The Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-04-06, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Hamish ends season with two BPs and enters an offseason of uncertainty
Darryl Coote
Reporter
Though the 2015-16 sea-
son ended with two personal
best scores for long-distance
speedskater Hamish Black,
the Lucknow native isn't
content to sit on his laurels
this offseason.
"It's funny because I left
this season on a pretty big
high having gotten personal
bests," Black said over Skype,
"but in both races I was two
seconds off of what I wanted
to skate."
The last skate of the sea-
son was the 2016 Olympic
Oval Finale that is also
known as the Canada Cup
Final. It ran from March
17-20 with Black competing
in four races, however the
500m and 1,500m were only
warmups, he said, for the
5,000m and the 10,000m.
In the 5,000m on March
18, Black finished 10th over-
all and the third Canadian
with a time of six minutes, 37
seconds, which shaved
almost three seconds off of
his previous personal best.
In the 10,000m the next
day he finished the top
Canadian and fourth overall
with a personal best of 13
minutes, 42 seconds -- again
whittling two seconds off his
previous best score in this
category.
However, in both races he
was looking for better.
"So I'm happy with how
everything went, and I think
it's a good thing I'm not
completely satisfied because
now when I get back into
training in the summer I will
just work that much harder
to make up for those two
seconds. So it's also a moti-
vator," Black said.
Now heading into the off-
season, Black will be waiting
to see if he is carded by Skate
Canada.
Carding, Black explained,
is the process which amateur
athletes become accredited
in Canada and receive gov-
ernment funding. There are
also only so many cards per
sport.
"It's a good sign that I fin-
ished with personal bests
because it shows progres-
sion and improvement and
overall my skating has
improved. So it will now be a
sort of waiting game to see if
Snowbirds return
to Dungannon
and St. Helen's
The snowbirds are back
from the sunny south. Wel-
come home folks.
Does your horse need a
new pair of shoes? There are
two Eddie Shetlers who will
do the job for you. Lisa Ann
Shetlers is busy making pies
and selling chili sauce. In my
opinion, the best around.
Pike season on Wawanosh
Lake was over on March 31.
Some Dungannon folks
have been seen eating and
taking out orders at Goder-
ich restaurants.
The log -sawing season
starts for me. I will be there
trying my best. There will be
sawing matches all over,
Huron, Bruce and Lambton
counties.
Got news? Call Shag at
519-529-7734.
lariJO
TiaVo'NSHIF OF
The Township of Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh has trees
available for distribution to property owners who request a tree
or trees. Each landowner will be limited to up to 5 trees. Trees
are to be planted on property lines along road allowances and
must be picked up, planted and maintained by property owners.
Trees will be at no cost to the property owners and will be given
first to those who have not received trees in the past and will be
on a first come first served basis with a limited quantity.
To order trees please contact the Municipal Office at 519-524-4669.
I get carded or not," he said.
And yes, there is a physical
card, which, among other
perks, get athletes discounts.
"It definitely gets us some
good discounts at some res-
taurants so we can eat
Darryl Coote/Reporter
cheaper," he said.
Carding, he said, is usually
done around mid-April and
he is hopeful he will be the
recipient of one of these cov-
eted black cards.
"Speed Skate Canada has
[only] so many cards and
they are different amounts,
but hopefully my perfor-
mance will show that I'm
worth investing in;' he said.
However, in sport as in life
there are no certainties. At
age 28 and only having
skated for under two sea-
sons, Black is an unusual
athlete in a system where
most enter the sport at a
much younger age.
While he is confident
Black understands he is an
anomaly in the sport.
"I like to be optimistic
and think my chances are
pretty high. If I was say a 23
or younger I think it would
be a no brainer and I would
definitely have a card. But
then again, you never know
what could happen
because I'm such an outlier
coming into this sport,"
Black said.
The offseason ends for
Black the first week of May
when he gets back to train-
ing, and when it starts, he
said, it starts full throttle so
there will be little to no
break for him this spring.
"It's not an ease into it sort
of thing. It's really important
that over the summer you
focus on building your
engine and getting your
body ready for the skating
season," he said.
What you can accomplish
in the summer, he said, is the
base you work from over the
skating season.
And with it being a pre -
Olympic year Black has set
himself the difficult goal of
skating in the World Cup cir-
cuit, either in the fall or win-
ter series, to gain that experi-
ence and better gauge where
he is at in his development.
"Everyone who competes
is in this to make the Olym-
pics," he said. "And I would
like to get onto the interna-
tional scene in the pre -
Olympic year to hopely get
that experience so going into
the Olympic year I really
have a good idea of what I'm
getting into."
The fall World Cup Trails,
which is also the first major
race of the season, will take
place this October.
"It's aim high and go for it
because there's no point in
setting a substandard at this
stage. It's kind of all in or
nothing," he said.
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