Turul Cup again

Quite interestingly the closing competition of 2009 was called Turul Cup again, just like the one held in July. There were some international competitors from Poland, Germany, The Czech and Croatia but the field wasn't as large as it was in the summer.

All the previous years this event has been held in cold, windy, rainy weather in early October, but this time it was sunny at last! Peter was 2 points down from the local GyD on the annual overall so if he could have beat him by two places he could finish in a draw with him. I did not want to tell him much about it so not to put any pressure on him but he was asking about the overall so I had to outline these facts - better tell the truth than not.

Peter had 2 distances and a relay. First it was the shorter distance, 300m and it was the worst 300m he has ever raced so far :( Everything was bad. His start, his skating, his finish. He finished last and truth be told he cried a bit after that, he knew exactly he was completely lacking concentration and everything.

His finish in 7th place meant all of his hopes to catch GyD in overall were fading quickly. However he managed to calm down completely by the start of the 800m, he was like having the pressure off his shoulder and racing for fun. I don't know how this change came but we really tried to not tell any expectations to him before the race so I don't know if it were us doing something wrong or if it was his own mind working this way. Must learn to handle that and face any fears he has of short distances.

Well the 800m race itself went fine, he found a good position behind IT and traveled there until the last lap, where they both caught FB. IT overtook FB easier than Peter did and it made him slow down a bit and I guess this is why he missed 3rd place by an inch or so. GyD came in 5th. I think now (watching the video many times) if Peter could overtake IT before the bell for last lap then he could have a better position to overtake FB, but this is a lesson to be learnt by the videos and not realizing it on the track is no mistake at all.

Here is the finish line - let's be fair with the kids and don't tell them this is a difference of 0.25s... If there is no electronic time measurement then don't try to act like if there was. Simply put the winner's time in the sheets and no time for the finishers, still more fair than claiming such a difference was there. :p

So in this competition Peter finished 5th - no wonder after the fail on 300m, and that has put him in 4th place overall in the national championship in 2009. He could have grabbed 3rd place with some luck - but with a crash in July's race and with such awful short distance performances this is the maximum he could reach now. But his performances on longer distances are very promising for the future!

He entered the relays with IT and FB and after winning their semifinals they finished 2nd in the finals. So he did grab a medal in this race, too :)

I had 2 distances, too, 500m and 1500m. A new competitor, OB joined our small group and he finished 1st ahead of me in the shorter distance. Then IR senior arrived (20 minutes late for the short distance) so it was no question who would win the longer distance. He lapped me and then lapped OB right at the finish line. OB is a tall guy and while I was riding 'comfortably' behind him for some laps, at one point I simply could not match his longer pushes and he gained some advantage easily over me. However I am happy he was there and hope to see him again next year. All in all I finished 3rd this time but was declared the overall amateur champion for this year - but I know it is only because I was present in all competition :)