Thursday, June 17, 2010
Thursday Night Racing Flying 200m
It was Thursday night racing again here in Geisingen. Here are the flying lap times.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
South Canterbury Skate Club Learn to Skate
Here is a slide show from Learn to Skate last weekend in Timaru, New Zealand (my home). It's great to see so many people coming to the programme even in the middle of winter. My mum told me there were about 59 there last Sunday. Thanks to all the parents and volunteers that show up each week to help out, we wouldn't be able to run the programme without your support. Keep up to date with the club through our blog www.southcanterburyskateclub.blogspot.com
I love the last two pictures in this slide show, once upon a time I used to be able to win the limbo but not anymore.
I love the last two pictures in this slide show, once upon a time I used to be able to win the limbo but not anymore.
Dijon Links
Here are a few things I've found online from last weekends World Inline Cup in Dijon.
Timaru Herald - Nicole Begg Again on Podium
818 photo's by Cyril Abbas, click here to view them all. Here are a few of my favorite ones.
Photo's from Alexander Pfiffner, click here to view all photos.
There is a video online from the TV footage. You don't see a lot of the women's race and it misses all my attacks but good video of the final sprint. It also gives you an idea of what the race in Dijon is all about. Click here to view video.
You can find the full results here, you just need to scroll down the page a bit.
MPC wheels were again on the feet of the winners in both the men's and women's races. A lot of skaters choose to change wheels at the last minute as there was a brief shower of rain. The road was wet for the first few laps of the race but it quickly dried up. I stayed on my MPC Road Wars because they handle the rain pretty well and there was clear blue sky in the direction the rain had just come from.
I would have liked the race to be harder, although it was great to see a few more teams try attempt something this week. The Alessi Team had a few goes and so did the French National Team.
818 photo's by Cyril Abbas, click here to view them all. Here are a few of my favorite ones.
Photo's from Alexander Pfiffner, click here to view all photos.
There is a video online from the TV footage. You don't see a lot of the women's race and it misses all my attacks but good video of the final sprint. It also gives you an idea of what the race in Dijon is all about. Click here to view video.
You can find the full results here, you just need to scroll down the page a bit.
MPC wheels were again on the feet of the winners in both the men's and women's races. A lot of skaters choose to change wheels at the last minute as there was a brief shower of rain. The road was wet for the first few laps of the race but it quickly dried up. I stayed on my MPC Road Wars because they handle the rain pretty well and there was clear blue sky in the direction the rain had just come from.
I would have liked the race to be harder, although it was great to see a few more teams try attempt something this week. The Alessi Team had a few goes and so did the French National Team.
Monday, June 14, 2010
2nd Dijon
I was 2nd in the Dijon WIC, Cecilia won and Giovanna 3rd. The internet at home isn't working at the moment so don't know when I will be able to put a race report up. I'm at an internet cafe at the moment and people are smoking inside so I want to get out of here ASAP.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Dijon WIC
Tomorrow I head to Dijon, France for the World Inline Cup marathon. This week the women actually have a full 42 km as well, unlike previous weeks. The race starts at 4 pm on Sunday with the men and the women start 1 minute later. The race will be live on French TV, here is the link to the Internet version http://video-direct.france3.fr/player.php?id=858 . After looking at the forecast it looks like we could be in for another rain race.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Selfless People
Our sport struggles to get publicity in a lot of towns, cities and countries. We talk about the lack of sponsorship, numbers and at the end of the day money. Although in some regions our great sport thrives in the public eye. If you look at all the places where skating gets publicity and recognition there will usually be someone behind it that's pushing it. Someone that is selfless, determined, has a great love for the sport and that is not willing to give up.
My dad is one of these people. Some people don't see eye to eye with him but he is honest and will tell you exactly what he thinks. There is no beating around the bush, you know exactly where you stand with him. Sometimes as a coach you have to tell people things they may not want to hear. He is willing to spend many unpaid hours promoting a sport that he has a great passion for and often doesn't even get a thank you in return.
In New Zealand we have lacked publicity and recognition for quite some time. In recent years we have had government funding to help back us financially, but we still struggled to get it in the public eye.
When my family moved back to South Canterbury in 2004 it was time to start changing this. We got the support of an enthusiastic sports reporter that was willing to take an interest in local talent. Regular stories in my cities news paper helped build the profile of the sport. With my success over the years and my dad's countless emails more results and stories started making the headlines. People starting reading and learning about the sport. We went from having about five club members to now having over one hundred and sixty. There is also a large group of people who take great interest in reading about what I'm up to in the newspaper.
