Merry Christmas

League Day, Timaru

Here are some more pictures from the League Day we had a few weeks ago in Timaru.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Otago Daily Times

Begg keen to see more getting their skates on

Former inline speed skating world champion Nicole Begg hopes the sport, with a little help, will regenerate in the South.

The diminutive 22-year-old caused a media maelstrom when she posed nude in 2007 to help raise the profile of her sport.

Now, the Timaru skater is using that profile to help start the sport in Dunedin. She was in Dunedin over the weekend to compete at an event and told the Otago Daily Times an attempt to revive the sport was under way.

Roller skating had been in the doldrums for the past 20 years but former competitive skater Brett McCormack was leading an effort to get it running in the city again, she said.

"They've got a club started up again and they have been travelling to Timaru to train with us," Begg explained.

"So we decided, since they are supporting us, we'd come down and support the club and try to get something happening down here, because then the whole of the South Island gets stronger."

Begg moved home to Timaru from Auckland in 2004 and helped re-established a skating club in the city.

From humble beginnings of three skaters the club has expanded to have a membership of more than 200 skaters.

"A lot of those are speed skaters, so that's another 40 or so speed skaters in the country, which is huge," she said.

"It's still hard for minor sports in New Zealand to get things, but a few years ago I did the nude pictures and people still ask me about that now. That really did bring a lot of coverage to the sport and suddenly people knew it existed and soon they were interested in it."

Begg has had a mixed year in terms of results.

She missed out on a medal at the World Championships for the first time in six years but won "two of the biggest marathon events" in the world.

Begg competes on the professional circuit in Europe and Asia for six months of the year and races under a sponsor's name, rather than under the New Zealand banner.

She makes a modest living but it is a lifestyle she enjoys immensely.

"I definitely don't do it for the money. When I started, I had to sleep in cars and on hotel floors of other people's rooms. I really had to scrimp to get by. But then you make a name for yourself and you start getting sponsored. But I do it because I love it and if I really wanted to make money I would have been down here at university."

Girls at League Day, Timaru

Last weekend we had a League Day in Timaru with some great racing between the South Canterbury, Dunedin and Christchurch clubs. Here are some of the girls just having fun. Photos thanks to Raph.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Timaru Christmas Parade 2010

Here is a slide show from the Timaru Christmas Parade 2010 congradulations to the SC Club for 3rd best float. Pictures thanks to Raph.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Live Streaming

There should be live streaming on Rollersports TV, www.guarne2010.rollersports.tv It looks like they will just be showing the finals. The streaming schedule is below.

GUARNE 2010
DIRECTLY FROM GUARNE (COLOMBIA)
THE 2010 WORLD ROLLER SPEED SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS
STREAMING SCHEDULE

Time Zone: Medellin
UTC/GMT -5 hours
http://guarne2010.rollersports.tv

TRACK - FRIDAY 22TH OCTOBER

18:00 Junior Ladies 15000m Elimination Final
18:30 Junior Men 15000m Elimination Final
19:00 Presentation 15000m Elimination Junior Ladies & Junior Men

19:20 Senior Ladies 10000m Points/Elimination Final
19:45 Senior Men 10000m Points/Elimination Final
20:20 Presentation 10000m Points/Elimination Senior Ladies & Senior Men

20:40 Junior Ladies 300m Time Trial Final
21:00 Junior Men 300m Time Trial Final
21:20 Presentation 300m Time Trial Junior Ladies & Junior Men

21:40 Senior Ladies 300m Time Trial Final
22:00 Senior Men 300m Time Trial Final

TRACK - SATURDAY 23TH OCTOBER

17:40 Presentation 300m Time Trial Senior Ladies & Senior Men

18:00 Junior Ladies 10000m Points/Elimination Final
18:25 Junior Men 10000m Points/Elimination Final
18:50 Presentation 10000m Points/Elimination Junior Ladies & Junior Men

19:10 Senior Ladies 15000m Elimination Final
19:40 Senior Men 15000m Elimination Final
20:10 Presentation 15000m Elimination Senior Ladies & Senior Men

20:30 Junior Ladies 1000m Line Final
20:40 Junior Men 1000m Line Final
20:50 Presentation 1000m Line Junior Ladies & Junior Men

21:10 Senior Ladies 500m Sprint Final
21:20 Senior Men 500m Sprint Final

TRACK - SUNDAY 24TH OCTOBER

18:40 Presentation 500m Sprint Senior Ladies & Senior Men

19:00 Junior Ladies 500m Sprint Final
19:10 Junior Men 500m Sprint Final
19:20 Presentation 500m Sprint Junior Ladies & Junior Men

19:40 Senior Ladies 1000m Line Final
19:50 Senior Men 1000m Line Final
20:00 Presentation 1000m Line Senior Ladies & Senior Men

