2015 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships

Author: Alice Wheeler SPLASH MAVERICK

DAY 2, SESSION 1

It was a fairytale comeback for Lachlan Hay on the second day of the 2015 Australian Open Championships, taking the 1000m national title.

IMAGE: Lachlan Hay in action Credit: Olympic Southern Flyers
 
Juniors 777m

The first final of Day 2 was the juniors 777m and was taken out by Joshua Kah in a race that saw numerous late leader changes. Jonathan Lam raced from the front for much of the race but couldn’t hold his lead to the finish line to be second (1:19.851). Ariff Rasydan Mohamed fell on the final turn but finished third in 1:36.102 after New Zealand’s Lily Taitimu received a penalty.

1. Joshua Kah (OSF)
2. Jonatham Lam (Arrows)
3. Lily Taitimu (HIRC)

Subjuniors 500m

New Zealand’s Ethan de Rose won the Subjunior 500m title in a convincing time of 48.888. He finished ahead of Kieran Guan (50.255) and Edison Lam (51.979) both of the Sydney Arrows who were second and third respectively.

1. Ethan de Rose (CAISC)
2. Kieran Guan (Arrows)
3. Edison Lam (Arrows)

Midgets 333m

Michiel Van Heyningen won his first title of the competition when he took out the Midgets 333m on Day 2. The skater from Canterbury Alpine Ice Skating Club finished first in 35.543 ahead of Christian Tan (36.116) and Charley Huang (40.300). Amelia Sykes was fourth.

1. Michiel Van Heyningen (CAISC)
2. Christian Tan (Arrows)
3. Charley Huang (Arrows)

Nippers 222m

New Zealand’s Leona Jones won the Nippers 500m title in 29.927 ahead of Arjun Moottoosamy (30.394) and Devin Joyce (30.544).

1. Leona Jones (CAISC)
2. Arjun Moottoosamy (Arrows)
3. Devin Joyce (HIRC)

Seniors 1000m

Lachlan Hay grabbed his first title of the Australian Championships when he won the 1000m in 1:39.533 ahead of Pierre Boda (1:39.555) and Alex Bryant (1:39.895). It was Hay’s first title since 2012 and a strong sign he is back in form. Keanu Blunden showed his acrobatic skills when he almost fell half way through the race. He made the best recovery of the competition to get back upright and close in on the pack to finish fourth.

1. Lachlan Hay (OSF)
2. Pierre Boda (OSF)
3. Alex Bryant (OSF)

Masters 1000m

The Masters 1000m got off to a fast start with Danny Kah taking the lead before handing it over to Herbie Labiche. With 500m to go Scott Weekes made his move and grabbed an unassailable lead to win in 1:53.879. Labiche pushed hard down the last straight but couldn’t quite catch his younger rival, finishing second in 1:53.924. Danny Kah was third in 1:54.129. Tim Davids was fourth.

1. Scott Weekes (Arrows)
2. Herbie Labiche (Roos)
3. Danny Kah (OSF)

Juniors 1500m

In the endurance race for juniors, Jonathan Lam lead for much of the first half of the race. With eight laps to go, Josh Kah powered from sixth to first in one move, leaving his competitors in his wake. Kah and Lam went to and fro from the top spot but it was Kah who was in front on the bell lap and kept the lead to win in 2:55.257. Lam was second in 2:55.356 ahead of Jordan Attwood in 2:56.013.

1. Joshua Kah (OSF)
2. Jonathan Lam (Arrows)
3. Jordan Attwood (OSF)

Subjuniors 1000m

Kieran Guan took the lead early with Chloe Tan, Edison Lam and Ethan de Rose hot on his heels. Reminiscent of the last race, de Rose went from last to first in one move half way through the race and won comfortably in 1:45.199. Guan was second in 1:48.114 and Tan was third in 1:49.471.

1. Ethan de Rose (CAISC)
2. Edison Lam (Arrows)
3. Kieran Guan (Arrows)

Seniors 3000m

In an eight-man super final of the 3000m, Lachlan Hay was the best performing Aussies, placing second in 5:12.768. At the 18 lap mark and with bonus points on offer, Olympians Pierre Boda and Hay were neck and neck but Boda just snuck ahead of Hay to grab the points. The push for the points hurt Boda however and he dropped off the pace in the second half of the race, eventually finishing fifth. With three laps to go it was a race between Hay and Zachary Biggs but it was the New Zealander who emerged victorious, winning in 5:12.517. Jason Clague was third in 5:14.286.

