Speed skating or
speedskating is a
competitiveCompetition is a contest between individuals, groups, nations, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or allocation of resources. It arises whenever two or more parties strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same...
form of
ice skatingIce skating is moving on ice by use of ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water such as lakes and...
in which the competitors
racethumb|right|Air racing: Hungarian aerobatics pilot Peter Besenyei at speed in his Extra 300 at an air race in EnglandA sport race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock or to a specific point. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest...
each other in traveling a certain distance on
skatesIce skates are boots with blades attached to the bottom, used to propel oneself across a sheet of ice. They are often worn as footwear in ice hockey. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps...
. Types of speedskating are long track speedskating,
short track speedskatingShort track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters skate on an oval ice track with a circumference of 111.12 m...
and marathon speed skating. In the Olympic Games, long track speedskating is usually referred to as just
speedskating, while short track speedskating is known as
short track. The ISU, governing body of both ice sports, refers to long track as "speed skating" and short track as "short track speed skating".
Long track speed skating
Long track speed skating is performed on ice. It is one of two Olympic forms of the sport and the one with the longer history. An international federation was founded in 1892, the first for any winter sports. The sport enjoys large popularity in the Netherlands and
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
. There are top international rinks in a number of other countries, including
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
South KoreaSouth Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often simply referred to as Korea, is a country in East Asia, located on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by China to the west, Japan to the east, and North Korea to the north. Its capital is Seoul, the second largest...
,
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. A
World CupThe Speed Skating World Cup is a series of international speed skating competitions, organised yearly by the International Skating Union since the winter of 1985/1986. Every year during the winter, a number of competitions on a number of different distances are held...
circuit is held with events in the two countries, and with two events in
ThialfThialf is an arena in Heerenveen, Netherlands, primarily used for speedskating and ice hockey. Thialf, named after Thor's servant Thialfi who had to race a giant, opened in 1967 as an outdoor rink...
, the ice hall in
HeerenveenHeerenveen is a municipality and a town in the province of Friesland , in the north of the Netherlands.- Population centres :Population as of 1 January 2004:...
, the Netherlands.
The sport is described as
long track in American usage because a 400 m oval is used, as opposed to a 111 m oval on a hockey rink in short track skating.
Races are exclusively held as
time trialIn many racing sports an athlete will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. In cycling, for example, a time trial can be a single track cycling event, or an individual or team time trial on the road, and either or both of the latter may form components of...
s, with skaters starting in pairs or, in lower-level racing, in quartets. The skaters do one inner curve and one outer curve on each lap, changing on the back straight. There is thus no real need to standardize the inner radius of each curve, as long as the length of an outer plus an inner plus two straights equals 400 meters. The
International Skating UnionThe International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, The Netherlands in 1892, making it one of the oldest...
rules allow some leeway in the size and radius of curves.
Short track speed skating
Short track skating is mass start racing on a smaller rink, normally the size of an
ice hockeyIce Hockey is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a puck into the opposing team's goal. It is a fast-paced and physical sport...
rink. Distances are shorter than in long track racing, with the longest Olympic race being the 1500 metres. Races are usually held as knockouts, with the best two in heats of four or five qualifying for the final race, where medals are awarded. Disqualifications and falls are not uncommon.
The sport originates from packstyle events held in North America, and was officially sanctioned in the 1970s, becoming an Olympic sport in 1992. Although this form of speed skating is newer, it is growing faster than long track speed skating.
Marathon speed skating
Ice marathon races, also known as
packstyle races, are long distance races with mass start, where the first to complete a set number of laps wins (on an oval), or the first to the finish line wins (in case of outdoor races such as the
ElfstedentochtThe Elfstedentocht is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands....
).
Marathon races are not officially governed by the
International Skating UnionThe International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, The Netherlands in 1892, making it one of the oldest...
, but the Dutch skating federation organises races both in the Netherlands and abroad, due to the lack of natural ice nowadays in the Netherlands.