20:20 Junior Ladies 3000m Relays Final
20:35 Junior Men 3000m Relays Final
20:50 Senior Ladies 3000m Relays Final
21:05 Senior Men 3000m Relays Final
21:20 Presentation 3000m Relays (All Categories)

ROAD - TUESDAY 26TH OCTOBER

18:00 Junior Ladies 200m Time Trial Final
18:20 Junior Men 200m Time Trial Final
18:40 Presentation 200m Time Trial Junior Ladies & Junior Men

19:00 Senior Ladies 200m Time Trial Final
19:20 Senior Men 200m Time Trial Final
19:40 Presentation 200m Time Trial Senior Ladies & Senior Men

20:00 Junior Ladies 10000m Points Final
20:30 Junior Men 10000m Points Final
21:00 Presentation 10000m Points Junior Ladies & Junior Men

21:20 Senior Ladies 20000m Elimination Final
22:00 Senior Men 20000m Elimination Final

ROAD - WEDNESDAY 27TH OCTOBER

17:40 Presentation 20000m Elimination Senior Ladies & Senior Men

18:00 Junior Ladies 20000m Elimination Final
18:40 Junior Men 20000m Elimination Final
19:20 Presentation 20000m Elimination Junior Ladies & Junior Men

19:35 Senior Ladies 10000m Points Final
19:55 Senior Men 10000m Points Final
20:15 Presentation 10000m Points Senior Ladies & Senior Men

20:30 Junior Ladies 500m Sprint Final
20:40 Junior Men 500m Sprint Final

ROAD - THURSDAY 28TH OCTOBER

17:40 Presentation 500m Sprint Junior Ladies & Junior Men

18:00 Senior Ladies 500m Sprint Final
18:10 Senior Men 500m Sprint Final
18:20 Presentation 500m Sprint Senior Ladies & Senior Men

18:40 Junior Ladies 5000m Relays Final
19:00 Junior Men 5000m Relays Final
19:20 Senior Ladies 5000m Relays Final
19:40 Senior Men 5000m Relays Final
20:00 Presentations 5000m Relays (All Categories)

Worlds 2010 Resources

Here are a few sites and resources that you will be able to find information on from this years World Championships in Guarne, Colombia which start in two days time on the 22nd.

Official Worlds site: www.guarne2010.jimdo.com/english

X-Tech Skates blog: www.xtechskates.wordpress.com

Patin Carrera: www.patincarrera.com/guarne2010/index.html

Mundo Patin: www.mundopatin.com/guarne2010

Spagatta: www.spagatta.com/especiales/guarne-2010.html

Race Programme: click here to view

Time Zone: click here to view local time in Guarne

Bill Begg Twitter: www.twitter.com/billbegg

X-Tech/Bill Begg Twitter: www.twitter.com/XTECHbillbegg

Speed Skate World: www.speedskateworld.com

Teleantioquia may have some coverage, refer to the previous post below.

Worlds Coverage

There may be live coverage of some of the racing on a local Colombian television channel called Teleantioquia. I have found a website were you can watch this channel online. I'm not sure if it will show the racing but it's worth a shot for those of you that can't be here. There is a tv programme listed each day so closer to the time you will be able to see if racing is aired and at what time. The channel is free to watch although you do have to register but it only takes a few minutes.

First you have to go to http://jumptvlatino.com/en/video-player/teleantioquia then click the orange "watch free" button in order to register. Once you register, confirm your registration and log in you are all set to go and can start watching Teleantioquia and hopefully some racing by the end of the week.

Training Pictures

It's now less than a week to go until "the day" and most of the teams are here now. The facility has been transformed from a muddy mess into something that now resembles a World's venue. There are still workers down there all day and into the night but at least the road circuit is now complete.

Here are a few pictures from training, photos thanks to Mrs Wenger.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

Today it's my mum's birthday (NZ time). My mum has been a great inspiration in my life. She is the glue of our family and brings out the best in all of us. She is a supermum and a superwomen. Plus I love her to bits. Happy Birthday Mum!

Bill's World Chronicles

Bill is writting a series of "World Chronicles" on the X-Tech site. There are three up already and they are great reads. They tell the stories behind the results and the journeys behind the skaters.

World Chronicles 1, Joe Askew
Click here to view

"Six months prior to the 1986 Adelaide World Championships Joe arrived and told me he had come to train to win the World 20,000 meter road title. The Adelaide road circuit was tight with bends the other way, I told Joe he may win a World title but it wouldn’t be over 20,000 meters."

"Ten days later I told Joe he could win a medal, he bellowed back at me that he was going to win the gold."

