Speed skater on the move

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/12/2003 (8209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TYLER Derraugh is planning to move to Calgary next summer, a move dictated by the demands of his sport.

“I want to train hard and see how far I can go. I’ll train with some members of the national team. Hopefully, one day I’ll compete in the Olympics,” says the 17-year-old member of the provincial short track speed skating team.

Crispin Parkinson, coach of the team, says Derraugh set some Manitoba records at meets in Alberta in October.

“He skated the fastest 500 metres time this year (45.36 second) and probably ever for Manitoba at the Alberta Cup Competition in Edmonton on the Thanksgiving weekend,” says Parkinson, noting that Derraugh finished third overall in the second division at the event. First division skaters are generally older and on the brink of making the senior national team.

The Grade 12 student at Shaftesbury High School also holds Manitoba short track records over the 1,000 and 3,000 metres.

Derraugh and the other local short track skaters have been training at Pioneer Arena. This winter, for the first time, they will train outdoors on a rink at the Sargent Park Oval.

Parkinson points out that Derraugh has the potential to be competitive at the junior team trials next season in Calgary.

“This summer, he put in a lot of effort in the weight room and on a road bike. So he’s considerably more fit and faster than last year,” says the coach, noting that Manitoba hasn’t had anyone be competitive at short track since the late 1980s when Mike Ireland, now a member of the national (long track) speed skating team, made the national short track squad.

Derraugh views short track as an extreme sport on ice.

“It’s fast and exciting. I just love the thrill. I never really gave up long track, I just did more and more short track,” he says. “Long track is really boring. Nothing ever happens.”

Derraugh has been around speed skating since as long as he can remember. His dad, Peter Williamson, competed for Canada in long track at the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble, France. Williamson, who passed away in 1991, was also the former coach of the provincial team.

“I was always with him and my mom (former competitive speed skater and coach Lori Derraugh) at the speed skating oval,” says the young athlete, who began speed skating at age 3 1/2 when the family lived in Ottawa for a time.

Last year, Derraugh was on the provincial team that competed at the Canada Winter Games in Campbellton, New Brunswick.

“I got top Manitoba placing for short track, but no medals because I was up against the top skaters in Canada, including one who was a record holder,” says Derraugh, who notes that the blades of short track skates are bent to allow skaters to make tighter turns and pivot more easily.