Bad Crash…
I watched national team member Pat Meek go whizzing by me at top speed. That was the training job for the day, top speed, and I remember thinking; “Wow, he looks good, I wonder what that lap time will be…”
He disappeared around the corner, and my mind wandered back to whatever silly thing it was stewing over…
30 seconds of self absorbed coasting later, I turn the corner, and see Pat against the wall, curled up on the ice, surrounded by frantic coaches calling for immediate medical attention…
When an NFL player is injured during a game, and it looks truly bad, both teams will often come together in the middle of the field, kneeling & holding hands, praying together that the injured athlete will be ok.
We don’t have any kind of tradition like that in speedskating, but we should.
The wheelchair came out, and slowly, carefully, they picked Pat up. His shoulders & legs had melted a shape into the ice, like a crime scene, Surrounded by swirling marks from dull coach skates.
It’s hard to tell when someone is bleeding badly when they wear a bright red skinsuit, even though the impact had torn his suit up pretty well.
As they were wheeling him away, He looked pale & shaken, but coherent. Scott Koons told me it looked like Pat cut himself pretty badly on his own blade as he mashed into the wall, might need a frankenstien of stitches, but should be ok.
As I write this, I really don’t know how badly he is hurt. Will he be able to skate US Nationals that start 5 days from today? Is it a flesh wound or a really nasty injury? I don’t know. It was a scary moment, and all of us on the ice were quite upset, to see a friend being carted away in a wheelchair.
Speedskating is a sport with some risk involved, but many of the wonderful things life has to offer contain risk. Living inside a concrete bunker wearing a suit of armor & never going outside might be safe, but it’s not a LIFE.
Here is Pat, truly living life/racing a 10k just a few weeks ago:
Heal well Pat.
Filed under: from home
A truly upsetting message, indeed. Hopefully Pat will be alright. My own “greatest” crashes took place on the glassy ice of Salt Lake…but we can’t be afraid to go fast after that, it’s a big mental hurdle.
Hope your friend is ok….
This is really strange Andrew; I haven’t been to your blog in a couple of days, and just a few minutes ago, I posted an entry on my site about a friend, Travis Shaw, who broke his leg at a practice we had last night.
Like you, I hate seeing people get hurt. At the same time, it’s the nature of our sports, isn’t it? There’s a risk factor that we all understand, but that still doens’t make me feel better when a skater is hurt.
As Travis was wheeled off the floor, we all clapped, kind of like what they do in ice hockey; hitting their sticks on the ice.
I got a real fright when I read your blog Andrew. I had no idea Pat had crashed. I just called him and he said he somehow entered the corner wrong in the 400m tempo and crashed. He cut his ankle with his skate blade and had 7 stitches to put it all back together. Pat says he is able to walk today and hopes to be ready for Nationals.
All the Best Wishes to you Pat!! I hope it heals up good enough for you to race.
Jannicke
Wow that’s one thing that I always cringe at. I agree that we should do something when someone is hurt like that. I hope Pat gets 100% before Jan. for the university games. Get better soon.