Racing
Racing can be done with individual start, as in long track speed skating or in time trial races of inline skating, where a maximum of four skaters start at the same time. Skaters are timed, and the times are compared at the end. Races may also be held with a mass start, as is done in marathon ice speed skating, marathon skating, tour skating, short track skating or in most roller skating events. The first skater to cross the finish line wins, though there may be a series of eliminating heats where finishing among the top fraction of the participants is enough to advance in the competition.
There are variations on the mass start races. In the regulations of roller sports, eight different types of mass starts are described: among them are elimination races, where one or more competitors are eliminated at fixed points during the course; simple distance races, which may include preliminary knockout races; endurance races with time limits instead of a fixed distance;
points raceA points race is a mass start track cycling event involving large numbers of riders simultaneously on track. It is an Olympic discipline.This race can be one of the more confusing races to watch for less familiar viewers. Put simply this is a race over a long distance, usually 120-160 laps for men...
s; and
individual pursuitThe individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track.The event is held over 4km for men and 3km for women. The two riders start at the same time and set off to complete the race distance in the fastest time. They...
s.
Races will usually have some rules about disqualification if an opponent is unfairly hindered; these rules vary between the disciplines. In long track speed skating, almost any infringement on the pairmate is punished, though skaters are permitted to change from the inner to the outer lane out of the final curve if they are not able to hold the inner curve, as long as they are not interfering with the other skater. In mass start races, skaters will usually be allowed some physical contact.
Team races are also held; in long track speed skating the only team race at the highest level of competition is the
team pursuitThe team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, start on opposite sides of the velodrome.- Race format :...
, though athletics-style
relay raceDuring a relay race, members of a team take turns running, orienteering, swimming, cross-country skiing, biathlon, or skating parts of a circuit or performing a certain action. Relay races take the form of professional races and amateur games...
s are held at children's competitions. Relay races are also held in short track and inline competitions, but here exchanges may take place at any time during the race, though exchanges may be banned during the last couple of laps.
Most races are held on an oval course, but there are exceptions. Oval sizes vary; in short track speed skating the rink must be an oval of 111.12 metres, while long track speed skating uses a similarly standardized 400 m rink. Inline skating rinks are between 125 and 400 metres, though banked tracks can only be 250 metres long. Inline skating can also be held on closed road courses between 400 and 1,000 metres, as well as open road competitions where starting and finishing lines do not coincide. This is also a feature of outdoor marathons.
In the Netherlands, marathon competitions may be held on natural ice, on canals, lakes or rivers, but may also be held on artificially frozen 400 m tracks, with skaters circling the track 100 times, for example.
History
Most skating sports have origins beyond the 20th century, with long track speed skating the first to be organised with international competition. In
HeimskringlaHeimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...
, king
Eystein MagnussonEystein I was king of Norway from 1103 to 1123.Eystein became king together with his brothers Sigurd and Olaf when his father Magnus Barefoot died in 1103...
, later king Eystein I of Norway, boasts of his skills racing on
ice legs. Touring rivers on ice skates has been known since at least the 18th century, when people began to skate between the 11 cities of Friesland, a challenge that gave rise to the
ElfstedentochtThe Elfstedentocht is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands....
.
ISU development
Organised races on ice skates developed in the 19th century. Norwegian clubs hosted competitions from 1863, with races in Christiania (nowadays known as
Oslois the capital and largest city in Norway. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the town was largely destroyed by a fire in 1624. The Danish–Norwegian king Christian IV rebuilt the city as Christiania . Oslo, then an alternative name, became official again in 1925...
) drawing five-digit crowds. In 1884, the Norwegian
Axel PaulsenAxel Paulsen was a Norwegian figure skater and speed skater. He is the inventor of the figure skating Axel jump.Paulson first executed the jump in 1882, while wearing speed skates.-External links:*...
was named
Amateur Champion Skater of the World after winning competitions in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Five years later, a sports club in Amsterdam invited to an ice skating event they called a
world championship, with participants from
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
as well as the host country. The
Internationale Eislauf Vereinigung, now known as the
International Skating UnionThe International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, and short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, The Netherlands in 1892, making it one of the oldest...
