2002 Calgary Oval Finale - Special Races
© 2002
28/03/2002

March 22: A 5K pack-style race between coaches Sean Ireland / Derek Auch (in vintage skinsuits) and their skaters.

Sean almost won the race, and he hardly had to cheat. And Derek survived a surprising number of laps, for a sprinter! Makes me wonder if these guys retired a little too early(?)

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March 23: The first ever long track relay race

Here you can see a rare shot of Jeremy Wotherspoon (second photo) in his final race of the 2001/2002 season getting a push start! His team won the race. In the third photo, you see members of the "US" team Shana Sundstrom relaying (Canada's) Sterling Sobczak

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March 24: The women's 70 lap marathon

The first photo is taken after the two "neutral" laps, just as the gun goes off. There are 68 laps remaining.

In the third photo, you see Aki Narita from Japan leading the pack, with Canada's Nicole Slot just behind her. Narita did the bulk of the work of the marathon by leading many of the laps. Keep an eye on the leftmost skater in this photo.

The third last photo is from the final lap.

The final two photos are of the finish, with Tijn Ponjee of the Netherlands crossing first and Narita second.

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March 24: The men's 100 lap marathon

I simply captured the finish, with Marcin Goszczynski (from Calgary, with a bit of home ice advantage and the experience of three or more previous finale marathons) crossing the finish line first after a final sprint, well ahead of the large pack.

The second photo was taken just after Marcin returned his number jersey. There's an older photo of him here...

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