World Cup

I am ashamed to admit this but in all the years that I have worked at the Oval {~5 years} I never made it to a World Cup competition.  Now that I work for US Speedskating I spent all weekend at the Oval working with sponsors, media, and athletes.  It was really cool to see the sport in a competition setting.  Long Track is such a graceful and elegant sport however it is not the fast paced action of Short Track so it hasn't gained the traction in the United States that short track has enjoyed.


We got to see a new World Record set in the 5000m.  Martina Sablikova broke her own record by a little less than three seconds!  It literally gave me goosebumps {I know that's dorky} this is one of my favorite things about working within the Olympic Movement, you get to see people achieve goals that some have been working their entire lives to get to.  It is such an amazing thing to experience!

The competition ran from Friday-Saturday pretty much all day.  They only competed the longer distances here in Salt Lake 1500m, 3000m, 5000m {ladies} and 10000m {men}.  There was also a cool demonstration event, the mass start race.  Normally in long track the athletes race in pairs and against the clock so there usually no more than two people racing at the same time.  The mass start has many skaters all going at the same time, it was really cool to watch.

Here are some of the pictures I took this weekend...

Heather Richardson starting the 1500m

Heather Richardson

 

Jilleanne Rookard racing the 1500m

 

Men's mass start event

Patrick Meek and Josh Wood (who ended up getting 2nd place in the event) during the Mass Start

Ryan Bedford 

Ladies getting started 

Heather Richardson and Maria Lamb

Heather Richardson after winning the mass start event

Coach Ryan helps Richardson off the ice

Podium for the Ladies Mass Start

Life in Lycra

So Jenny (former US Figure Skating Intern) has moved to Utah and is now living and working with me at US Speedskating as our Social Media Intern.  We have been working on a series called Life in Lycra, it follows the skaters in the National Training Program through their daily lives and we've started to incorporate more questions from fans and trying to get answers from skaters.

It's pretty cool!  Check it out on the US Speedskating YouTube Channel {here}

Welcome Back!

Initially, this blog was going to be about my summer as an Intern with the USOC.  Two days after I got home from my internship in Colorado Springs, I started school and another internship with US Speedskating.  By no means am I an expert on how to get a job or an internship, but all I did was ask for a meeting, went in, and pled my case as to why they should hire me {for free}.  The work started slowly but gradually increased as the NGB started to pull itself together {there was massive turnover after the 2010 games}.

I have decided to start this blog again to chronicle my adventures as an intern for US Speedskating, and as I try to find a post graduation job!