, was founded at a meeting of 15 national representatives in
ScheveningenScheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, as well as one of its subdistricts .Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse...
in 1892, the first international winter sports federation. The Nederlandse Schaatsrijderbond was founded in 1882, and had organised the world championships of 1890 and 1891. Competitions were held around tracks of varying lengths – the 1885 match between
Axel PaulsenAxel Paulsen was a Norwegian figure skater and speed skater. He is the inventor of the figure skating Axel jump.Paulson first executed the jump in 1882, while wearing speed skates.-External links:*...
and Remke van der Zee was skated on a track of 6/7
mileA mile is a unit of length in a number of different systems. In contemporary English, mile most commonly refers to the statute mile of 1,609.344 meters or the nautical mile of 1,852 meters...
s (1400 metres) – but the 400 metre track was standardised by ISU in 1892, along with the standard distances for world championships, 500 m, 1500 m, 5000 m and 10,000 m. Skaters were to start in pairs, each to their own lane, and changing lanes for every lap to ensure that each skater completed the same distance. This is what is now known as long track speedskating. Competitions were exclusively for amateur skaters, and rules were applied: Peter Sinnerud was disqualified for professionalism in 1904, and lost his world title.
Long track world records were registered since 1891, and improved rapidly,
Jaap EdenJacobus Johannes "Jaap" Eden was a Dutch athlete. He is as of 2009 the only male athlete to have won World Championships titles in both speed skating and cycling...
lowering the world 5000 metre record by half a minute during the Hamar European Championships in 1894. The record stood for 17 years, and it took 50 years to lower it by further half a minute.
Elfstedentocht and Dutch history
The
ElfstedentochtThe Elfstedentocht is a speed skating competition and leisure skating tour held irregularly in the province of Friesland, Netherlands....
was organised as a competition in 1909, and has been held at irregular intervals whenever the ice on the course is deemed good enough. Other outdoor races developed later, with Noord-Holland hosting a race in 1917, but the Dutch natural ice conditions have rarely been conducive to skating. The Elfstedentocht has been held 15 times in the nearly 100 years since 1909, and before artificial ice was available in 1962, national championships had been held in 25 of the years between 1887, when the first championship was held in
SlikkerveerSlikkerveer is a village in the municipality of Ridderkerk, South Holland, the Netherlands. In 2004, 8550 people lived in Slikkerveer.It is located about 6 km eastsoutheast of the city of Rotterdam...
, and 1961. Since artificial ice became common in the Netherlands, Dutch speed skaters have been among the world top in long track ice skating and marathon skating. Another solution to still be able to skate marathons on natural ice became the Alternative Elfstedentocht. The Alternative Elfstedentocht races take part in other countries like
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
or
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and all top marathon skaters as well as thousands of recreative skaters travel from outside the Netherlands to the location where the race is held. According to the
NRC HandelsbladNRC Handelsblad, often abbreviated to NRC, is a daily evening newspaper published in the Netherlands by PCM Uitgevers. The broadsheet was created on October 1, 1970 from merger of the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant and Algemeen Handelsblad . In 2006 a tabloid, nrc•next, was launched...
journalist Jaap Bloembergen, the country "takes a carnival look" during international skating championships, despite the fact that "people outside the country are not particularly interested."
Speed Skating
At the 1914 Olympic Congress, the delegates agreed to include ice speed skating in the 1916 Summer Olympics in 1916 Olympics, after figure skating had featured in the 1908 Olympics. However, World War I put an end to the plans of Olympic competition, and it wasn't until the winter sports week in Chamonix in 1924 – retrospectively awarded Olympic status, that ice speed skating reached the Olympic programme.Charles Jewtraw from Lake Placid, New York won the first Olympic gold medal, though several Norwegians in attendance claimed Oskar Olsen had clocked a better time. Timing issues on the 500 were a problem within the sport until electronic clocks arrived in the 1960s; during the 1936 Olympic 500 metre race, it was suggested that Ivar Ballangrud's 500 metre time was almost a second too good. Finland won the remaining four gold medals at the 1924 Games, with Clas Thunberg winning 1,500 metres, 5,000 metres, and allround. It was the first and only time an allround Olympic gold medal has been awarded in speed skating.
