Update

Summer seems to have finally arrived and my time in Europe is soon coming to an end. My next event is the Gigathlon on the 10th - 11th July which is in Thun, Switzerland. It's not a traditional skating event but a multi sport even consisting of running, road cycling, mountain biking, swimming and of course skating. I will be competing in a team of five and will just be doing the two skating legs.

Last weekend I didn't race anywhere, the only real big event on was the Le Mans 24 hour race in France. I did get in two good days of training on my skates though. The Germans have their national championships on this weekend so skaters from various clubs around the country made a trip to test out the track beforehand, so there were plenty of people around to skate with. The German National Championships is not open to overseas skaters so I will just be spectating.

After the Gigathlon I will be heading back home to Timaru, New Zealand. I'm really looking forward to seeing my partner, mum, bike and everyone at the club and I hear there are plenty of newbie speed skaters. I will be home for about a month and then head to Haining, China for the skate festival and marathon. Haining will become my training base in preparation for the World Championships.

WIC Biel

Last Sunday was the World Inline Cup in Biel and also the first stage of the Swiss Inline Cup. Switzerland used to be the hub for skating marathons with races on nearly every week for about a 3 month period. Races were held around city streets, beautiful lakes and through great valleys. There were thousands of participants, big crowds, top teams, cow bells and of course a party to finish. Unfortunately Biel didn't have the same atmosphere this year.

The course from previous years which ran through the city streets was changed and we were racing outside of the city in a semi industrial area. No more racing through the shopping district and people cheering you on from cafes and bars. The weather didn't help either it was around 10 degrees, the wind was chilly and there were a few showers for the earlier races.

The original course was changed before the speed men and women raced because it was deemed as being too dangerous. Below is the map. The green area was a motorway over bridge. It wasn't long, but the climb was pretty sharp. So the red section was the main issue, coming down off the bridge and turning 90 degrees left on a one lane road. So we ended up racing around the yellow rectangle which was no more than 1km a lap and fully flat.


The men and women were racing at the same time which was a bit messy around such a small circuit. I was looking forward to a harder race having to go over the bridge twice every lap, I thought that may help break the field up. Unfortunately all it takes is for one person to do something silly on a corner like that and it can bring a group of people tumbling down, so the right decision was probably made. Early on I tried quite a few attacks but was pounced on pretty rapidly. Nathalie, the Alessi team and the Ferarra team tried a couple of times and Tina had a go but no one was ever fully committed to try end the race in a breakaway. Nothing ever got to the stage where it looked serious. After about half way I decided to stop attacking. I thought if somehow I did get away with the men constantly lapping us it would be easy for the women to hop on the back. There were only one or two attempts after that.

Photos - Stephan Keel www.skate4fun.ch

After half way the race slowed right down and looked like we were in for another pack sprint finish. The last corner coming into the finish straight was a little tricky because there was a traffic island on the exit so you couldn't drift wide and then a straight run of about 400 meters to the finish. I could see teams were going to block on the final corner but there wasn't much I could do about it because the lead out started pretty early.

Nathalie and Sabine got to the front with just under one lap to go. Once they moved everyone started scrambling so I had to use a bit of energy to regain a good position. Nathalie wound the pace up with Sabine behind her and Giovanna and the Alessi team lined up behind them. I was behind the last Alessi skater and it was either Tamara or Tina behind me. Nathalie moved over just before the last corner and let Sabine go with Giovanna on her wheel. The rest of the skaters stopped at the corner so I didn't get a clean run though. By the time I got past the skaters and out of the corner Sabine and Giovanna had a bit of a gap. I caught them down the straight and tried to pass on the left but I had already used my burst to catch them and the road was narrowing. I was getting closer to the barriers, the road ahead wasn't getting any wider and my legs weren't going to move any quicker so I slotted back in behind Giovanna. Sabine won, Giovanna 2nd and myself 3rd. Full results available at datasport, click here to view.

Photo - Ferrara Inline

Even though there were plenty of break away attempts in the mens race none of them were able to stay away. One of the Alessi skaters still had a reasonable gap with about 3 or 4 laps to go but he was reeled in. Scott done a big lead out for the Powerslide team but Nayib was able to get past the whole team going into the final corner and went on to win, with a gap back to second place getter Yann.

PatinCarrera Interview in English

NICOLE BEGG

The multiple champion from New Zealand is one of the great figures of world skating at only 23 years of age.
Wearing the new colours of X-Tech she spoke exclusively with us and told us about her exiting life on wheels.

