You may first start solving the Shani 'i do my own thing' D. vs Redneck Hadrick controverse ;)

Shani's mum was wearing an all orange outfit to support our Dutch skaters to beat Hedrick :)

i am in love with this sport. the similarities are many.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/olympic...ythirteen9.jpg
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/20...fri_0344_R.jpg

and how about the men's relay last nite?

What's that copper tubing thing by the falling guy?

i'm gonna guess his tire. (edit) same as the guy at right side of frame.

Whoa, yeah.
You can see the tire ripping off on the far right guy's wheel, too.

priceless :)

here's a question regarding either sport or both. do they both always race counter clockwise? and if so what kind of training is needed to counter the emphasis on one side of the body?

i know for the ice skating their skates are slightly curved in a left circle! No joke. I dont know if the shorttrack skaters do have the same. Im talking about the 500m-10K dudes.

interesting.

in other news, our thread is too late.. the 2 sports have already become one.

http://www.landroller.com/myimages/apolo1.jpg

sure enough:


BONT GT SPEC R Short Track
Bont developed the GT Series of blades with design input from some of the world's top skaters. Includes a 7000 Series aluminum frame, powder-fused tool steel blade, hardened blade to 64 Rockwell, standard 9 meter radius blades, 18" maximum length, and carbon fiber cups. The blades can be ordered straight or machine bent and come in standard thickness of 1.0, but we offer from 0.9 to 1.5 with almost any radius and bend you desire.

Well, short track blades are rockered and slightly bent to make turns easier - they're also a little offset to the left so you don't boot out when you lean.

Long track blades are rockered only. They don't have the bend because they have a heck of a lot more straightaway to contend with I believe. (And their turns aren't quite as sharp.)

We do go only one direction incompetition. In practice we do some work the other way. I know most shorttrackers do have a slightly large left leg for this reason. But realistically, the only time there is a difference is when you are doing the pivots around the corners. The rest of the time you are using both of your legs pretty equally.

Track is run counter-clockwise too, and predates both cycling and organized speed skating.

aren't some long track blades also spring-hinged in the front to keep the blade on the ice a fraction of a second longer when the leg is extended.

There were others before:

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0115194.html

Hah! Serves me right for believing NBC.

Yup, called a "clap" mechanism. If you listened carefully during the Olympics, you could hear it.

They're also kinda expensive, so people who aren't really good/have loads o' money just get the basic fixed blade.

short track skating is way more intersting than keirin. Maybe if Keirin was run on 250m tracks with 50 deg banks it would be a little more like it.

tim

yes, me too...checking it out I found this:
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/ncsa/ncsa.html
I might try it if I can rent some skates.