2019-20 Speedskating Season News
The new speed skating season is less than a month away so we thought it was time to reach out and let you know of the changes that are in place for the season. Here is an outline of what is to come, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via mnspeedskating.com.
In the past, the evening and weekend speed skating ice was purchased by Greater Minnesota Speedskating Association (GMSA) from the City of Roseville. In order to skate on this ice, a skater needed to be a member of US Speedskating and purchase a GMSA membership. GMSA offered different membership levels; full, partial, and one time per week each with a different fee. This system will no longer be in place.
Starting this year the City of Roseville will be providing OVAL Speed Skating sessions at various times throughout the week. These new sessions will be in addition to the previous Public Speed Skating sessions (held mostly during the weekday), which will continue. A skater will be able to skate at any of the OVAL Speed Skating sessions (except the Advanced session). Each week there are designated Advanced Speed Skate sessions and a skater must have a qualifying time to be on the ice at that time. The Advanced sessions are designed to provide a safer high-level training time for the higher performance skaters. The schedule can be found here.
The city is providing three different fee structures for access to the OVAL Speed Skating sessions. The first is a Season Pass which allows unlimited access to ALL speed skating sessions (Public and Open, Advanced requires time qualification), the second is a Punch Card with 10 punches per card, and the last is a single session purchase. There are two options for the Public sessions, a punch card, and a single session purchase. For more details and pricing visit the mnspeedskating website: Let’s Skate tab.
Midway members will still enroll and pay for season pass ice through their club’s existing registration process. There is no need to do a separate registration for ice through GMSA or the Oval for Midway skaters.
A US Speedskating (USS) membership will not be needed to attend Oval Speed Skating sessions but there are benefits of having a USS membership. To participate in USS sanctioned time trials, races, camps, and events, you will need a membership.
We are looking forward to seeing everyone out on the ice in a few weeks! |