1. Zachary Biggs (HIRC)
2. Lachlan Hay (OSF)
3. Jason Clague (HIRC)

Masters 3000m

Danny Kah and Herbie Labiche got off to a blistering start in the Masters 3000m – both eyeing the 18 lap bonus points.  Endurance specialist Kah took the points in a tight fight with Labiche. Kah showed no sign of slowing down in the second half of the race and took his first title of the championships. Scott Weekes was second and Michael Attwood was third. Labiche suffered from his early speed and skated through apparent back pain to finish in final position.

1. Danny Kah (OSF)
2. Scott Weekes (Arrows)
3. Michael Attwood (OSF)

Midgets 777m

In an exact replica of the 333m race earlier in the day, Michiel Van Heyningen was the winner of the 777m in 1:25.409. Christian Tan was second in 1:31.531 and Charley Huang was third in 1:32.571.

1. Michiel Van Heyningen (CAISC)
2. Christian Tan (Arrows)
3. Charley Huang (Arrows)

Nippers 500m

New Zealand’s Leona Jones won the Nippers 500m title in 1:05.472 ahead of Arjun Moottoosamy (1:06.160) and Devin Joyce (1:07.151).

1. Leona Jones (CAISC)
2. Arjun Moottoosamy (Arrows)
3. Devin Joyce (HIRC)

Masters 3000m Relay

With a guest appearance from the elite team’s head coach Anthony Barthell, the Olympic Southern Flyers took top honours in the Masters 3000m relay. The second OSF team were second and rounded out in third by the Sydney Speed Skating Club.

1. OSF 1 (Anthony Barthell, Michael Attwood, Russell Collins, Danny Kah)
2. OSF 2 (Melissa Kah, Sashen Chetty, George Fabian,Ray Wilby)
3. SSS (Brett Throssell, Marianne Reece, Chris Robson, Alison Throssell)

Seniors 5000m Relay

The Olympic Southern Flyers dominated the senior 5000m relay, taking first place ahead of the Arrows 1 team who were second, with CAISC third.

1. OSF (Lachlan Hay, Pierre Boda, Alex Bryant, Skyler Kah)
2. Arrows 1 (Keanu Blunden, Luke Cullen, Liam O’Brien, Denali Blunden)
3. CAISC (Ethan de Rose, Mark McCormack, Christopher Jarden, Benjamin Whiteside)
4. HIRC (Jason Clague, Lotte Kaars, Zachary Biggs, Mikayla Biggs
5. Arrows 2 (Scott Weekes, Ian Qu, Sinead Fogarty, Michael Pickup)

2015 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships
Author: Alice Wheeler SPLASH MAVERICK MEDIA

DAY 1, SESSION 1
The first session of the 2015 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships has wrapped up at the O’Brien Group Arena in Melbourne. The highlight of the morning’s racing was the senior 1500m final which saw Australian Champion Pierre Boda up against former Australian Champion Lachlan Hay, with Boda emerging victorious.

IMAGE: (L-R) Blunden, Hay, Bryant, Boda. Credit: Australian Ice Racing

Seniors 1500m
Reigning Australian Champion Pierre Boda retained his 1500m title, taking out the race in a tight finish with former champion Lachlan Hay. Boda held back for most of the race, making his push to join Hay at the head of the pack with a couple of laps to go. He held on for the win in 2:34.773 with Hay just behind him in 2:35.532. Sydney’s Keanu Blunden was third in 2:37.149.

1. Pierre Boda (OSF)
2. Lachlan Hay (OSF)
3. Keanu Blunden (Arrows)

Nippers 333m
The first final of the Championships was the Nippers 333m and was taken out by New Zealand’s Leona Jones in 43.774 seconds. Jones led from the outset and held off fellow New Zealander Devin Joyce from Hauraki who was second in 45.830. Sydney’s Hannah Taleb was third in 48.979 and a fall cost Arjun Mootoosamy a place, finishing fourth.

1. Leona Jones (CAISC)
2. Devin Joyce (HIRC)
3. Hannah Taleb (Arrows)

Midgets 500m
Christian Tan got a good start in the Midgets 500m final to give him a significant lead. With one lap to go he had half a length on the other skaters and won convincingly in 56.756. Taking second place was Jean-Baptiste Donnelly in 1:01.018, with Amelia Sykes third in 1:01 424and Aleksandr Kudriavtcev was fourth.