World Chronicles 2, Lee Hollis
Click here to view

"Lee Hollis was the 14 year old Oak Flats club skater from Wollongong N.S.W, Australia who caused one of the biggest upsets at a World senior champs."

"At 16 years of age she decided to retire to a normal teenage life with a full set of world senior medals. Lee Hollis was a great sportsperson and also a great young lady."

World Chronicles 3, Nicole Begg
Click here to view

"Some say she was born to be a World speed skating champion."

"Shaun Thompson, brother Wayne and Nicole were admiring the podium Shaun’s father Greg had built. As the boys were clambering over it Nicole went and shoved them off the top spot, threw her arms in the air and self-declared herself Nicole Begg champion of the World at 8 years of age."

Guarne

The World Champs are fast approaching, 13 more days till the gun fires. The last couple of days we have been training on the Worlds track in Guarne, yesterday was officially the first day we were allowed to be on there. Prior to that we had been travelling down to Medellin to train. The road circuit is still not complete and I would say mainly due to all the rain up here. But in the last two weeks they have made big progress and there seem to be plenty of hands on deck to get it finished.

Here are a few pictures from Wednesday’s training, photos thanks to Eileen Hughes.

X-Tech Blog

X-Tech has a new blog and you can check it out by clicking here.

World's Update

Nothing to new has happened here since my last update. There’s still plenty of rain, can’t skate on the track and we are still making trips down to Medellin to train. Some more teams are starting to arrive now and for sure they will encounter similar problems. My main aim is to stay positive, focused and make do with what we have.

The famous saying “make hay while the sun shines” was something I heard a million times from my dad as a child and it’s probably the perfect quote for the situation we are in. The sun doesn’t shine a lot here but I’ve still been able to make hay.

Here are a few pictures from my 2010 Worlds journey so far. Photo’s thanks to Eileen.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Colombia Update

I've been in Colombia for a few days now and last night we finally managed to dodge the showers and get a skate in after a few failed attempts. The New Zealand team is staying just outside of Guarne (the city to host the Championships) but unfortunately no one apart from the Colombian team has access to the actual worlds track until the 7^th of October. So last night we skated at a track in Medellin which is about a 45 minute drive down from Guarne.

At the moment it’s the “rainy season” here which is a pain, ever day it has rained. The annoying thing is it doesn’t just rain once, there are several heavy downpours throughout the day and it seems to rain all through the night as well. Apparently the road circuit is far from finished and all this rain isn’t going to help, so they are on a tight deadline to get it finished.

The sun is shining this morning so hopefully we’ll be able to get another skate in today.

On the way to Guarne

I'm on the way to Guarne, Colombia to prepare for the World Championships. Currently I'm in transit in Miami and will be arriving into Guarne tonight. The World Championships start on the 20th of October and run until the 30th. Click here to view the official website.

Jeonju

I'm at Incheon airport waiting for my flight back to China so I have limited time to write a report before access to blogger is denied.

The marathon in Jeonju started early Sunday morning and there was no humming or haring about wheel choice. The ground was saturated and there was plenty of rain prior to the 8am start. The majority of top skaters choose MPC wheels, I wore a full set of MPC storm surges. The course was pretty simple but the rain definitely made it more of a challenge having to dodge all the white lines and slippery patches. It was just over 10km out to the turn point and then back along the same route to another turn point just before the finish line, we completed this twice. There were a few slight rises and a couple of large corners but the course was predominately long straight stretches.

The biggest rise was about 1.5km into the race. Even though it wasn’t that steep the wet road made it more of a challenge. I done a small attack up the hill and by the top Cecilia was the only one left with me. I led for a few kilometres but Cecilia wasn’t keen to lead so I slowed down and a few Korean skaters caught back up. After a couple of kilometres I started attacking again and once again Cecilia was the only one that could stick.

I continued to lead at a solid pace until a reasonable gap was formed. Every time I pulled out from the lead Cecilia would follow and was unwilling to hit the front. I wanted to attack, but it’s hard to attack someone when they are sitting on you and in your draft. At one stage I nearly crashed on a slippery patch trying to swerve out from the lead, after that I thought it was too risky so close to World’s to play those sort of games.

I settled for the fact that Cecilia wasn’t going to lead and that it was too late to let the pack catch back up after I had led for over 10km. So I stayed in the lead but I didn’t want to settle for 2^nd. I tried to disrupt the rhythm as much as I could to wear out Cecilia. I done a few accelerations, changed stride pattern and even put in quite a few cross over steps in on the long straight stretches. Every time we got to a slight rise I would up the pace again. It was hard for me to tell how tired she was due to the fact I couldn’t see her behind me.

