Hungarian Junior Championships - Part Two

Although it is called a 'Junior' Championship, there was a senior age category, too.
And it was too tempting not to enter :)

We spend too much time beside the skate track each week just looking at our kids doing the hard work so it is quite logical to turn that time into something useful - like skating. And with speed increasing, stability growing, our aimes get higher and higher each week :)
So another dad (Feri) and myself decided to enter - in fact we were three originally but then the third one played football a week before the event - and of course injured his knee. I've always known football was a bad sport :D

Feri on the left, me on the right

So we were two then but luckily a mum (Szilvi) jumped in so we could even enter the relays... wohooo. Well we practiced some relays the day before the race, I've fell right at the first one but nothing serious, just a little road rash on my right knee.

And then came the big day. In the senior men, there were 4 starting. We had 500m and 1600m to cover. I finished... erm... 4th :) but enjoyed it a lot. Then the relays started soon after, and there were 2 teams only - a sure silver \o/ as the other team had an ex-iceskater so it was no question who would win. But all our relays went nice, we all had 3 laps to go. The other team chose another strategy, 1 lap each for 2 of them and the rest was covered by Robes, the ex-iceskater.


Nevertheless, it was fun, and the kids were so supportive. It was good to race and I think it is something I'd like to do some more in the future. So.. better learn skating :D

Hungarian Junior Championships

The Hungarian Junior Championships were held at Jászberény on 21st June.

It was damn hot that day (too). I guess we've seen 35C or so, effectively no clouds during the day... Luckily the team's new tents (the blue Powerslide/Core/Matter type) have arrived and served well. We looked sooo professional... And again the race was an administrative catastrophe ballet, the start was set at 09:00 but no professional racer hit the track before noon :( And all those kids suffering in the heat... Damn. How on earth can it be done right in Germany or in the Czech or Slovakia? And how does it happen each and every time here in Hungary? An age-old curse sitting on us or just plain stupidity???

Anyway, Péter had 3 distances to race and 4 contestants in his age category. On 200m, he started awfully and came in the first turn 3rd, the guys behind him made it a clearly dangerous situation, almost crashing into him. Then he fired up the rockets and overtook Remete Botond from TDKE (in blue/white suit) in the straight, then the guy from KDSE, Hazafi Ádám (in red/black skinsuit) in the first half of the 2nd turn. From then it was a clear run but when he crossed the finish line his face told it all - "phew that was a tough one but I DID IT!"


Then on 300m he started much much better and dominated the race from start to finish (check his new helmet):


And at last he had a longer distance to race, 500m. He produced a wonderful start and had a nice lead soon.

Then after 1.5 laps he started to stand up a little bit but I was just there and shouted at him "You are getting slower, Pete" and those words worked like magic, he tucked in a wonderful low-sit position and produced a delicious flying lap, humilating the others so obviously.

So all in all he claimed unambiguous gold, hurray!


The team produced bit too few podiums or good results but they were right after a week-long training camp, putting many many miles in their legs on bikes for 7 days, so obviously they were all worn out and tired.

And at last, the federation has decided to have personal race numbers for a season, so we won't have to collect them and give them back at each race...

Helmets

We've been looking for a helmet for Péter for ages now, tried all kinds but with no success.

There were ones that would just sit on top of his head, too high.
Then the ones that looked good but did not hold on his head enough, I could push a finger between his head and the helmet, above his ears.
Then some others that almost covered his eyes when sitting properly.
Ah and of course the ones he disqualified at first sight.
So we saw all kinds, from cheap to expensive, big names, no names, etc...

But now - at last - LAS!
Fits perfectly, looks great (dark grey+white), is of the right size. Perfetto!


Phew...