Illinoistocht

Good luck to all the skaters in the Olympic competitions.  Both short track and long track speed skating have competitions today.  For the USA skaters, the men have a good chance for multiple medals in the 1500m, with Shani Davis favored to win gold.  In short track, Apolo Ohno and Katherine Reutter skate in their 1000m and 1500m individual events, respectively. 

I mentioned other outlets for information on skating and Olympics news in my last post--for basic information on your local speed skating scene, check out the Clubs & Programs tab on US Speedskating's website.  Other than the world class inline skaters that switched over to ice as adults, most speed skaters begin as young kids and compete in various age classes (the Tiny Tot age class cutoff is younger than 5 years old, as I recall, while other kids start out a little older).   Its a great activity if your kid wants to get involved.   There are also adult recreational classes with Masters age competitions.