1.What is your analysis of the first half of the 2010 season?
I think my performance has been pretty good in recent months. I'm skating alone which isn't always going to be easy. My strength isn't really long straight line sprints and we have had quite a few of those this season. There aren't a lot of skaters racing full time on the circuit this year so a lot of the races have been slow and boring and that's not really my style of racing. I prefer harder, faster races with a lot more attacks.
Since there are few teams, Powerslide have been able to control the vast majority of races because many times they have been the only strong team present.

2. What has been your best race of the season so far?
Probably the WIC Incheon. It wasn't my best result but the finish was very close between Seul Lee, Cecilia and myself. As for atmosphere it would have to be Dijon. The TV was there along with a spectator friendly course and a large field in the women's event.

3. How was your off season?
During the preseason I didn't know exactly where I would be based during the year and what events I would be racing in so I didn't train specifically for marathons. I done a lot of cycling over the NZ summer and I was really busy with other ventures. Our family opening a shop in the main street of our city (Timaru, New Zealand), helping coach and promote our club and trying to get the funds we need to build a new track. Then we brought back the Tour of Timaru which also took up some of my time helping to get things organized for the event which hadn't been run in nearly a decade. It used to be a very popular skating event in New Zealand and we hope to bring it back to it's former glory over the next few years.

4. How is the life of Nicole Begg constantly traveling around the world?
It can at times be frustrating and stressful, is not always glamorous. Even during the off season when I'm not travelling as much I still seem to be busy. The last few weeks have been hard since Incheon I have had flights every week. Waiting around at airports is probably the most tedious part of traveling. I like to try and relax when I get home to New Zealand at the end of the season but I'm usually actually busier there than when I'm in Europe.

5. What is your favorite place in the World? And what is the worst, where do you dislike going?
There is no place like home, Timaru is my favorite place it's what I class as my home. It's difficult to think of the worst place. Some places I don't like just because I have had bad experiences it's not that they are bad places it's just I haven't had a good time there. For example at the moment I'm not in love with Spain because on the last trip there 3 of my 4 flights were delayed and my luggage didn't make it on board. Switzerland is a beautiful place but I also love Singapore. Singapore has great food, a million and one places to shop and some really nice cycle paths to skate on.

6. What's on your calendar in the coming weeks?
On Sunday I will be in Biel (Switzerland) for the 8th stage of the World Inline Cup. In early July I will be racing for a team in the Gigathlon then I will return home for a month. I will travel to China in August for Haining Skate Festival and train in Haining. Biel should be an interesting race, especially if it rains.

7. What are your goals for the World Championships in Guarne?. What do you think about the height of the town and how will you adapt to 2100m above sea level?
I think it will really hard, I've never competed at a similar altitude. But my goals do not change, of course I want to win a World Title in Guarne. I have 11 Senior world medals so far and I want to keep adding to them.
Good preparation for me would be going into the champs with a season behind me that's injury free. The last two years I've had bad injuries during the season, so to have no interruptions in my training this year would be nice. I think I will have to go to Colombia earlier than I normally would to adapt to the altitude.

8. What do you think the World Championships in Guarne will be like? And who will be your personal rivals on the track?
Colombia have a passion for skating so no doubt there will surely be an enthusiastic crowd. Hyo Sook Woo and the rest of the Korean team are always going to be hard to beat. Of course the Colombians will be strong at home and China may be a surprise if they bring their best athletes. Chinese Taipei really performed last year and Italy had a strong team in 2009 as well. The German women are strong on the road and there are always others to watch out for. I think a lot will depend on how everyone prepares and adapts to the altitude.

9. Will we see Nicole Begg on ice skates soon?
I really don't know at this point. I haven't fully analyzed the possibility of switching to ice or racing seriously on the bike. It would have been an easy question to answer if inline speed skating had made it as an Olympic sport.

10. For many years you were the image of Bont, it was a big surprise when you joined with X-Tech. What is your feeling after the first few months?
Yes, it was a surprise for a lot of people. I'm very grateful to Bont because they supported me for a long time but it was really exciting for me to start a new adventure with X-Tech. I love the new X-Tech products. They worked hard in the off season experimenting and perfecting their products to provide first class equipment and have achieved key partners like IS frames and MPC wheels.

