FAQS
Who (or what) is GMSA?
Where and when do you skate?
Where can I get more information?
Who (or what) is GMSA?
To quote from the GMSA constitution: "The purpose and objectives of the Association shall be to encourage, advance, improve, and control amateur speedskating in all its branches within the territory allotted to the Greater Minnesota Association by the Amateur Speedskating Union of the United States." (This includes Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and the counties of Western Wisconsin.) In addition, GMSA seeks to "instruct and train youth to develop and improve their capabilities in the amateur sport of speedskating; to encourage, promote, educate, control, and develop competitive speedskating; and to develop by these means excellence in national and international competition." GMSA is a non-profit organization whose primary activities include purchasing (contracting for) seasonal ice time at the John Rose Minnesota Oval and other local short-track venues, conducting pack-style and metric meets on weekends throughout the season, securing ice time and officials (judges, timers, referees, clerks, starters, etc.) for regional and national meets, and addressing the needs of the various speedskating clubs who practice and compete on GMSA contracted ice. All necessary labor for planning and conducting these meets is by unpaid volunteers.
Where and when do you skate?
Most of the long track speedskating practice and competition is done at the John Rose Minnesota Oval in Roseville. Our skating season typically begins in early November and ends in early March. Normally we purchase practice ice on weekday evenings, typically Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings throughout the season. Pack-style meets are held on Saturday mornings with competition in all age classes at various distances. Metric time trials are held on Sunday mornings and skaters can sign up for two metric distances. Metric skaters are paired according to ability, and typical distances include 500, 1000, 1500, 3000, and 5000 meters.
Where can I get more information?
There are two national sanctioning organizations in speedskating, and in 2002 these two organizations will merge into one national body. The Amateur Speedskating Union currently oversees pack-style racing according to age group. There are many ASU sanctioned national meets every year, including the National Championships (both long track and short track); North American Championships (long and short track); National Marathon Championships (long track), and others. The ASU website can be found at: www.speedskating.org US Speedskating, the other national sanctioning organization, currently oversees metric or Olympic-style speedskating, and also includes elite-level short track competitions. US Speedskating sanctions the Americas Cup series of long track and short track meets, as well as many regional and national qualifying meets. The US Olympic trials are conducted by US Speedskating, and their website can be found at: www.usspeedskating.org Both sites have postings of recent meet results and have many links to other speedskating-related sites.