Coordinator\/Reporter\u00a0 Kenji Takai (Yamagata)<\/p>\n
Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n 27th<\/sup> Annual Masters International All Round Games took place in one of the most beautiful outdoor ice rinks, Baselga di Pine, Italy for three days from Jan 19. \u00a0One hundred fifty six, including thirty nine ladies, gathered from sixteen countries, 30 year old as youngest to 75 year old girl and 83 year old boy.\u00a0 The games are categorized to three groups, Men 30 to 60, Men over 65, and all ladies from 30.\u00a0 Skaters of Men 30 to 60 challenged 4 distances of 500, 1500, 3000, and 5000 while that of Men over 65 and all Ladies did 500, 1500, 1000, and 3000.<\/p>\n Day 1<\/strong><\/p>\n It was very cold morning at 950m altitude outdoor rink. Still dark when I walked into the balcony of hotel to view the rink.\u00a0\u00a0 Sun just came up between mountains when skaters started their warm up practice.\u00a0 There was a few spot of clouds but no complain to this beautiful blue sky with silent of wind.<\/p>\n Ladies 500m distance opened the games at 10am.\u00a0 The pairing was drawn based on their time ranking.\u00a0\u00a0 Kazuko Takahashi, L55, was inner lane of pair number 4 against Altanttsetseg Luvsanlkagva. L60 from Mongol.\u00a0\u00a0 First happening occurred, however, just after 3rd<\/sup> pair finished. \u00a0Kazuko was ready for the start line but forced out to wait for next 7 minutes due to malfunction of the finish signal and some sort of problem of starter equipment. The game resumed.\u00a0 Kazuko opened 14.97 and finished 57.65, 6th<\/sup> place out of 7 skaters in L55.<\/p>\n Gradually sun moved up in the blue sky, the temperature goes up higher by noon.\u00a0 Sei Takayama, L50, moved on to ice rink.\u00a0 He was inner lane of pair 7, paired against Patrizio Guilioni, L45.\u00a0 He set very good opening, 11.80, the fourth fastest time in the most competitive age group, but phased out his gas for next 400m, finished 44.75, 13th<\/sup> of 20.<\/p>\n The strong sun made very warm environment for me to watch the games but made ice very softer and heavier for skaters.\u00a0\u00a0 Ladies 2nd<\/sup> distance, quartet start of 1500m, started but another happening again to Kazuo.\u00a0\u00a0 She was inner lane of 2nd<\/sup> pair overall of the first quartet.\u00a0 It was only one skater as 1st<\/sup> pair before Kazuo\u2019s start. The ice resurface was completed but Kazuo was not on ice.\u00a0\u00a0 The announcement was made by Italian and English, but not Japanese.\u00a0 She seemed to hear \u201cfifty minutes\u201d, instead of ice resurface for \u201cfifteen minutes\u201d. I was looking around and said into ladies dressing room, \u201cIs Japanese there?\u201d\u00a0 Someone said \u201cyes\u201d.\u00a0 She was found at dressing room where she was relaxing.\u00a0 She jumped up to wear cloths and rushed to ice.\u00a0 The skater of first pair was already a halfway to finish.\u00a0 She was not even able to do a lap before her start.\u00a0 But she was at the start line in time, against the same Mongolian skater.\u00a0 Her opening, 36.64, was 5th<\/sup> overall in her age group.\u00a0 However, the soft ice resisted her speed down lap by lap, ended to 3:06.63, 6th<\/sup> place of 7 skaters in her age group, 5.614 points behind 5th<\/sup> place.<\/p>\n First Day (Jan 19, Friday)<\/p>\n Sei Takayama \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (M50)\u00a0\u00a0 500m\u00a0\u00a0 44.74\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 13th<\/sup> Place<\/p>\n Kazuko Takahashi \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (L55)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 500m\u00a0\u00a0 57.65\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 6th<\/sup> Place,\u00a0 1500m\u00a0 3:06.63 6th<\/sup> Place<\/p>\n Day 2<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the best morning, no clouds no wind. Men 3000m started at 10am in Day 2.\u00a0 Sei was inner lane of 7th<\/sup> overall pair, 4th<\/sup> quartet.\u00a0 His opening was 22.71, consistently lapped around 40 seconds each.\u00a0 But he was not good acceleration to attach, resulting 15th<\/sup> place of his age group, 5:07.21.<\/p>\n Ladies 3rd<\/sup> distance is 1000m, which starts now \u201ca battle in age group.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 First two distances were mixed age group.\u00a0\u00a0 Kazuko was outer lane of pair number 5, against Kathy Feinberg from USA who is currently standing 5th<\/sup> place.\u00a0 Kazuko was good start to lead first several laps but could not catch up her pace, ended 1:58.49, still 6th<\/sup> place of her age group.<\/p>\n It was long wait for Sei to start his 3rd<\/sup> distance, 1500m, after his 3000m in the morning. His start was around 15:30.\u00a0 He was inner lane of 3rd<\/sup> pair, 2nd<\/sup> quartet of his age group, pairing against Ruud Bouwmeester from The Netherlands.\u00a0 Sei was 9 seconds faster Ruud in 3000m, led about 2 points before 1500m.\u00a0 However, the ice resisted Sei to finish 12 seconds behind Ruud.\u00a0 Now Sei dropped to 16th<\/sup> place in his age group, timed 2:23.74.