Skating to silver
Island masters skater Rob Binns finishes second at North American competition
While P.E.I.’s speed-skaters have hung up their blades for the season, Speed Skate P.E.I. club member and masters skater Rob Binns had good news that he had finished second in a recent competition encompassing North America.
In the North American virtual short track masters time trial challenge in February, competitors from across the continent raced time trials in their own arenas in three distances.
Times were submitted to competition organizers to see where they ranked overall and within their age categories.
Binns, 44, finished second overall behind Ukrainian national team member Serhiy Lifyrenko, 31, among the 47 male competitors aged 30 and over.
Stratford’s Binns posted the second fastest times in the 1,500-metre and 1,000-metre distances, and third in the 500metre, good for second overall in the cumulative points ranking and tops in his 40-44 age group.
“I’ve skated in some world masters short track competitions in the past few years and thought that based on my results in those, I’d have a chance to do well in this This competition was a little more accessible to everyone since it could be skated at home, so I was looking forward to seeing how my times stacked up,” Binns said.
The Islander credits his coaches and training group for the success, along with the chance to share the sport with his children, who are current and past competitive speed skaters with the Charlottetownbased club.
“I was lucky that the kids, both my own and the rest of the group, accepted me into their world at the rink. We train hard and it is exciting to see all of them get faster from the effort they put in. We push each other and they’re keeping me young. While it’s mostly an individual sport, training as a team is a lot of the fun.”
More at www.speedskatepei.ca.