Norwegian and Finnish skaters won all the gold medals in world championships between the world wars, with Latvians and Austrians visiting the podium in the European Championships. However, North American races were usually conducted
packstyle, similar to the marathon races in the Netherlands, but the Olympic races were to be held over the four ISU-approved distances. The ISU approved the suggestion that the Speed skating at the 1932 Winter Olympics 1932 Olympic speed skating competitions should be held as packstyle races, and Americans won all four gold medals. Canada won five medals, all silver and bronze, while defending World Champion Clas Thunberg stayed at home, protesting against this form of racing. At the World Championships held immediately after the Games, without the American champions, Norwegian racers won all four distances and occupied the three top spots in the allround standings.
Norwegians, Swedes, Finns and Japanese skating leaders protested to the USOC, condemning the manner of competition, and expressing the wish that mass start races were never to be held again at the Olympics. However, ISU adopted the short track speed skating branch, with mass start races on shorter tracks, in 1967, arranged international competitions from 1976, and brought them back to the Olympics in 1992.
North American professionals
Roller skating races also developed. These were professional from an early stage. Professional World Championships were arranged in North America between the competitors on that circuit. Later,
roller derbyRoller derby is an American-invented contact sport—and historically, a form of sports entertainment—based on formation roller skating around an oval track, with points scored as certain players lap members of an opposing team. In past decades, roller derby had been primarily a professional or paid...
leagues appeared, a professional contact sport which originally was a form of racing.
FIRSThe International Roller Sports Federation or Fédération Internationale roller sports is the world governing body for roller sports, including rink hockey, inline hockey, speed skating and artistic roller skating...
World Championships of inline speed skating go back to the 1980s, but many world champions, such as
Derek ParraDerek Parra is a Mexican-American speed skater from San Bernardino, California, who graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1988. Parra won two medals at the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah.Parra was originally a world champion inline speed skater...
and
Chad HedrickChad Hedrick is an American inline speed skater and ice speed skater. He was born in Spring, Texas.Hedrick revolutionized the inline speed skating world with his unique technique, called the double push or DP, now the standard skating technique for élite skaters...
, have switched to ice in order to win Olympic medals.
Like roller skating, ice speed skating was also professional in North America.
Oscar MathisenOscar Wilhelm Mathisen was a Norwegian speed skater and celebrity, almost rivalling Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen as symbols for a young nation...
, five-time ISU world champion and three-time European champion, renounced his amateur status in 1916 and travelled to America, where he won many races but was beaten by Bobby McLean of
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
, four time American champion, in one of the races. Chicago was a centre of ice speed skating in America, with the
Chicago TribuneThe Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company...
sponsored a competition called the Silver Skates from 1917 to 1974.
Women's competitions
In the 1930s, women began to be accepted in ISU speed skating competitions. Although women's races had been held in North America for some time, and competed at the 1932 Winter Olympics in a demonstration event, the ISU did not organise official competitions until 1936. However, Zofia Nehringowa set the first official world record in 1929. Women's speed skating was not very high profile; in
Skøytesportens stjerner (Stars of the skating sport), a Norwegian work from 1971, no female skaters are mentioned on the book's nearly 200 pages, though they had by then competed for nearly 30 years. The women's long track speed skating was since dominated by East Germany and later
reunifiedGerman reunification is the process in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and Berlin was united into a single city-state. The start of this process is commonly referred to by former citizens of the GDR as die Wende...
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, who have won 15 of 35 Olympic gold medals in women's long track since 1984.
In most other skating sports, women were accepted into competition at the same time, and they have been with the short trackers from the start of international competition in 1976. Their distances are usually shorter than the men's, but not in inline skating, where women skate the same program as the men in World Championships.
Technical developments
Artificial ice entered the long track competitions with the
1960 Winter OlympicsThe 1960 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VIII Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated between February 18 and February 28, 1960 in Squaw Valley, California, United States . Squaw Valley won the bid in 1955...
, and the competitions in 1956 on
Lake MisurinaLake Misurina is the greater natural lake of the Cadore and it is 1,754 m above sea level, fraction of Auronzo di Cadore . The perimeter is 2.6 km long, while the depth is 5 m....
were the last Olympic competitions on natural ice. 1960 also saw the first Winter Olympic competitions for women.
