Last night I received an email from Dianne Gilleece (speedskater) who wanted to know if our readers would be interested in Buffalo speedskating. I looked at the email and thought, “Wow, there’s a speedskating club in Buffalo?” Fascinated, I contacted Dianne about the club and this is what she had to say:
“Yes, there’s a speedskating club in the city. We don’t have a stationary location yet. We reserve ice time at a couple different rinks, and since speedskating and other forms of skating don’t mix we do have set times. We skate Wednesdays at Riverside and Sundays at the Cazenovia Park rink. Every club has exactly fifty minutes of ice time, then the zamboni comes out before the next group gets out there. This skate club has been getting together for at least 20 years. We have a good mix of kids and adults… and we even have some younger skaters who are doing competitive skating and travel to meets. We see skaters from ages 10 to 70… I’ve been skating for a year now.”
The more I learned about this skating club the more I itched to find out how Dianne got involved just a year ago. “I did a search online and found the website. The group was extremely open for anyone who wants to try it. They bring extra skates and gear for people so they can see if they like it. Once they do put the skates on people get hooked. I only know of one person that dropped off. When I went out there I hadn’t been on skates for twenty years. It’s nice because some of the people who have been in the group for a while enjoy mentoring the newcomers. This coming season we’re dividing up the group even more, and we have a part time coach from Canada helping. It’s growing rapidly in the area, and we want to make the sport more accessible for people. We would like to eventually host a meet… but we’re not at that point yet. There are dues that cover the ice time and members are required to join United States Speedskating for insurance coverage. Buffalo State has a slot open on Fridays for people who want to speedskate in the morning. That’s a light workout since there are no pads… their ice is really nice though. We’re going to have a four-week ‘Learn To Skate’ program coming up. It’s three sessions for anyone who wants to learn the basics for speedskating. People can contact me for the dates. This is a very fun sport and people are always amazed that this type of club exists in Buffalo.”
If you would like to learn more about speedskating in Buffalo, feel free to contact Dianne, or visit the club’s website.