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Saturday, April 19, 2008

NORTHWEST INDOOR CLINICS

This week was unusually busy for both Josh and myself. We ran indoor clinics each night that lasted 2 to 3 hours. During the day, Josh continued his cross-training and took time to see the sights while I helped local coaches Laura Gustafson-Sweers (Auburn Connection) and Steve Clemons (Pattison's West) prepare for their first Outdoor Regional Qualifier. With 70 skaters pre-registered and a few more expected to show up tomorrow morning at 7am, we are looking forward to a few more faces at Outdoor Nationals this year.

We have some skaters that are interested in qualifying for ODN and others that just want to better their skating performance. Either way I expect that we will have a great time while we are here. Watch for updates over the next two days, and of course new pictures! I'm sure that Mark Virtue will have a few of his own to add to the mix as well.

PICTURES:

Above right: Skaters participating in "off-skate" warm-ups at one of the indoor clinics at Pattison's West.

Across the page: Skaters prepare for the "4-minute interval drill of death" lol

Below: Coach Steve Clemons is on the left and rink operator and "still sometimes coach" Mike Pattison of Pattison's West.




Sunday, April 13, 2008

11 YR OLD - BAILEY ANDERSON - Washington


I know this is supposed to be all about speed skating... and this is... kind of! Bailey is an 11-year old who dances. But he's not just any 11-yr old. He is the son of National Champion Inline Speed Skaters, Jeremy and Stephanie Anderson. Now normally with parents that met skating, got married, and continued skating, it should be only natural that their son would skate speed, and Bailey did skate speed. But he didn't like it quite as much as his mom and dad do. So it was only natural that when he said he wanted to dance, mom and dad put 100% into helping Bailey do what he wanted to do.... and that was dance.

I have heard many stories over the last two years about how good Bailey was and that the reason we didn't see Jeremy racing much any more was that he was spending every moment that he could taking Bailey to his dancing competitions. Now I'm not sure that's what they call them. But I am sure about one thing, the kid can dance!

Because the video that I took yesterday was in the dark (with the mirror ball spinning and the flashing disco lights), I asked Bailey if he wouldn't dance for me one more time. This time with the lights on! Of course he said yes and I couldn't wait to share this young man's talent with you. CLICK HERE



After all, his mom and dad ARE speed skaters! Oh and did I mention that Bailey used to skate? He finished 4th place overall in Primary Boys at the 2004 Indoor National Championships, which is the same year his dad won the PRO MEN'S 500M distance at IDN. Enjoy!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

BATTLE IN SEATTLE 2008


We have only been here for 48 hours and there has been so much racing action and no time to tell about it!! But I do have some links to pictures and to a YouTube video of Jeremy Anderson's son showing his "winning" dance moves after competition today!! Check it all out!

DANCE VIDEO

FACES IN THE CROWD

Check back for more photos and hopefully the story!!! Gotta hit the bed... 4am comes early!


Top: Joey Mantia hands out this little guy's award!

To the right: Half of them look asleep and the other half are, except for Andrew Simmons with his award winning smile!!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

FLYING LESSONS !!!

If you were to hear someone ask, "Would you like to learn how to fly? " you would probably assume they meant a plane, right? I know I would. But with speed skaters I have learned, never ASS-U-ME anything!

This is the 3rd and final story of Josh Wood's adventure while completing a recent photo shoot with photographer Steve Harriman from Rancho Cordova, CA. We met Steve through speed skating (Wow--nothing new here). No Steve does not skate, in fact he works for the City of Rancho Cordova doing something TOTALLY different than photography and it doesn't include roller blades either. But because of his obvious skills with a camera and his eye to see things a little different than maybe some of us, and on top of that have the skills to bring them to life for all to see, became apparent to me the first time I came across his photos.

As most of you know, we just finished our Inline March Madness Invitational (March 6-9, 2008), which included a full Marathon at the end of the 3-day indoor competition held at SUNRISE ROLLERLAND in Citrus Heights, CA. The outdoor portion would be our first attempt at bringing a marathon event to the Sacramento County area. In doing so, after literally hundreds of phone calls, the City of Rancho Cordova opened their doors to a sport they had never seen before.

As we worked with John at City Hall many emails went back and forth through City Planning, to the Department of Transportation, Police and Fire Departments and obviously Steve's department. When the event finally came to town, Steve who seems to be the unofficial resident city photographer, decided to show up for a few minutes to see what "inline speed skating" was all about. He was intrigued and took several hundred photos and loved our sport (how can you not love this sport?!). The next week he wanted to share his experience with a few of his co-workers and sent a link to his photos. Well the guy John who I was originally working with passed the link on to me, and shall I say.... the rest is history! Since that time Steve and I have spent hours sending emails back and forth as well as our thoughts on photography (mine being that I WISH I could photograph the way he does and him telling me some of the stories behind his favorite shots). That brought us to the photo shoot with Josh and the craziness at the end of it all. It was indisputable that these two guys had a "need for speed from wheels as well as a camera's shutter mechanism" and they wanted to bring the two together.

What could they do if Josh jumped? How would he get over the top of Steve? What angle would Steve need to use? How fast would Josh really move and could Steve capture the intensity and the fun of it all?

I don't know..... what do you think?

To see story one and two on this crazy morning, click here:
www.inlinemarchmadness.blogspot.com



As you watch this, listen to the birds chirping in the background as Josh rounds the corner and prepares for "flight"!! ENJOY....