Lidia SkoblikovaLidiya Pavlovna Skoblikova is the most successful Olympic speed skater in terms of Olympic gold medals. Representing the USSR Olympic team during the Olympic Winter Games in 1960 and 1964, she won a total of six gold medals, still a record number for a speed skater...
won two gold medals in 1960, and four in 1964.
More aerodynamic skating suits were also developed, with Swiss skater
Franz KrienbühlFranz Krienbühl was a Swiss speed skater who is mostly known for his inventions that changed the sport....
(who finished 8th on the Olympic 10,000 m at the age of 46) at the front of development. After a while, national teams took over development of "body suits", which are also used in short track skating, though without headcover attached to the suit – short trackers wear helmets instead, as falls are more common in mass start races. Suits and indoor skating, as well as the clap skate, has helped to lower long track world records considerably; from 1971 to 2007, the average speed on the men's 1500 metres has been raised from 45 to 52 km/h. Similar speed increases are shown in the other distances.
Professionalism
After the 1972 season, European long track skaters founded a professional league,
International Speedskating League, which included
Ard SchenkAdrianus "Ard" Schenk is a former speed skater from the Netherlands, who is considered to be one of the best in history. He was born in Anna Paulowna, Noord-Holland.-Short Biography:...
, three-time Olympic gold medallist in 1972, as well as five Norwegians, four other Dutchmen, three Swedes, and a few other skaters.
Jonny NilssonErling Martin Jonny Nilsson is a former speed skater from Sweden.-Biography:He was born in Göteborg. Sixty Five days before his 20th birthday, Jonny Nilsson made his international debut at the European Allround Championships in 1962, finishing 15th...
, 1963 world champion and Olympic gold medallist, was the driving force behind the league, which folded in 1974 for economic reasons, and ISU also excluded tracks hosting professional races from future international championships. The ISU later organised its own World Cup circuit with monetary prizes, and full time professional teams developed in the Netherlands during the 1990s, which led them to a dominance on the men's side only challenged by Japanese 500 m racers and American inline skaters who changed to long tracks to win Olympic gold.
Short track enters the Olympics
In 1992, short track speed skating was accepted as an Olympic sport. Short track speed skating had little following in the long track speed skating countries of Europe, such as Norway, the Netherlands and the former Soviet Union, with none of these nations having won official medals (though the Netherlands won two gold medals when the sport was a demonstration event in 1988). The Norwegian publication
Sportsboken spent ten pages detailing the long track speed skating events at the Albertville Games in 1992, but short track were not mentioned by word, though the results pages appeared in that section. South Korea has been the dominant nation in this sport, winning 17 Olympic gold medals, though there have also been American inline skaters switching to this, such as
Allison BaverAllison Baver is an American short track speed skater. Baver trains with the US permanent winter sports Olympic team, in Salt Lake City, Utah...
of USA.
Books about speed skating
- Dianne Holum: The Complete Handbook of Speed Skating (1984), ISBN 0-89490-051-X
- USOC: A Basic Guide to Speed Skating, Griffin Publishers - Torrance/Ca. (2002), ISBN 1-58000-087-8
- Barry Publow: Speed on Skates, Human Kinetics Publishers - Champaign, Ill. (1999), ISBN 0-88011-721-4
- Matthias Opatz: Taschenfibel Eisschnelllauf (Pocketguide Speedskating), Lotok Publ. - Stedten-upon-Ilm/GER (2005), ISBN 3-939088-00-5
See also
- List of speed skaters
- List of speed skating records
- Adelskalender
The Adelskalender is a ranking for long track speed skating based on skaters' all-time personal records for certain distances...
- Speedskating World
Speedskating World is an international magazine devoted to news and discussions pertaining to speed skating and speedskaters. The magazine is the only English-language publication of its kind, and has had subscribers in more than twenty-five countries. The SSW first saw light in 1995, and...
- Fen skating
Fen skating is a traditional form of Ice skating in the Fenland of England. The Fens of East Anglia, with their meres and washes, networks of drainage ditches, slow-flowing rivers and easily flooded meadows, form an ideal skating terrain. Skates were introduced into Britain from Holland or France...
Further references