11. What would you change in our sport to make it more professional? What would you like to see change in skating?
I think everyone needs to push to be more professional, athletes, organizers, promoters, federations absolutely everyone. It was great to see TV coverage in Dijon, we need more of this even if it's only on a local channel we need to start somewhere. Skating still lacks a press presence, if everyone pushed for a little publicity in their area we could start being noticed.
I think Asia is the next place where skating will have it's big boom. When it takes off we need to start fresh with a new atmosphere, professional people involved and new ideas.


By Guido Ferraiuolo: PatinCarrera.com Group

3rd Biel

Just arrived home from Biel. I finished 3rd, full results from all categories available at Data Sport click here to view them. Report to come.

PatinCarrera Interview

PatinCarrera.com has an interview online. It's in Spanish, but I will translate it after the race this weekend and put the English version on my blog. Click here to view the Spanish version.

Thursday Night Racing Flying 200m

It was Thursday night racing again here in Geisingen. Here are the flying lap times.

South Canterbury Skate Club Learn to Skate

Here is a slide show from Learn to Skate last weekend in Timaru, New Zealand (my home). It's great to see so many people coming to the programme even in the middle of winter. My mum told me there were about 59 there last Sunday. Thanks to all the parents and volunteers that show up each week to help out, we wouldn't be able to run the programme without your support. Keep up to date with the club through our blog www.southcanterburyskateclub.blogspot.com

I love the last two pictures in this slide show, once upon a time I used to be able to win the limbo but not anymore.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Dijon Links

Here are a few things I've found online from last weekends World Inline Cup in Dijon.

Timaru Herald - Nicole Begg Again on Podium

818 photo's by Cyril Abbas, click here to view them all. Here are a few of my favorite ones.





Photo's from Alexander Pfiffner, click here to view all photos.



There is a video online from the TV footage. You don't see a lot of the women's race and it misses all my attacks but good video of the final sprint. It also gives you an idea of what the race in Dijon is all about. Click here to view video.

You can find the full results here, you just need to scroll down the page a bit.

MPC wheels were again on the feet of the winners in both the men's and women's races. A lot of skaters choose to change wheels at the last minute as there was a brief shower of rain. The road was wet for the first few laps of the race but it quickly dried up. I stayed on my MPC Road Wars because they handle the rain pretty well and there was clear blue sky in the direction the rain had just come from.

I would have liked the race to be harder, although it was great to see a few more teams try attempt something this week. The Alessi Team had a few goes and so did the French National Team.

2nd Dijon

I was 2nd in the Dijon WIC, Cecilia won and Giovanna 3rd. The internet at home isn't working at the moment so don't know when I will be able to put a race report up. I'm at an internet cafe at the moment and people are smoking inside so I want to get out of here ASAP.

Dijon WIC

Tomorrow I head to Dijon, France for the World Inline Cup marathon. This week the women actually have a full 42 km as well, unlike previous weeks. The race starts at 4 pm on Sunday with the men and the women start 1 minute later. The race will be live on French TV, here is the link to the Internet version http://video-direct.france3.fr/player.php?id=858 . After looking at the forecast it looks like we could be in for another rain race.

Selfless People

Our sport struggles to get publicity in a lot of towns, cities and countries. We talk about the lack of sponsorship, numbers and at the end of the day money. Although in some regions our great sport thrives in the public eye. If you look at all the places where skating gets publicity and recognition there will usually be someone behind it that's pushing it. Someone that is selfless, determined, has a great love for the sport and that is not willing to give up.

My dad is one of these people. Some people don't see eye to eye with him but he is honest and will tell you exactly what he thinks. There is no beating around the bush, you know exactly where you stand with him. Sometimes as a coach you have to tell people things they may not want to hear. He is willing to spend many unpaid hours promoting a sport that he has a great passion for and often doesn't even get a thank you in return.

In New Zealand we have lacked publicity and recognition for quite some time. In recent years we have had government funding to help back us financially, but we still struggled to get it in the public eye.

When my family moved back to South Canterbury in 2004 it was time to start changing this. We got the support of an enthusiastic sports reporter that was willing to take an interest in local talent. Regular stories in my cities news paper helped build the profile of the sport. With my success over the years and my dad's countless emails more results and stories started making the headlines. People starting reading and learning about the sport. We went from having about five club members to now having over one hundred and sixty. There is also a large group of people who take great interest in reading about what I'm up to in the newspaper.

In 2006 skating hit the public's eye not just in Timaru but nationwide when I done a series of nude photo's. I featured on TV shows, in magazine articles, mentioned in nearly every news paper and had plenty of radio interviews. Even though it was a bold move and a little controversial it was a start in the right direction.

