Pursuing excellence on the oval

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/01/2024 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba has always punched way above its weight class when it comes to speed skating.

As much as other ice sports such as hockey and curling are adored around these parts, you can’t ignore the middle province’s success on the oval.

From Jack McCulloch’s dominance in the late 1800s (he was the first man to hold the Canadian and American championship at every distance), to the legendary run of Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen in the 2000s, this is a place that has had no shortage of stars on long blades on long tracks.

But what’s the status of the sport today? Is Manitoba slowing down? Or are there more Olympians on the way?

The Free Press is in hot pursuit of all the answers.

***

Never mind speed skating, Clara Hughes and Cindy Klassen are two of the greatest athletes in Canadian sports history.

Klassen, who took up speed skating after getting cut from the Canadian women’s hockey team in 1997, owned the 2006 Turin Olympics by capturing five medals — a gold, two silver and two bronze – to go along with the bronze she earned four years earlier in Salt Lake City.

Hughes has six medals herself (which puts the duo in a tie for second most in Canadian history), with four on the ice (one gold, one silver, and two bronze), and two bronze from cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Since those two hung up their skin suits, no Manitoba skater has raced their way to the podium at the Olympics.

“If people are mad that we’re not winning medals (anymore), I also feel that. I’m also mad that we’re not doing better, and not doing as good as Cindy and Clara,” said Alexa Scott, a 22-year-old from Clandeboye who made her Olympics debut at Beijing 2022 where she was the top Canadian in the women’s 1000m with a 12th-place finish.

Following in the footsteps of two giants has never been seen as a burden for Scott.

“I feel fortunate to be from Manitoba and have those ladies in front of me. They laid a great groundwork for the fact that female speed skating in Canada is respected almost as much as male speed skating and not every sport can say that,” said Scott, who claimed the women’s overall bronze medal at the 2020 world junior long-track championships in Poland, becoming the first female Canadian to medal at the event since 2008.

People just need to realize Klassen and Hughes set the bar at a height that’s nearly impossible to reach. That doesn’t mean the current crop isn’t trying to get there, though. The issue is it takes an absurd amount of commitment to even have a chance at reaching the national level, never mind international superstardom.

“When I used to live in Selkirk, I drove into the city every day to train. And then sometimes I wouldn’t want to sit in the city for like four hours between training, so I’d drive home and end up driving into the city twice in one day,” said Scott.

“That was a fun time in my life.”

Manitoba has a respected provincial team program with strong coaching. The facilities they rely on are the Sport for Life Centre downtown, the Canadian Sport Centre of Manitoba, and of course, the Susan Auch Speed Skating Oval, which is, fittingly, situated outside behind the Cindy Klassen Recreation Complex.

Young skaters who want to make it big have no choice: they must leave the province. With no indoor oval, Manitoba isn’t a long-term option.

For the longest time, moving to Calgary to train with the Oval Program was the only route. Heading East to Quebec City is now on the table as they built an indoor facility that cost $68.7 million in 2021. There’s also the Richmond Olympic Oval from 2010 Vancouver.

“Basically, I went to my high school graduation, and then a day or two later, I was in the car driving with my dad out to Calgary to move there full time,” said Tyson Langelaar, a 24-year-old Winnipegger who also made his Olympics debut in 2022. The St. James product competed in Beijing in the 1500m and helped Canada to a fifth-place finish in the team pursuit.

When Langelaar was beginning to make a name for himself in Winnipeg, he’d have to settle for skating short track at hockey rinks. The oval would open in early December on a good year, and the city would typically take out the ice in late January.

Moving to Calgary now allows him to train on the stretched circle for eight months of the year.

“I think they try their hardest, but I think there’s a lot of limitations when it comes to elite training facilities in the province,” said Langelaar. “But I think Manitoba does a really good job in inspiring the next generation and I want to try to do that to the best of my abilities… I grew up seeing Manitoba speed skaters at the Olympics and I wanted to be the next one.”

Uprooting your life at a young age takes a lot. Instead of feeling rejuvenated and extra motivated after Beijing, Scott was burnt out.

The thousands of hours that had gone into her journey had finally taken their toll.

Heather McLean, a 31-year-old from Winnipeg, is the veteran of the group as she wore the maple leaf in 2018 PyeongChang before qualifying again in 2022.

“I really didn’t have a close group of friends. I didn’t have a chance to bond with kids my age and I didn’t realize how lonely that was going to make me feel until after I moved out to Calgary, and I’m in university, and I don’t really know anyone, and I don’t relate to these kids my age,” said Scott.

“And then as you get older, I don’t have very much job experience. I’ve chosen to do this as my full-time job and I don’t make a lot of money from it… Most of it is on your own dime. Other countries have athlete housing, but we don’t have that in Canada. Obviously, we get paid to be associated with the national team, but it’s not a minimum salary even.”

