(Photo to right - Peter Doucet and Alex from CANADA. Probably during the World Class Mens Relay. Photo courtesy of MundoPatin.com)What? Well if you were watching the live feed that we were watching today...... you would have been watching the World Class Mens 20K Elimination Race, that would eliminate and eliminate and eliminate and continue to eliminate skaters.
Of course that is the whole point behind the race. But when the live feed shows that about 20 skaters, including our own Michael Cheek, has been eliminated and then two laps later Michael is back out on the track, leading the pack with Joey Mantia right behind him, it leaves you asking, "what the heck is going on?" At first I really thought that Michael, who we hadn't even seen be eliminated, and who was now back on the track.... just came back out there and didn't care that he had been eliminated. Knowing Michael... he would have never done this so there had to be something wrong!!!
My husband gets up from the table, where we are watching the race and runs into the office where he turns on his computer to see the "LIVE RESULTS". Sure enough, Pete yells to me that only 6 skaters remain and Michael has officially been eliminated. I look back down at my screen as Michael and Joey come back around again. They call number 138 from Portugal to be eliminated, and I realize that I remember him getting out a few skaters before Michael.... something weird is going on. Pete tells me they have reported they are down to the last 4 laps....
I quickly close that window and reopen another "LIVE FEED" window to catch the last two laps, with Joey Mantia leading. As they come around with one lap to go, into the first corner I could see that the skaters behind him appeared tired. Not that Joey wasn't tired... but I could tell this one might come down to the line since he had led like the last 3 laps. On the back side I saw two skaters attack... one with much more speed than the other. He was almost side-by-side with Joey when Joey appeared to "pedal" just a little bit faster and regain his lead again. The next shot we see are the skaters coming out of the last turn.... and Joey is still leading..... across the line they come... and my LIVE FEED goes out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! From what I could see it appeared that Joey didn't have to hawk and was standing as he crossed the line... but after watching Michael Cheek skate, leave the track and return to the race again.... maybe this was a finish from last years skating??!!! :) That was the strangest thing that I have ever seen!
Pete yelled to me that it was official that Joey won it and what I had seen was the finish of this race. Congratulations to all of the skaters from all of the countries. A great job today.
Now I have a question... I noticed there were several falls and they appeared to only happen in the last turn (or possibly the same skater falling over and over?). I am wondering... what is causing the falls?? I would love to see someone respond if you could, on one of the boards that happens to be there. Is there a dip, grass, paint or something else that seemed to cause several skaters to go down on the inside line of the last turn, right before the straightaway started???!!! ( This skater above from Colombia, fell coming out of the last turn during her 300-meter run. This photo and the photo above, courtesy of Peter Doucet's site: Speed Skate World http://speedskateworld.com/I would like to thank all of those people who have allowed me to "borrow" their photos. Some with permission and some without. I give credit to each site or person, however I have only received actual confirmation from one source. Let's face it... pulling up a story and seeing nothing but letters is kind of boring. Without those photos you might not want to read... Oh and if you see my son... let him know that the phone message that he left me tonight, we could only understand the words "I will call you tomorrow".
Finally I would like to send KUDOS out to a young skater who in between competing, eating, resting and the back and forth trek to the track and road, has been writing on his blog. Not every day, but much more than some of the sites that are actually there TO write stories. Keith Carroll from the USA, thank you for keeping us informed and thank you for your insight!!! If you would like to read Keith's articles, click HERE.
And Peter Doucet.... thank you for also updating your site DAILY, the photos and the stories, all while trying to compete in the Men's World Class events. If you would like to visit Peter's site, click HERE.
