The weather on the morning of Saturday, January 19th started calm and unseasonably warm. By the time the competitors in the American Cup & Junior World Cup hit the ice for warm-ups, however, things were starting to change. As the day wore on, the wind out of the west slowly increased as the temperatures slowly decreased. Puddles of water on the running track began to freeze and the flopping flags began to look like they had just been ironed.
While the best of the best in speedskating were competing at the World Cup in Calgary this weekend, plenty of formidable skaters (including many prominent Masters skaters) braved the conditions at the Oval to compete in races of 500m, 1000m, 3000, and 5000. Another round of 500m, 1500m, and the mass start will follow in the bitter cold on Sunday morning.
Here is a link to the photos from Saturday.
Here are some photos of the results:
MN Masters Speedskating 