Scott would like to see a tiered program put in place by the government of Manitoba where they offset some of the costs for their Olympic athletes. Other provinces do it, but not here.

“I’m not asking for a lot. I’m actively choosing to represent Manitoba even though they don’t give me any money,” said Scott.

“And I could, and I have been given the opportunity, to switch to other provinces and receive funding from them. But I’ve chosen to turn that down because I believe Manitoba can do better and I want to give them the opportunity to do better to help out kids in my position.”

***

You can’t talk about Manitoba speed skating without mentioning the Williamson-Derraugh family.

The late Peter Williamson skated for Canada at the 1968 Grenoble Olympics and was a coach/technical director at both the Manitoba Speed Skating Association (MSSA) and Speed Skating Canada.

Wife Lori was the executive director of the MSSA, but before that, was a national champion in both short and long track in the 1970s.

Now it’s their three kids — Tyler, Reece and Elizabeth – who are involved.

Tyler, a former national team skater himself, coached the Manitoba provincial team for six years before Reece, an equipment technician with Canada’s long track program for 12 years, took over in 2023.

Elizabeth followed in mom’s footsteps and has been the MSSA executive director since 2016.

Yes, things would be better if an indoor oval magically appeared, but all things considered, Elizabeth and Reece are encouraged by where things stand.

They point to the 2023 Canada Winter Games in PEI where Manitoba’s overall medal haul was 19, with five of those coming from speed skating — mostly from 18-year-old Sofia Bieber’s incredible performance of three golds and a silver.

Bieber isn’t the prospect to watch out for, as 19-year-old Ryan Kulbacki is amid a breakout season after finishing in second in the men’s 1500m race this week in Quebec City at the Canada Cup. The result qualifies the Winnipegger for two World Cup events later this year. Bieber and fellow Manitoban Skylar Van Horne are also competing in Quebec City and medalled at junior nationals on Thursday.

Scott and Langelaar are still early in their careers and are expected to rise the ranks.

“There’s a lot more to it than what is being produced at the Olympic level. We’re really proud of our athletes and in the years to come, we have some really strong, up and coming athletes as well and we’re only going to see that grow,” said Elizabeth.

“From my perspective, I don’t actually have concerns about growing our elite athletes, it’s getting people to try it at the grassroots level.”

There are positive signs there, too, though. There are seven speed skating clubs in Manitoba, and two new ones opened this past year with Shiloh and another in Portage. While the MSSA has around 300 members, Elizabeth estimates there are approximately 1,500 people who participate in their programs.

They’re hoping those numbers will increase after a big month at the oval where they will host the Western Canadian Outdoor Classic (Jan. 13-14) and Skate the Oval (Jan. 28).

A recent decision has led to all national events taking place at indoor venues, knocking Winnipeg out of the rotation. With that, the MSSA decided to get creative by hosting an outdoor classic with over $18,500 in prize money. It will also serve as Speed Skating Manitoba’s Long Track Championships. Clubs from Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, and the United States will all be making the trip to 999 Sargent Ave. to take part.

“We’re looking at anyone between the ages of 12 and 85 to compete. It’s gonna be really cool to keep that outdoor tradition of our sports heritage going which is something to be proud of I think,” said Reece.

The idea for Skate the Oval is to recruit people to give the sport a try while also raising funds for The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba.

None of these events would are possible without the help of six crucial volunteers who keep the Auch oval going. Up until six years ago, the City of Winnipeg took care of the place, but the MSSA had some enthusiasts who insisted on taking over as they saw room for improvement.

Instead of being open for just two months, skaters can now skate laps for 12-plus weeks of the year.

“It’s just a bunch of dudes who are super passionate about providing ice for everyone. At the end of the day, these guys are coming in on their own time, often at like six in the morning,” said Reece.

“They clear the ice, they shave the ice, they flood the ice, and they maintain it. They’re legends.”

One of those “legends” is Randy Plett, a 61-year-old masters skater who also works part-time as a nurse at Cancer Care.

With the help of some donors, they purchased the old Zamboni from Calgary’s oval.

Before anyone can lace up their skates for the season, it can take several all-nighters from people on this crew to get the ice flooded and ready. They’re getting better, thanks to several equipment upgrades, as this year it took just one weekend in the last week of November. One volunteer started at 10 p.m. and worked at it until five in the morning before Plett relieved him and kept at it until the late afternoon.

“It’s a labour of love,” said Plett.

It’s that labour of love from individuals like Plett, like the Willamson-Derraughs, and from countless other volunteers, families, and coaches that have allowed Manitobans to cross the finish line with the best the world has to offer.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31