In 2006 skating hit the public's eye not just in Timaru but nationwide when I done a series of nude photo's. I featured on TV shows, in magazine articles, mentioned in nearly every news paper and had plenty of radio interviews. Even though it was a bold move and a little controversial it was a start in the right direction.
To this day I still get asked about the photo's and people are still talking about them. Even though I'm not bombarded by publicity now, like I was when the photo's first came out I still appear on the odd TV show and results/articles are starting to spread nationwide on a more frequent basis. A lot of this has to do with my dad. He not only pushes my results out there to the media in New Zealand but others as well, regardless of who they are sponsored by or have ties too.
This is a snippet from Radio Sports news section. Radio Sport is our nations number one radio channel dedicated to sport. Even though it is only a small mention, it's a start and no doubt it was mentioned on the radio as well.
The only reason this article along with many others make it to the news section is because my dads commitment. Along the line somewhere someone will pick up on the story. If they get positive feed back from it and interest from the public next time they will be chasing you for the story.
Here is another example and this was on Stuff's sports section, which is New Zealand's number one online news source from Fairfax Media.
And another example from Stuff's sports section.
If even one tenth of the skating population was able to push for a little recognition our great sport would start thriving. Unfortunately not everyone is selfless and a lot of people end up giving up. We have a great sport it's just so many people out there don't even realize it exists.
What is sad for me to see is when someone is pushing for the good of the sport and they are willing to help people for free and those people they help can not even go out of their way an inch to give something back in return. They sacrifice a lot of their life to give everything to others and then those people become shallow and can not even say thanks.
My dad is one of these people. Some people don't see eye to eye with him but he is honest and will tell you exactly what he thinks. There is no beating around the bush, you know exactly where you stand with him. Sometimes as a coach you have to tell people things they may not want to hear. He is willing to spend many unpaid hours promoting a sport that he has a great passion for and often doesn't even get a thank you in return.
In New Zealand we have lacked publicity and recognition for quite some time. In recent years we have had government funding to help back us financially, but we still struggled to get it in the public eye.
When my family moved back to South Canterbury in 2004 it was time to start changing this. We got the support of an enthusiastic sports reporter that was willing to take an interest in local talent. Regular stories in my cities news paper helped build the profile of the sport. With my success over the years and my dad's countless emails more results and stories started making the headlines. People starting reading and learning about the sport. We went from having about five club members to now having over one hundred and sixty. There is also a large group of people who take great interest in reading about what I'm up to in the newspaper.
In 2006 skating hit the public's eye not just in Timaru but nationwide when I done a series of nude photo's. I featured on TV shows, in magazine articles, mentioned in nearly every news paper and had plenty of radio interviews. Even though it was a bold move and a little controversial it was a start in the right direction.
To this day I still get asked about the photo's and people are still talking about them. Even though I'm not bombarded by publicity now, like I was when the photo's first came out I still appear on the odd TV show and results/articles are starting to spread nationwide on a more frequent basis. A lot of this has to do with my dad. He not only pushes my results out there to the media in New Zealand but others as well, regardless of who they are sponsored by or have ties too.
This is a snippet from Radio Sports news section. Radio Sport is our nations number one radio channel dedicated to sport. Even though it is only a small mention, it's a start and no doubt it was mentioned on the radio as well.
The only reason this article along with many others make it to the news section is because my dads commitment. Along the line somewhere someone will pick up on the story. If they get positive feed back from it and interest from the public next time they will be chasing you for the story.
Here is another example and this was on Stuff's sports section, which is New Zealand's number one online news source from Fairfax Media.
And another example from Stuff's sports section.
If even one tenth of the skating population was able to push for a little recognition our great sport would start thriving. Unfortunately not everyone is selfless and a lot of people end up giving up. We have a great sport it's just so many people out there don't even realize it exists.
What is sad for me to see is when someone is pushing for the good of the sport and they are willing to help people for free and those people they help can not even go out of their way an inch to give something back in return. They sacrifice a lot of their life to give everything to others and then those people become shallow and can not even say thanks.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Great News
A couple of years ago as our club numbers started growing and skating was revived in South Canterbury we started looking at the prospect of a new skating facility. We now have over 160 club members but our current track is deteriorating rapidly.
The council confirmed yesterday they would chip in $50,000 towards the project. A few weeks ago we were approved a grant for $100,000 from The Mid and South Canterbury Community Trust and the club has some funds aside also, so it's starting to look good.
Here is an article from the Timaru Herald, click to enlarge.
The council confirmed yesterday they would chip in $50,000 towards the project. A few weeks ago we were approved a grant for $100,000 from The Mid and South Canterbury Community Trust and the club has some funds aside also, so it's starting to look good.
Here is an article from the Timaru Herald, click to enlarge.
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