Wasatch Speed Skating will be holding informal races at 7:30 PM on
Wednesday, October 28 during the public skating session. The objective
of these races is to introduce more people to the sport of speedskating,
and to show that ordinary people can give the sport a try.

We will need some assistance in the following areas:

Skating ambassadors: Wear your speedskates and some kind of club or
association apparel, talk to people about speedskating, answer any
questions that people might have.

Crowd control: Help the ice guards herd people off the competition lanes
onto the warm-up lane, keep people off the competition lane during the
races.

Information table: Staff an information table with sample short and long
track speed skates, club and association information, sign-up forms for
Learn to Speedskate classes.

Announcer: Use a cordless microphone to announce the beginning of the
event, possible commentary on the races, make it interesting for the
spectators and participants.

Race director: Divide up participants into smaller groups based on
age/gender, herd skaters to start line.

Finish judge: Pick out first/second/third place finishers.

Timer: Get approximate time of winner.

Starter: Send the skaters off the line.

Prizes: Hand out WSSA T-shirts (and other valuable prizes) to winners.

Demonstration Racers: Two skaters to race a single lap, nothing extreme
needed.

The people on the ice should preferably wear athletic clothes other than
skinsuits, so that the public sees that skaters are (fairly) normal
people. Warm-up (sweat) pants and a club/association jacket would be ideal.

If you would like to help out, send me e-mail (drewsxmi@...) or
talk to me during open speed skating on Monday.

Depending on how well this event works we would like to do similar
events once or twice per week during the most popular public sessions.

Michael Drews
WSSA