By the Lehigh Valley Sports Extra
LEHIGH VALLEY ICE ARENA, WHITEHALL -- It's the fastest self-propelled sport, and it is really fast. There's a poetic beauty to the motion when you are up close on the ice with it, like mysterious creatures moving swiftly in the night. Most people recognize speedskating as a sport in the winter Olympics, which like many other "minor" sports, comes into focus every four years. However, there are groups of niche athletes who keep the torch burning for the period in between, and Hence Bollinger is one of those athletes.
"In August 1996 there was an article in the daily newspaper," said Bollinger, "It was something like, 'What happens to former Olympians?' The article mentioned Olympic speedskater Leslie Bader who was 7th in the 1000 meters at the 1988 Winter Olympics, and was now living near Allentown. I had dreamt about skating since I was a kid, so I looked her up in the telephone book and called her, but she said she was too busy raising her twins, but to call her in a year. One year later to the day I called her and soon convinced her to help start and coach a club."
Bollinger approached Steve Camarano, the owner of the Lehigh Valley Ice Arena, and almost 7 years later the club is still going strong, a testament to perseverance.
Originally from Burlington County, Bollinger moved here in 1989 to be closer to the Lehigh Valley Velodrome. She was a competitive swimmer who switched to distance running in high school, then took up cycling, and finally discovered speedskating at age 37, (she's now 43).
"It's a non-contact sport, family oriented or individual lifetime sport," said Bollinger.
Club members get together as a group on the ice once a week, and train individually during the week, including weight training. The club is part of the Chesapeake Association (Eastern PA, DE, VA, NC, SC, MD) with competitive opportunities (most short track) from age 8 to over 80 in groups called ponies (8 & 9 year olds), midgets, intermediates, juveniles, juniors, seniors, etc., all under the ruling body of U.S. Speedskating.
Equipment includes skates, with blades that should be sharpened before every practice, kneepads, gloves, and a helmet (ice is unforgiving). Custom skates can cost $900 for the boot and $250 for the blade. But beginner skates $200-300 and the club will lease skates to members. The blades are razor sharp and cuts are common. No one goes on the ice until the thick safety mats are set up from the blue line on. The club is sponsored by Crane Services.
Cyclist Jim Conzelman, who started skating only six weeks ago as cross training for cycling said, "After only 5-laps you get sore, it's like doing one-legged squats." The Barczewski's did it (Leigh, a 1976 summer Olympic team cyclist and his son, Ben a champion track cyclist), and so did three-time Olympic medalist Chris Witty who won a gold medal in the 1000-meter at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games with a World Record time of 1 minute 13.83 seconds. Conzelman plans to compete by the end of this season after getting the technique down, and there's a lot of technique go get down. He added, "The only way to find out where the edge is by falling."
Youngster Brianna Gayfer, age 9, is in her third year of speedskating. "I really like racing and competing against people. I like winning," she said with a big smile.
Janet Mitchell, age 48, has been skating a few weeks but looks like a seasoned veteran (see photo).
"My son outgrew his skates and they fit me so I said, 'Why not?' I thought I would be too cold, but I put on layers and I'm fine. I move very slowly, it would not be called speedskating in my case. But every week I make a little more progress. The people involved in speedskating are just wonderful, very supportive of all age levels, it's really great and I love it." Her sons, Ben age 16 and Zack age 14, competed but now do it more for pure pleasure.
"I like going fast," said Zach, "It's a really hard workout." He goes to Lower Macungie Middle School where he runs cross-country and skateboards.