There was uncertainity until the last week exactly where it would take place - they've built a new, 200m banked track in Tatabánya recently but we heard news the asphalt cover was terrible, bumpy and uneven, so the club leader wanted it to be redone completely. That would put us back on the industrial roads near the city that were used in the previous races - see my spring opening review...
Well the last week it was confirmed the new track is a no-go :( Sad but at least understandable.
We decided to go a day early, do some shopping in Budapest (looking for some furniture elements and sportswear - for Peter of course...) and spend the night in Tatabánya, do a comfy wakeup and miss out the early-morning rush. Everything went fine but - the morning we woke up to see a day of slow, steady, un-forgiving rain under a grey grey sky. Bammmm. Now if there is an idea I don't like that is surely the idea of skating in rain in 8 C or so, with 25-30 km/h winds. Definitely not loving that.
Anyway we drove to the meeting point while contacting everyone else in the team so we met 4 other cars there and one local. He lead us to a school as we were told the amateurs will compete indoors. Wohoo, not a bad idea at all, I thought. Until I saw the gym :D
It was tiny! One round was about 70 metres all in all, and it had plastic cover. Skating on it it felt like skating on melted chewing gum until a point where it totally lost grip and you were off in the air, heading for the walls sooo close. I was like... erm... scared :)
We had 4 and 10 laps to cover. Completely missing warmup we started with the shorter one. Feri took the lead but suffered in the turns on his 100mm wheels, so in lap 3 I overtook him from the inner side. He made a nice recovery and it was a draw I think on the finish line - a photo finish would there be such a device around :) However a few good photos were shot where both of us are smiling, almost laughing while skating around.
For the 10-lap race we were joined by the ladies (so we were 4 on the track...) and this time he seemed to find a good trajectory and gained a small advantage lap by lap, I finished half a lap behind him.
It was early afternoon when the podium ceremony has finished and we all went out to the edge of the town - leaving everything behind you could associate with comfort.
It has dried until then (result of the heavy winds, not the heat) and Peter had his first distance, 200m, quite early. He missed warmup totally and suffered all the 200m, finishing with a face usually known only from the end of training sessions. Right after that we put him back in the car and (oh well forgive me all enviroment-friendly ones around) turned the heat full up with the engine running.
We decided to go a day early, do some shopping in Budapest (looking for some furniture elements and sportswear - for Peter of course...) and spend the night in Tatabánya, do a comfy wakeup and miss out the early-morning rush. Everything went fine but - the morning we woke up to see a day of slow, steady, un-forgiving rain under a grey grey sky. Bammmm. Now if there is an idea I don't like that is surely the idea of skating in rain in 8 C or so, with 25-30 km/h winds. Definitely not loving that.
Anyway we drove to the meeting point while contacting everyone else in the team so we met 4 other cars there and one local. He lead us to a school as we were told the amateurs will compete indoors. Wohoo, not a bad idea at all, I thought. Until I saw the gym :D
It was tiny! One round was about 70 metres all in all, and it had plastic cover. Skating on it it felt like skating on melted chewing gum until a point where it totally lost grip and you were off in the air, heading for the walls sooo close. I was like... erm... scared :)
We had 4 and 10 laps to cover. Completely missing warmup we started with the shorter one. Feri took the lead but suffered in the turns on his 100mm wheels, so in lap 3 I overtook him from the inner side. He made a nice recovery and it was a draw I think on the finish line - a photo finish would there be such a device around :) However a few good photos were shot where both of us are smiling, almost laughing while skating around.
For the 10-lap race we were joined by the ladies (so we were 4 on the track...) and this time he seemed to find a good trajectory and gained a small advantage lap by lap, I finished half a lap behind him.
It was early afternoon when the podium ceremony has finished and we all went out to the edge of the town - leaving everything behind you could associate with comfort.
It has dried until then (result of the heavy winds, not the heat) and Peter had his first distance, 200m, quite early. He missed warmup totally and suffered all the 200m, finishing with a face usually known only from the end of training sessions. Right after that we put him back in the car and (oh well forgive me all enviroment-friendly ones around) turned the heat full up with the engine running.
200m finish with same cat girls, sprinting along with teammate RekaHis 400m was a suffering one again - but he made it, won all 5 races in this year and became a champion with 100%!!!
He had a relay with Bence (2 years older), 3 * 700m. Bence started and was in pos. 2 when they changed:
He had a relay with Bence (2 years older), 3 * 700m. Bence started and was in pos. 2 when they changed:
On the headwind part of the course Peter was caught and overtaken but he managed to not fall back significantly and came in about 15 metres behind that guy:
It was Bence's turn again and he quickly reclaimed position #2 and held onto it until the finish. So it was a good race claiming a silver medal and remember, Peter was the youngest of all participating. But not the youngest one present :)
Moira fighting the windsWe had 2 series of podium ceremonies, first for this particular event (individual/relays), and the latter for the overall championships. In fact the team had quite a few times reason to cheers, seems like all the hard work is beginning to show in results.
Winner of XVII. Turul Cup
Cat E-F relays - silver
Hungarian Champion 2008, Cat. F
Hungarian Champion 2008, Cat. FGosh it was so good to get in the car... no wind and no chilling cold in there :) We had our usual post-race McDonalds visit, packed and headed home - it was a silent drive since both our small elves fell asleep quickly :)
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