level of skater. He beat his time trial from last year by 4 seconds! The most improved skater from Ottawa.
Dominique's strengths are definitely in long sprint and elimination races. Competing in Senior World Class, she got a silver in sprints and a bronze in distance to finish 2nd overall. Dominique managed to rack up some points in the 15K points and elimination race, thus finishing 2nd in the province, and 3rd with the PanAm folks in the race (arriving before 2 of the Pan Am competitors)! She would have done even better if she didn't indulge in so many massages!
Allain finished his first long distance race in Senior World Class, no easy feat in the 15k points-elimination race.
JF was the first Ottawa Senior World Class man to win provincial championships sprint since Barry Publow in the late 90s. In the 200m time trial JF was first from the Ontario skaters and only 4\100th of a second behind the Pan Am sprinting winner, Brian Jalbert. (Brian was selected to represent Canada at the PanAm Games for sprints.)
In the 500m heat JF had a great start, got out ahead, and never looked back, securing a spot in the A finals. Despite a bad start in the finals, he managed to break through 2 skaters to sneak behind the leader (once again Brian Jalbert), but couldn't quite pass him at the finish.
JF missed his 1000m heat watching the Sens 1st period back at the hotel. But the judges found forgivess in their hearts and allowed him to skate a 1000m time trial. He made it to the A finals.
In the 10k points elimination race, the judges mistakenly eliminated JF, though he was the 5th in the group so should have been able to stay in the race. They gave him back his points, so he finished 3rd in the final tally. In the 15k pts elimination JF was attempting to keep up to the pack and gather up some points but wasn't able to keep pace with the top 5 skaters (which included Allain!) He was eliminated by Peter Doucet with 19 laps remaining, but it was the longest JF has ever lasted in an elimination race! With the sprinting races 200m, 500m and 1000m events JF accumulated enough points to earn his first gold medal at provincials. YEAH!
Pascale had a great come back after a 3 year break from track racing. She earned a silver in Senior World Class distance and finished 3rd overall despite tummy trouble on the 2nd day.
Lisa wasnąt supposed to be competing due to an injury, but couldnąt resist doing the 10k. Her strategy was to draft for half the race, then drop out, but she stayed in the race to finish 1st in the Grand Master division.
Stephane showed again he can outskate almost anybody for long distanceraces when he doesn't eat a ham sandwich 2 minutes before a point race (silly boy!). Stephane finished the competition with the bronze in distance.
Andrew took the Novice category easily, winning gold in sprint, distance and overall. Senior World Class for Andrew next year!
Bailin gave Paisley Perrie a run for her money the whole weekend in Juvenile, finishing 2nd in sprints and 2nd overall. She learned a lot about races and race strategies. The highlight was the exciting 2000m race. Bailin started the race in nervous tears. She took it easy behind Liz Perrie until the last two laps. Coached on by Pascale, she broke out from behind Liz and chased Paisely to the finish line where she managed to cross the line before Paisely in a photo finish! Everyone was amazed at how well Bailin managed to claw her way back up to Paisley. Looks like Paisley is going to have some competition from now on!
Hugh started out the meet with a bad fall in warm up, but he managed to put that behind him, and finished 1st in all his races, bandages and all, to take the gold in Primary, setting new Ontario and Canadian records in all races. 1st record holder from the OISC! He made it look so easy, pulling farther and farther ahead of his competition in each race.
