US LT Allaround Champs, video
As I was starting to go through my footage from this competition, I suddenly realized how many clips I had of skaters with their parents. Even though speedskating is an individual sport, no athlete steps to the starting line alone.
I often see families in the stands soar & suffer right along with their kids on the ice. There is a lot of that at US national championships. This Guns & Roses anthem just came to my mind as the natural soundtrack.
Press play to start the youtube, or click here for the high quality quicktime.
I have a knack of catching Mike Blumel on video right after he takes himself to the limit in a 1500m. He had a great race here, good enough for 4th place in a very competitive field.
Mike is a pure sprinter, and has to go out scary fast, and then pay for it in the finishing lap. I did ask his permission to include his waltz with the garbage can here, because I know his folks are readers.
It is a testament to how much focus speedskating takes, that you can be getting your armband, or stepping to the start line, and hear someone puking behind you because of EXACTLY what you are about to go do-
and you go race hard anyway…
Filed under: RACE DAY, Audio/Video
11 Responses to “US LT Allaround Champs, video”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Andrew,
As always, AWESOME video!! Interesting that you chose the angle of parent/child…I sat near lots of parents in the stands when I was watching the sprints, and I know what you mean about watching them “soar and suffer” along with their kids (I talked to Justin Stelly’s mom quite a bit–she’s so proud and excited, it was just fun to listen to her talk!) My folks, at 67 and 75, are a bit old to be there cheering me on from the stands (as they always used to when I was a kid in sports)…but maybe if they see this video they’ll get a taste of what it was like to be there. Thanks!
Stand up.
BRAVO!!!! clap…clap….clap….clap……
Thanks Andrew. You always make us feel as if we were there watching on the sidelines.
Anyone close enough to chad to ask him if he plans to update his website soon or never?
looks like he’s quitting…hope not, but this is not respecfull to his fans who have supported him before.
Sweet video Andrew! Awesome!
I’m glad people like the video. These do take me a lot of time to do, this one was about 4 hours of editing.
It’s worth it though.
Jose, as for Chad’s site, I’m not his webmaster anymore, so I really don’t know what his plans are. I think that once he starts racing well again in the world cup, he will get back into wanting updates.
Great video, good to see that you don’t just focus on the parents and skaters but also on the people that ‘make it happen’. Coaches, time registration, speaker and the ‘laps to go’.
what really stood out for me was that coaches hardly get to see you guys skate. The centre of the rink is full of grandstands for ??? icehockey? Shorttrack? do they see the finishline at all or do they just have to trust the electronic timing…
Great Job Andrew!
Almost as good as being there
Hey, can associate to the fall during the us championship.
But at least you had safety “pillows” stopping the fall of the skaters.
This video is from the swedish sprint championship, and I crash right into a metal wall…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGq1e77q7W8
As always, Andrew, I look forward to the race coverage. Not to turn you into the next UniversalHD (apparently the only US channel willing to carry speedskating), but how hard would it be to scatter a few captions throughout the video? I’d love to know who I’m watching blast off the line or executing perfect crossovers!
Keep up the great work!!
John
John,
in some of my videos, I have included a shot-list of who the skaters are, as I know in about 90% of the clips who the skater is..
but the past 6 months, I’ve been so pressed for time, that I consider it a major accomplishment to simply get the video DONE, much less detailed commentary..
I will try though…. I think captions would detract from the visual-vibe-music video experience. hmmmmm…
if someone PAID me a living wage to be a speedskating channel, oh yeah, there would be a shot list.. and turn-off/on-captions