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October 7, 2006
RinkAtlas.com
RinkAtlas.com is a very cool nationwide database with over 1800 rinks. The only known rinks that are not in the database are about 200 outdoor rinks in Minnesota and North Dakota that are maintained by city parks and recreation departments. It appears that all of the speed skating venues in the USA are in the database.
For example, the Pettit National Ice Center can be found here:
http://www.rinkatlas.com/?q=Pettit+National+Ice+Center -- check out the "Hybrid" view for a good satellite image
This resource was developed Dave Aiello, who does OZ's web hosting now and who also happens to be active in the sport of ice hockey.
Posted by noelle at 1:01 PM | Comments (21)
October 5, 2006
Interview with Travis Jayner
The USOC media services just published an interview with Travis, who trains in Colorado Springs and recently finished 3rd overall at American Cup 1. Travis will represent the USA this month at World Cups 1 and 2.
Athlete Spotlight: Speedskating's Travis Jayner
I thought this was an interesting tidbit:
Do you have any pre-race rituals?
On the ice before the race starts, I’ll touch my knees, my shins, and my skates. That’s something I’ve done forever. It’s sort of become my trademark. I started doing it because we used to have to wear knee pads on the outside of our skin suits, but now they are sewn into the suits. But I would always check to make sure I have my equipment in place because you can be disqualified for not having the proper equipment. So, I would check as a kid, and now I just do it out of habit.
I admit I share Travis's sentiments about Celine Dion.
Thanks to Cheryl for the link!
Posted by noelle at 5:10 PM | Comments (23)
October 4, 2006
It's official
AP | U.S. Speedskating moving to SLC
U.S. Speedskating will move its national headquarters to Salt Lake City, with offices in the Utah Olympic Oval, site of the 2002 Winter Olympic speedskating events. The move from Westlake, Ohio, will occur this month, the group said Wednesday.
[update]
AP | Speedskating headquarters leaving Ohio for Utah
Salt Lake Tribune | Utah new speedskating HQ
Deseret News | Big incentive helps lure speedskating group
"[The Utah Sports Commission]... will pay U.S. Speedskating $50,000 a year for five years for hosting events and another $75,000 a year for two years toward relocation costs."
Posted by noelle at 2:31 PM | Comments (14)
October 2, 2006
Apolo in Gap/Project RED ad
[update] Thanks to Maggie, here's another shot from the RED campaign. Personally, I like this one about a million times better! This and the other appear in the Oct. 9 issue of the New Yorker magazine. More of Maggie's New Yorker pics here.
Here's the long-awaited photo by Annie Leibovitz as part of an ad campaign by the Gap in support of Project Red. This ad appears on the back cover of the Oct. 6 issue of Entertainment Weekly. Learn more at gap.com/red.
Thanks to Debbie and Beth for the heads up!
cropped thumbnail of Apolo's photo
the full ad - click for larger version
Posted by noelle at 9:28 AM | Comments (203)
October 1, 2006
Digging deep
Here is a photo of the final laps of yesterday's 3000m at American Cup 1. It came down to this race for Jordan Malone and Ryan Bedford to make the team. You can see on their faces how bad they wanted it!
Ryan Bedford and Jordan Malone trail Shani Davis in the 3000m
photo by Phil Bedford
Posted by noelle at 4:57 PM | Comments (8)