Lions host first long track meet
since 2019
By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| Serena Dallaire, right, and the Lions skate at a recent practice. |
Dallaire, who is one of the Lions 17-year-old elite level skaters, speaks from experience, because she remembered the annual home long track meet being the biggest thing in her world when she was a young skater.
“I feel like it really is important for the younger kids,
because I know that when I was younger I was like five or six skating, and I
was skating as like a fundamental,” said Dallaire, who has been skating for
around 12 years. “I was watching all the older kids skate, and I was like, ‘I
can’t wait to be just like them.’
“I feel like it is really important for the younger kids to
have like someone to look up to just in those meets. That is why it is
important for the older kids to go. It is so important to have those role
models.”
For the first time since January of 2019, the John Sands
Classic will be returning to the Clarence Downey Speed Skating Oval. It is
slated be held over two days on Saturday, January 14 and Sunday, January 15 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both days.
The John Sands Classic wasn’t able to be held in January of
2020 due to weather conditions being too frigid. In January of 2021 and 2022,
the annual meet was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Frigid weather isn’t expected to be a concern this year as
temperatures are expected to be around -7 C for both days of the upcoming John
Sands Classic. Those conditions should provide perfect days for speed skating.
While Dallaire’s competitive focus is on peaking for major
national level competitions, the Grade 12 student at Walter Murray Collegiate
and the rest of the Lions older elite level skaters will all take part in the
John Sands Classic. For the older skaters, Dallaire said the home long track
meet is important in a different way, because you interact the club’s
younger skaters in a race event environment.
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| Serena Dallaire made the Top 30 RBC Future Olympians list. |
“It is a different experience being the older kid, because
you kind of have to set what it is like for the younger kids and like be a good
role model and do everything right,” said Dallaire, who stands 5-foot-4. “It is
still fun, because all the younger kids like look up to you, and it is so cute
seeing them like saying ‘oh good race’ after your race.
“It reminds me of when I was younger. I love watching the
younger kids just like having that passion for it, because that was me, when I
was younger as well. I think it is really good.”
Veteran
Lions coach Tim Comfort, who is the Saskatchewan Speed Skating
Association provincial coach and technical director, said there are no
qualifications for the John Sands Classic and the event provides a way for
skaters to take part in a meet environment without having to go to a provincial
or national championship. He expects to draw skaters from across the Prairie
provinces.
“We hope to get people from Manitoba,” said Comfort. “We did
for our short track meet.
“We hope to also get people from Alberta. We did for our
short track meet, so hopefully, that happens again, and we get 80 to 100 people
here skating. There will be skaters from Melville, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Regina
and Prince Albert all from Saskatchewan.”
Be it a
practice or a meet, Comfort said it is always special to skate at the Clarence
Downey Speed Skating Oval. He said the current Lions club members are aware the
Oval is the place where superstar Catriona Le May Doan, who competed in four
Winter Olympics, grew up skating and first learned the skills to become a
competitor in speed skating. Overall, Comfort said the Oval has a natural feel.
“You come here, and it’s just the purest thing, because
you’re outside,” said Comfort. “The snow is in your face, and the wind is in
your face and the lights at night.
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| A group of Lions skaters speed down a straightaway. |
“You go home, and you’re tired and happy.”
Comfort
added that speed skating is a volunteer rich sport and numerous volunteers help
make the Lions Speed Skating Club and John Sands Classic go. He gave a tip of
the hat to Rob Makowsky for stepping up to be the Lions new president,
and to former president Chris Veeman for taking up a new role as the president
of the Saskatchewan Speed Skating Association. Veeman is also the meet
coordinator for the Bob Sands Classic.
Comfort
added Mike Dallaire, who is Serena’s father, is handling the electronic timing
at the John Sands Classic and will also handle the electronic timing at the Canada
Winter Games, which start February 18 and run to March 5 with most events being
held across Prince Edward Island. Speed Skating runs February 18 to 25 with
short track events to be held at the Eliyahu Wellness Centre Canada Games Place
in North Rustico, P.E.I., while the long track events are set for Halifax Oval
in Halifax, N.S.
“We have a rich tradition of volunteers here,” said Comfort.
Serena Dallaire will be heading to the Canada Winter Games
too representing Saskatchewan on the female long track team. This past Dec. 6,
Dallaire was named to the Top 30 RBC Future Olympians list along with Lions
clubmate Fergus English.
Last season, current Lions skater Oskar Stack-Michasiw,
while former Lions members Daniel Pauli, Bon Lowe and Luca Veeman were named to
the Top 30 RBC Future Olympians list. Pauli, Lowe and Veeman are all currently
skating out of Calgary at the Olympic Oval indoor facility.
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| The Lions will host their first long track meet since January of 2019. |
“I plan to move to Calgary, so I’ve applied to university,”
said Dallaire. “I’m all ready.
“I’m planning on continuing skating for at least a few more
years to see where it takes me until I am done being a junior. The Oval program
is like the next step I feel like, so that is where I am planning on going next
year after I graduate.”
For more information about the Saskatoon Lions Speed Skating Club, feel free to check out their website at www.slspeedskating.com.
