National speed skating team hits ice for first time at Richmond Oval
The building is still a couple months away from completion, but the ice is in at the Richmond Oval and four star members of Canada’s national speed skating team gave it a whirl.
Their verdict of the venue and site of speed skating at the 2010 Winter Games? It passes with flying colours. “I saw it a year and a half ago when it was at its bare bones,” said Clara Hughes.
“To be here and step into the rink and know that the Olympics are going to be held here in 16 months and I have a chance to compete in front of the Canadian crowd was a really, really beautiful feeling inside.”
Hughes attended an informal news conference Tuesday at a nearby hotel to talk about the team, and especially about the speed skating site on the banks of the Fraser River.
Canada hopes to win a lot of medals at the 2010 Games and one advantage will be using the sites well ahead of their competitors.
The oval won’t officially open until December, but the ice was put in last week and the national team tried it out Monday.
“The facility is incredible, esthetically it is beautiful, and the views . . . it’s been made with a lot of care and thought and you can really see that already,” said Hughes.
“I think Canadians are going to be very proud of this rink.”
Hughes was joined at the news conference by skating great Jeremy Wotherspoon as well as Kristina Groves and Denny Morrison.
The team’s 2008-2009 season begins later this month at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver with the fall World Cup selection.
They agreed that another highlight was not only getting on the ice but being able to perform for the construction workers still at the site, who stopped and watched them during their lunch break.
Wotherspoon, who won a dozen World Cup medals – including eight gold – after taking the entire 2006-07 season off, liked what he saw.
“It was an exciting opportunity to get out here yesterday and be part of the first group of people ever to train on the ice,” he said.
“The design is really nice. It’s a warm-feeling building and there’s so much natural light coming in the windows.”
He said the ice felt good.
“It was the first day so they will be getting a lot of feedback from us about what we’re feeling on it and how it’s changing during training.”
Morrison was equally enthusiastic about the building but doesn’t think the ice will ever compare to the oval in Calgary.
“It’s not as fast as Calgary,” he said, explaining that the Richmond Oval is at sea level, where the atmospheric pressure is greater and therefore skaters will face more resistance.
He said it’s unlikely that world records will be set at the 2010 Games, although Olympic records may fall.
