"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth..." Proverbs 27:1 A biblical lesson was reinforced in Webster NY this weekend, at Skate the Bay: one should never miss the opportunity to skate on the FIRST day of the meet...carpe diem!
Robert & Karen Verrone, and Eric Young and their other volunteers, reached into the waters of Lake Ontario and brought forth a natural ice long track for what turned out to be a wonderful, but truncated, speedskating adventure. Race director Tim Doherty was out there at 2AM the night before dealing with cracks, etc. in the ice....a LOT of work went into the creation. Thank you!!!! Even ice sculpture speed skates decorated the shoreline (see photo, taken JUST before the heat wave finished its work). An adventure, because the weather gods, who had provided temperatures near zero for a week, chose the weekend of the meet to send temperatures into the 50s F, and the that sent our blades--a motley combination of long-track, short-track, hockey and at least one pair of figure skate blades--into ever softening ice. Rochester, we must remember, sits on the SOUTHERN edge of the Canadian Shield!
Thanks, by the way to all the sponsors, and to Webster recreation, and to Bob Buono and the staff of the Bay Side pub (a very friendly little neighborhood place right on the water or ice, depending on the moment you look, with great food, by the way).
Happily, it was possible to run three events, including the 50 meter race before weather conditions really got out of control, so the first full day of racing happened. And what a memory! There were lots of people around to watch our "niche sport" and that was a lot of fun by itself. Skaters from as far as Western Canada and North Carolina as well as from the NY clubs and Quebec. About thirty or so skated the 50K and almost all of them finished with Jim Cornell in the lead at least eight of our own Rochester Speed Skating adults (and Wes Rossborough, who should be very proud of his accomplishment) competing at that intimidating distance (a lot more of the RSST members did skate one or both of the shorter races and most of us were primed for today). For me the goal was to overcome some fear garnered in the prior week, and that much, at least, I managed....without the slightest nod to style or skill, having my fourth fall just beyond the finish line in the shortest distance....oh, well. I was registered for the 10K today and like to think I would have done it! Wait 'til next year!
And then there was snert. Rochester Speedskating Team members who do a lot of long-track had shared with the people at Bay Side Pub three recipes for a traditional Dutch soup, called snert (or erwtensoep) that is apparently served at a lot of European long-track meets. It's a pea soup with ham and onions etc. in it that really hit the spot...delicious! Sort of fun to see a soup so thick the spoon stands up too! The chef told me that he started out with about seven gallons, and that it cooked down to 4-5. He also said it sold out!
I imagine that a lot of potential skaters waited for day two, the 10K and 25K races. As Julia Roberts said to the shop clerk in "Pretty Woman": "BIG mistake....HUGE!" Nature gave us one good day this year, and anyone who missed it missed a wonderful day of skating and fun. A couple of miles away, another group was having their polar bear dip in Lake Ontario today. They may have needed SPF 40 sunscreen.
