WMSC news from 1999

 

Posted 11/14/99:
The entry forms for the Thanksgiving Classic in Muskegon, MI are up on the site so download them and get them in! Hope to see you there.It's shaping up to be a good season. The new issue of "BladeRunner" is up on the site too. More later.

Posted 10/18/99:
The season has begun and the numbers of skaters will be growing as the leaves continue to fall. The ice practice times, meet schedule and ice fees have been posted to this site for your information. Full time college students getting 20% off skate rates.
We are still in need of sponsors and any donations we can get so get a tax break by donating some money to our club (or get someone else who needs a group to donate to).
The first meet was in Chicago this weekend and we had skaters from our club there. Look ahead to the annual Thanksgiving Classic in Muskegon, we need everyone there! The entry form for the meet will be going up on the site shortly.

Posted 8/5/99:
The Shoreline Spectacular is coming up on Sept. 4th and the entry form has been posted on this site. Get the forms in early if you can! This is a super race along the shore (and beach) with lots of competition and spectators.
The party in the park went very well for us this summer!
Steak and Blues is the next party/fundraiser coming up on Aug. 28! If you like excellent blues music and steak that you cook (and beer for adults) then you HAVE to be in Muskegon for this!

Posted 4/1/99:
All practices are done for the '98-'99 season. We had 7 state champions from our club this year: Denise Lachniet, Jim Royce, Chris Weaver, Jane Robidoux, Corey Wallis, Tina Whosis and Erik Sales.
On to inlining for the summer. It looks as if more skaters will be inlining this year but there probably won't be the organized practices in Grand Rapids like there were last year. Two good areas to skate are the Kent Trails (between 44th & 86th is a good stretch) and along Cascade Road (short but a good hill workout between 28th & Spaulding). We will be having our annual inline meets, so plan ahead for some good racing! The first one is the Michigan 400-Sunday, May 16, at Muskegon Community College.

Posted 3/9/99:
The competition season is over after a great meet at Bay City! The ice was fast and several records were broken. The weather tried to make it hard to get to the meet, but skater's resolve is stronger. WMSC had 7 state champions from this meet!
We still have ice time through the month of March so lets get the most out of what is left...if you are intrested in learning to speedskate, this is the best time to start, just let us know and we'll set you up.

Posted 3/2/99:
See our links page for new products offered by WMSC:
-Mad Mark has his leather blade guards in full production.
-We sell state of the art track blocks for any clubs that need them.
-We can now reproduce any skate block (connects the blade to the boot) that you have and 10% lighter!

Next Saturday is the Michigan State Meet! We should have a great turnout and superb racing. Ice practice will continue through March. We also have the Skate-a-Thon coming up soon.

Posted 2/15/99:
Final results from National Marathon-Anchorage, Alaska:
Beth Bedford has taken first in the 25k & 50K for women age 30-39, and was 2nd overall men and women!
Denise Lachniet of the West Michigan SC took 2nd in both the 25K and 50K for women age 40-49.
Kristen Bedford did well in the junior division.
CONGRATULATIONS LADIES FOR UPHOLDING THE HONOR OF US WIMPY GUYS THAT STAYED HOME AND KNITTED!

Last weekend was the North American Championships in Canada. The ASU pushed to get more participants and was successful in saving the competition which was in danger of being discontinued! Great races and good cold outdoor weather made this a meet to remember. If you missed it this year, plan for it next year. This is a meet that anyone can attend, so don't be intimidated, even if you only skate short track.

The weekend before the North Americans finished the official long track season in Michigan with the state meet. Unbelievably fine weather kept everyone in great spirits...it was more like a vacation at a resort. WMSC has a few new state champions and new records were established.

Coming up soon is the end of the short track season too. Two more meets in Michigan, everybody should try to get in on the action. Tomorrow (monday) we get a spot on News 8 at noon (I think they show it again at 5).
(ah, once again speedskating gets the shaft! Not until we showed up for the news segment did we find out that the ice promised to us was made into a public session not allowing us to put up pads or do any fast or organized skating. And if that was not enough, the news segment, "Barnaby's World", went from a feature spot where he learns to skate (4-5 short reports during the course of the news hour) to a 8 second glance at two skaters weaving their way through a public session and saying that WMSC is looking for skaters (that's it!)...and this "glance" was stuck in between a hockey segment and a brief story about a sledding race in Germany. I don't get why our community WON'T support us! Speedskating is still the most popular American olympic sport...but you would never know!)