Canmore and things...

So I only went to Canmore on Thursday. A few of the other guys and gals went for Friday, but it was a long drive and the roads weren't great so I packed it in for the week.

Thursday was great though! I'm hoping I can get a group picture up soon but we'll have to see. The Canmore club skaters had the opportunity to come out and skate with us... Like I mean, literally skate with us. They were nervous at first, but after skating side by side with us in mixed relay groups, they soon learned that all we really are, are big kids. So needless to say we got along rather nicely!

The ice there is actually really nice! Very smooth and can hold our bodies on turns really well. The only thing is that mats come up quick with it being an NHL sized rink... Oh and it is very cold. Those kids are tough as nails to train there all week!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out at the Long Track World Cups with Matt Lipsett, a good friend I used to skate with "back in the day" (Ha). It was great catching up on old skating stories with him - what memories!

Now it's time to gear up for trials. They'll be running from Saturday the 12th to Monday the 14th.

One last thing, congratulations are in order for our Juniors here in the Oval Program. They all skated really well. We have three Juniors heading to Junior Worlds! Congratulations Kristy Shoebridge, Mikhail Choi and Rob Watson!!!

Some R n' R from the Oval

So today they took out the short track mats at the Oval for the upcoming long track World Cup. I'm surprised they left them this long, as the competition starts soon. But, it was awesome of them to leave them on this long!

Tomorrow we're shippin' out to Canmore for a couple of practices. It should be fun, then a nice relaxing weekend full of recovery!

Round House Kick to the Chest

OK, so the Oval is a little busier than usual. The Long Track World Cup is in Calgary this weekend and there is a large number of athletes on the running track during my morning warm up.

While doing my warm up jog I unfortunately got blocked by the Chinese team. Now these aren't normal sized Chinese people, they are huge with very powerful legs (as I soon learned from first hand experience)... Like I think the tallest girl is like six and some feet...

No Jokes.

They run pretty slow to begin with, but they had just finished their lap jog and started doing dynamic stretches - they were now spread out in front of me and moving very slow.

I saw a break in the group and started to maneuver my way through the pack. They had been doing front swing kicks for the majority of my pass but as soon as I was about to pass the lead person, she switched exercises on me, swung her leg round the side of her and snapped straight back into my chest... So strong it knocked me right off my feet.

I was in complete disbelief.

I think she was too, she had no clue I was coming up on the outside of her. She was very apologetic, but I said that I was "OK", brushed myself off and callapsed on the long track mats. I'm not sure what was worse, being winded or my ill attempts to hold back laughter.

Anyways, enough said...

Also, Congratulations to my cousin Chris and his wife Amanda, they had a baby girl today... Presley Riana Davidchuk! Now I've got to teach Kadan (their son) how to deal with a little sister!

Here and There

Hello, yes it's been a while. I will be returning to blog writing soon. Especially since National Team Trials 1 will be coming up in less than 2 weeks.

I've been here and there with things, a few guest appearances on the ice with various Short Track groups, which were all really fun! It may sound funny, but it's almost more inspiring for me to watch those kids with all their energy and enthusiasm!

Training has been going well, which is good with Trials approaching.

I'll fill in the blanks more soon.