To this day I still get asked about the photo's and people are still talking about them. Even though I'm not bombarded by publicity now, like I was when the photo's first came out I still appear on the odd TV show and results/articles are starting to spread nationwide on a more frequent basis. A lot of this has to do with my dad. He not only pushes my results out there to the media in New Zealand but others as well, regardless of who they are sponsored by or have ties too.

This is a snippet from Radio Sports news section. Radio Sport is our nations number one radio channel dedicated to sport. Even though it is only a small mention, it's a start and no doubt it was mentioned on the radio as well.


The only reason this article along with many others make it to the news section is because my dads commitment. Along the line somewhere someone will pick up on the story. If they get positive feed back from it and interest from the public next time they will be chasing you for the story.

Here is another example and this was on Stuff's sports section, which is New Zealand's number one online news source from Fairfax Media.


And another example from Stuff's sports section.


If even one tenth of the skating population was able to push for a little recognition our great sport would start thriving. Unfortunately not everyone is selfless and a lot of people end up giving up. We have a great sport it's just so many people out there don't even realize it exists.

What is sad for me to see is when someone is pushing for the good of the sport and they are willing to help people for free and those people they help can not even go out of their way an inch to give something back in return. They sacrifice a lot of their life to give everything to others and then those people become shallow and can not even say thanks.

Great News

A couple of years ago as our club numbers started growing and skating was revived in South Canterbury we started looking at the prospect of a new skating facility. We now have over 160 club members but our current track is deteriorating rapidly.

The council confirmed yesterday they would chip in $50,000 towards the project. A few weeks ago we were approved a grant for $100,000 from The Mid and South Canterbury Community Trust and the club has some funds aside also, so it's starting to look good.

Here is an article from the Timaru Herald, click to enlarge.

Update

I arrived back in Geisingen safely last night but my luggage didn't. What an awful trip, two late flights and then one delayed by about five hours. I had to run from one end of the Madrid terminal to the other to make my final flight and to top it off we ended up hitting an air pocket and the plane just dropped. I have my luggage now so that's the main thing.

This Sunday is the WIC in Dijon, France. Happy that it's only a car trip away and I don't have to board another aeroplane.

My dad has discovered Twitter and started an account, check it out http://twitter.com/billbegg

The weather is still not that great here in Geisingen. Summer came this afternoon for a couple of hours then a big black cloud rolled over and let loose.

Pamplona Track Racing

First up this morning was the 300m time trials, followed by the 500m and then the 10km points.

500m
Not too sure how they drew the heats for the 500 meters but some were stacked and then others easier. For instance one ladies heat only had two starters and then others had five or six and it was the same in the men's heats. The first two qualified for the next round.
My first heat I had Nicoletta Falcone, a French skater and a Spanish skater. Nicoletta and I qualified easily into the next round.
The next round was tough I had Jercy Puello (1st 300m), Nicoletta (2nd 300m) and Francesca Lollobrigida who is Nicoletta's team mate. The track is really hard to pass on and the start is really crucial. I don't have a great start at the best of times and today it was really bad, I was a few meters behind off the start line. I wound up and tried to pass on the outside but Francesca drifted up to protect Nicoletta and I couldn't get past. The women could nearly hug the pole line so it was very difficult to pass covering extra distance around the outside. I ended up getting Francesca at the line to finish 3rd.
The final had three Colombian skaters and Nicoletta, Colombia took 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Nicoletta was last off the line and with three skaters from the same team it was always going to be a tough task especially round this track.

10km Points
The men had heats for the points race with 15 from each heat going through to a final with 30 skaters. The women's was just a straight final. Going into the race I thought the Colombian team would really dominate. They had two really strong distance skaters plus Cecilia. But I think the Colombians were too busy racing me instead of racing the race. The French team raced smart and took advantage of their numbers and the situation, they had about nine skaters start the race.
I got quiet a few points early on but had to use a lot of energy at the front to get my points, no one to lead me out. Then quiet a few times the Colombian team and myself were battling for the same points. So I used energy and missed out on points on a few occasions. After this someone from the French team would lead Laetitia through and get a bit of a gap, they picked up points that way for most of the race.
At one stage towards the end of the race Alexandra, kelly and Laeitia got a bit of a gap. It was looking very dangerous especially with Cecilia controlling the front of the pack. Everyone else in the pack was dead and no one looked too keen to chase them down. I had no choice but to chase, the three skaters out ahead were the ones with the points.
With about three laps to go Sabine and Laetitia had a gap. I tried to chase but then Alexandra got in front of me and I thought she would chase but she seemed to slow down. I got past her and then Kelly got in front of me. I got passed Kelly with about one and a half laps to go, I was dead and my legs were wobbly but I was catching them. Going into the final corner they still had a bit of a gap and we had to go around a lapped skater. I couldn't lunge properly and Laetitia beat me by about half a wheel or so for the second points.
Laetitia ended up beating me by one point and Alexandra Vivas finished third. I'm not sure on the other placings, Kelly had a few points and Sabine. Sabine also found it hard without a team, Cecilia was racing for Colombia and Nathalie wasn't racing on the track.