After the first lap the wind picked up all of a sudden and the rain started bucketing down. We skated up the steepest rise once again, this was where I attacked the first time and dropped the pack. I started to pick up the pace again and about ¾ of the way up I looked back to see Cecilia dropping off. I looked back after about 800m to see a big gap had formed and then I never looked back.

After the final u-turn and with 9km to go I saw Cecilia heading in the other direction and the gap had grown. Further down the road I saw the main pack and they really didn’t have a chance of catching either of us. After seeing these gaps I decided to throttle off a bit, I got into a steady rhythm and stayed well clear of the white lines. I went on to win and Cecilia came in 2^nd. I can’t find official results anywhere so I’m not too sure of the official results.

Photo - Tiger Kim (incheon3040inline)

The men’s race was won by Yann Guyader who went on a solo break away with about 15 km to go. The bunch sprint was won by Peter Michael from X-Tech followed by Kalon Dobbin.

Photo - Tiger Kim (incheon3040inline)

Jeonju Marathon

This morning I won the Jeonju Marathon in Korea. It was a wet race and I broke away after about 3km with Cecilia Baena. After 20km Cecilia dropped and I went on to win solo. The mens race was won by Yann Guyader in a solo break and Peter Michael from X-Tech won the bunch sprint to finish 2nd.

World Inline Cup CHUNCHEON

Last Sunday the WIC marathon in Chuncheon, Korea was held. With being in Haining the last few weeks it was only a short flight to Korea so that was nice for a change. The temperature was a bit cooler too so it was refreshing not sweating 24/7 like in China. It was my first visit to Chuncheon and I would have loved to stay there longer. The WIC was in conjunction with the World Leisure Games so the city was buzzing.

The course was one lap around lake Chuncheon and it was a really interesting route with a lot of variety. There were a few hills, fast downhill sections, flat, smooth, rough, long straight sections and a lot of right hand turns. After looking at the course the previous day I thought the finish would have suited me a lot better than a long straight line finish. Going into the last corner the road was slightly uphill then a 90 degree right hand corner and about 100m to the finish line. I have no problem crossing the other way so I thought if it came down to a sprint with the right hand corner so close I would have a good chance.

The biggest hill was about 2.5 km into the race, it was a pretty reasonable size and dragged on for about 2km. After seeing the course I decided this would be one place I would try attack. On race day once we got to the hill a lot of the top contenders were sitting on me so I wasn’t able to get a run on like I had hoped for. After about ¼ of the way up and the pace not on I decided I would hit the front. About half way up the hill most of the pack had fallen off and by ¾ of the way up I pulled out for someone else to lead and there was only Giovanna, Nathalie and Cecilia left. No one was keen to take a lead so that indicated to me that they were hurting. I started picking up the pace again and by the top Cecilia had dropped off and there were three of us left.

Heading towards the first hill - Photo - 김천수

My only concern about attacking up that hill was that if we did get a gap a big pack might have been able to easily reel us in down the long downhill drag. Giovanna and myself continued skating down most of the hill to ensure the gap wasn’t closed down easily. Once we got back down to the flatter section I could see Giovanna was starting to tire. We continued to share the leads and I put in a few long ones to ensure the break was going to stick.

Over halfway into the race there was a long section that was rough and slightly uphill which continued onto a bridge that crossed the dam. After leading I moved over and looked behind to see Nathalie struggling to hang on. I waved Giovanna through but she had no gas left either, so I went to the front and kept grinding up the rough road. At the top I glanced back and a big gap had formed.

I led the rest of the way back into town and with about 200m to go gapped Giovanna and went on to cross the line 1^st. Nathalie wasn’t caught by the pack and came in for 3^rd place.

Photo - Dr Spark

The main pack came in around 13 minutes later and the sprint was won by Kim Miyong from Korea.

Pack Sprint - Photo - 김천수

Women 41 km Marathon Results

1. Nicole Begg (X-Tech MPC) NZL 1:09:02
   
2. Giovanna Turchiarelli (ALESSI) ITA 1:09:04
   
3. Nathalie Barbotin (Powerslide) FRA 1:11:54
   
4. Kim Miyong (Korea) KOR 1:22:33
   
5. Cecilia Baena (Powerslide) COL 1:22:34

The mens race was won in a break away also. Initially Joey and Yann broke away and then Joey went on to win solo by a few minutes. Peter Michael also skating for X-tech and racing in his first WIC race this season finished 4th.

Men 41 km Marathon Results

1. Joey Mantia (Simmons Schankel) USA 1:03:24
   
2. Yann Guyader (Powerslide) FRA 1:05:11
   
3. Kalon Dobbin (Powerslide) NZL 1:09:32
   
4. Peter Michael (X-Tech MPC) NZL 1:09:32
   
5. Nam Yoo Jong (Powerslide) KOR 1:09:32