Speed skating club breezes by others
Lynn WloszekThe club welcomes new members, regardless of skill level or age. Members meet from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Mount Pleasant Community Recreation Center, 5165 E. Remus Road.
Visits are free for the month of December, and the club will provide skates and helmets, but skaters are encouraged to bring gloves and kneepads. The cost per visit will be around $6 in January to cover costs for ice rental, said Al Montoye, the club’s president. Experienced skaters will be on hand to provide instruction.
“We are offering this first month free as an incentive for people to start coming out,” said Montoye, a Mount Pleasant dentist.
Montoye said he began the club in August as an alternative to hockey and said interest has wavered on a weekly basis.
“I got the idea to start this after skating with the Midland Speed Skating Club, and although we’ve had no students, we’ve had a fair amount of people. Usually anywhere between five and 20, show up,” he said.
One of those people, Mount Pleasant resident Paula Vandewater, said she loves to skate every week with the club.
“I learned to speed skate on a long track in the Netherlands and skating here on a short track is good practice,” she said. “(My husband) and I have been supporting Al’s effort to maintain interest in the club.”
The short track is 110 meters, which is what the recreational center has.
Most competitions take place on a short track, Montoye said, and there are usually three or four in the Mid-Michigan area every year. In a short-track competition, skaters race counter-clockwise around a track in both individual and relay races.
Speed skates are sharpened on the edges instead of the middle, and the body must be kept low at all times to increase speed, Montoye said.
“There are pads on the walls because people most often crash when coming out of a turn,” he said.
Some younger Mount Pleasant residents joined the club for hockey practice.
“My friend told me about this club, and I like it a lot so far,” said 10-year-old Jonathan Duffy, goalie for the Mount Pleasant Pacemakers.
Montoye said he hopes students will recognize the benefits of speed skating.
“It is a great aerobic exercise, like bicycling. It’s fun, and not difficult to learn,” he said. “If you know how to ice skate or inline skate, you’ve already got the basics down.”