Pamplona update

Racing has just started with the ladies 300m tt. There was heavy rain here this morning so we are racing on the track. The temperature is about 15 degrees at the moment so a big change from yesterday.

Pamplona Results

It was really hot here today for the ladies race, 30 plus degrees. It came down to a sprint finish. No one was keen to try attack and split up the strong teams apart from myself and the French, who tried a couple of times. The course was tricky with a tight U-turn at each end. The hot weather, dust, white lines and uneven surface made these turns slippery and tricky. The pack had to slow down at each end to make the turn so there was a lot of rolling. If you wanted to win you really had to be at the front of the pack out of trouble going into the last turn. The finish line wasn't far after this and positions from out of the corner didn't change a whole lot.

The lead out for the sprint started early with the Colombian team up in front. I was hoping to get on a good wheel coming through that could get me closer to the front without having to sprint so far out. I was on Giovanna who was on the Powerslide train. The last skater in that train stopped skating and when Giovanna and I tried to pass her we couldn't get past easily. We ended up doing a bit of a zig zag across the road, bumped into each other then I got jammed between a rubbish/skip bin and the skater.

Going into the final corner there were quiet a few skaters still in front so I done a big T stop to slow myself down so I could try cut underneath them as they drifted out. There were people going kamikaze into the final corner and others blocking the road, it was messy. It worked but I lost all my speed and had to re accelerate out of the corner. By that stage the front 6 had a gap formed and I ended up finishing 8th.

1st Arnedo
2nd Kelly
3rd Alexandra

It cooled down a little by the time the men raced but it was still pretty hot. The winning breakaway formed pretty early on in the race. At first there were five skaters in the break, the Italian dropped off with about 15 laps to go and ended up pulling out of the race once the pack caught so that left four. The breakaway group consisted of Yann, Fabio, Cobo (Colombia) and Ewen. It came down to a lunge at the end between Yann and Cobo. Cobo won and if he didn't there would have been a Colombian riot because the line Yann took down the final straight was questionable.

It's pouring with rain here now and plenty of thunder so there is about an 80% chance that will be racing at the track tomorrow which has a roof instead of the road.

Flight Delay

Well the first flight from Zurich to Madrid was late and now my flight from Madrid to Pamplona has been delayed. So I will be getting into Pamplona a lot later than expected. Thankfully the WIC race is in the late afternoon so I will be able to sleep in YAY!

Thursday Night Racing

Tonight there was racing for all ages and abilities at the Geisingen Arena. These races will be held every second week on a Thursday night. There was a great turn out with over 60 skaters racing.

The senior skaters had a flying lap (200m) and 3km race, the 6km points race was cancelled. The seniors also paired up with skaters from the B and C categories for 2km ProAm races. Each skater had a partner and it was like a teams race, with so many skaters we had to skate 4 of these 2km races.

Here are the times from the flying lap, these were done solo so there was no drafting. With more skaters showing up than anticipated there was a shortage of timing chips so some skaters had to share with others, hence the funny names below. Kalon and Najib had the exact same time, they both ran another 200 but neither of them could better their first time. I done a 15.667 so I'm pretty happy with that.

Pamplona

This Friday I head to Pamplona for the WIC race on Saturday and the road racing on Sunday. The WIC race is 30km for the women and 42km for the men. The course is 1200 meters with a turn at each end and apparently a slight rise. I didn't get the chance to race in Pamplona last year so this will be my first ever visit to the city. Quite a few national teams will be there, including Colombia so there should be some real top class racing. Had a quick look at the long range weather forecast and one site I looked at is predicting rain with the chance of thunder storms on Sunday. Then another site said Saturday afternoon/evening chance of rain and thunder. What is up with the weather?