<\/p>\n Second Day (Jan 20, Saturday)<\/p>\n Sei Takayama \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (M50)\u00a0\u00a0 3000m\u00a0 5:07.21 15th<\/sup> Place,\u00a0 1500m\u00a0 2:23.74 16th<\/sup> Place<\/p>\n Kazuko Takahashi \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (L55)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1000m\u00a0 1:58.49 6th<\/sup> Place<\/p>\n Last Day<\/strong><\/p>\n It was very windy Sunday from the morning.\u00a0 Sun showed up sometimes but the strong wind, blowing leaves to the ice, was a key factor of the day.\u00a0 Kazuko, 8.5 points behind 5th<\/sup> place, was against Ingunn Sando from Norway.\u00a0 Kazuko held tight first two minutes against Ingunn but the gap was opened gradually, finished 6:29.79, 16 seconds behind Ingunn, resulting 244.070 points after completed 4th<\/sup> distance.<\/p>\n It was around 14:00 that Sei started his last distance 5000m, against Hans-Gerd Heyne from Germany, 3rd<\/sup> pair of 2nd<\/sup> quartet of his age group.\u00a0 The wind was extremely heavy the afternoon.\u00a0 Sei skated very close by the coaches alongside the safety guard, which is all about to prevent the wind.\u00a0 He was leading as much as 5 minutes against Hans-Gerd.\u00a0 Lap by lap he was not able to pick up his speed against the wind, finished 9:43.63, 17th<\/sup> place in his age group.\u00a0 He completed all 4 distances!<\/p>\n Last Day (Jan 21, Sunday)<\/p>\n Sei Takayama \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (M50)\u00a0\u00a0 5000m\u00a0 9:43.634\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 17th<\/sup> Place\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overall Points 202.218\/17th<\/sup><\/p>\n Kazuko Takahashi \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (L55)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 3000m\u00a0 6:23.79 6th<\/sup> Place\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Overall Points 244.070\/6th<\/sup><\/p>\n Recap<\/strong><\/p>\n Our absolute champion, Victor van den Hoff, from The Netherlands (M60) was DQed. It was as if I was seeing \u201cd\u00e9j\u00e0 vu\u201d of Vancouver Olympic.\u00a0 It was happening at the last quartet of Men 60, the last race of the game.\u00a0 It was to be the championship race that he was leading 2.176 points, no one closer to him.\u00a0\u00a0 The heavy wind seemed to give no pressure to him.\u00a0 He was attaching from the first lap and everyone watched him controlled his race.\u00a0 BUT, Victor went into outer lane from out.\u00a0 He realized his mistake after the lap and stopped his race. Everyone there was stunned.<\/p>\n There are 7 more DQed due to miss-crossing lane.\u00a0 Another phenomenon happened to Arne Kjell Foldvik, our oldest skater in the game, missed the lane change.<\/p>\n The entrance for dressing room is located near 1500m start area.\u00a0 Many audiences and supports came out to line up the back straight behind coaches, cheering and sounding so laud.\u00a0 It seems to have confused many of skaters home straight and back straight.\u00a0\u00a0 Well, no one else knows the true but the skaters do.<\/p>\n Atmosphere in Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n Kazuko and Sei participated in All Japan Masters Championship weekend ago.\u00a0 They must be tired but we took a flight to Venice in Italy next day.\u00a0 We arrived there Wednesday morning so that we took sightseeing in Venice before going to Pine.\u00a0 It was totally different world for us as skaters from Japan, walking all days till dark, drinking Italian wines and beers, enjoying their excellent foods in middle the night in Japan. Next morning we drove up to the mountain and checked in the hotel where the beautiful outdoor ice rink is just few meters away. \u00a0\u00a0Friends whose faces are very much familiar with are there to welcome us.\u00a0 We had had breakfast, lunch, and even dinner at the Hotel, which we were able to focus on skating after exhausting walking tour in Vince.\u00a0 At the award ceremony and banquet party after the race, we all meet, drinking Italian wine, having Italian dinner, talking about skate, and exchanging gift.\u00a0 Round around the table, all is asking about Masters Games in Japan.\u00a0 I promised to happen in very near future.\u00a0 I asked a question whether everyone comes to Japan for the event, then all answered yes.<\/p>\n On behalf of team Japan, I am very thankful for Italian organizers and staffs that made this event. I emphasize to give the best regards to all of participants from 16 nations.\u00a0 And I thank you, Sei and Kazuko to join Team Japan to complete their mission of MARG2018.\u00a0 See you all in Bjugn, Norway next year!<\/p>\n Kenji<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Coordinator\/Reporter\u00a0 Kenji Takai (Yamagata) Summary 27th Annual Masters International All Round Games took place in one of the most beautiful outdoor ice rinks, Baselga di Pine, Italy for three days […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"views":282,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/mag_2018_jap3.jpg?fit=969%2C545&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfJzkq-3W","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3852,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244\/revisions\/3852"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imssc.org\/mstr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}