1. Christian Tan (Arrows)
2. Jean-Baptiste Donnelly (OSF)
3. Amelia Sykes (CAISC)

Masters 1500m
Russell Collins from Olympic Southern Flyers took an early lead in the Masters 1500m final but was soon caught by the pack and couldn’t hold his lead. Tim Davids took the lead with five laps to go but was closely followed by Herbie Labiche who chased down the lead and was in front with two laps to go. Three-time Olympian Danny Kah was on Labiche’s tail and looking for the win before crashing on the final straight. Labiche took the win in 2:39.652 ahead of Scott Weekes in 2:40.254 racing in Masters for the first time. Davids was third in 2:40.260.

1. Herbert Labiche (Roos)
2. Scott Weekes (Arrows)
3. Tim Davids (Roos)

Juniors 1000m
The Juniors 1000m final was won by Joshua Kah of the Olympic Southern Flyers. Kah took a convincing lead on the bell lap and held on to win in 1:47.572 ahead of Jonathan Lam in 1:48.156. New Zealand’s Mikayla Biggs was third in 1:48.327 ahead of her teammate Lily Taitamu who was fourth.

1. Joshua Kah (OSF)
2. Jonathan Lam (Arrows)
3. Mikayla Biggs (HIRC)

Subjuniors 777m
New Zealand’s Ethan de Rose of the Canterbury Alpine Ice Skating Club won the Subjunior 777m final with a time of 1:18.793. Picking up second place was Kieran Guan of the Sydney Arrows (1:20.793) ahead of his teammate Chloe Tan (1:24.366). Vicko Phoon, also of the Arrows was fourth.

1. Ethan de Rose (CAISC)
2. Kieran Guan (Arrows)
3. Chloe Tan (Arrows)

Midgets 2000m Relay
The Midgets 2000m Relay was won by the Sydney Arrows ahead of the Olympic Southern Flyers.
1. Sydney Arrows (Arjun Mootoosamy, Hannah Taleb, Christian Tan, Charley Huang)
2. Olympic Southern Flyers (Zoe Gatiatoullina, Stephanie Lee, Jean-Baptiste Donnelly, Pierre-Eloi Donnelly)

Juniors 3000m Relay
The Sydney Arrows won the Junior 3000m with their A-team of brothers Keanu and Denali Blunden as well as Liam O’Brien and Jonathan Lam. The team crossed the line in 4:30.604 to hold off the Olympic Southern Flyers who were second ahead of New Zealand’s Hauraki who were third. The second Sydney Arrows team was fourth.

1. Sydney Arrows 1 (Keanu Blunden, Denali Blunden, Liam O’Brien, Jonathan Lam)
2. Olympic Southern Flyers (Jordan Attwood, Joshua Kah, Julia Moore, Skyler Kah)
3. Hauraki (Lily Taitimu, Mikayla Biggs, Zac Biggs, Jason Clague)

DAY 1, SESSION 2
The second session at the 2015 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships was the sprint racing. The senior 500m saw Alex Bryant take his first title of the event, edging out his more favoured rivals Pierre Boda and Lachlan Hay.

Seniors 500m
The 500m dash was a race between Pierre Boda, Lachlan Hay, Keanu Blunden and Alex Bryant. In a race that relies on speed over tactics, Boda came out front early and was tailed for much of the race by Hay and then Bryant. The pack tightened on the bell lap though and there was little separating the three skaters. In the end it was Bryant who emerged victorious, skating a fast 42.712 to win the race and take the title from Boda who settled for second with Hay third.

1. Alex Bryant (OSF)
2. Pierre Boda (OSF)
3. Lachlan Hay (OSF)

Juniors 500m
The first final of the afternoon session was the Junior 500m, won by Joshua Kah in a time of 46.046. It was the second win of the day for Kah, who earlier also won the 1000m. Malaysia’s Ariff Rasydan Mohamed was second in 48.165 with Jordan Attwood second in 48.294. Mikayla Biggs was fourth.

1. Joshua Kah (OSF)
2. Ariff Rasydan Mohamed (ISAM)
3. Jordan Attwood (OSF)

Subjuniors 333m
New Zealand’s Ethan de Rose won the Subjuniors 333m in 33.619 ahead of Kieran Guan (34.059) and Edison Lam (35.569). Katie Fabian was fourth.

1. Ethan de Rose (CAISC)
2. Kieran Guan (Arrows)
3. Edison Lam (Arrows)

Midgets 222m
Christian Tan picked up his second title of the day when he took out the Midgets 222m in a time of 25.204. He edged out New Zealand’s Michiel Van Heyningen who was second in 25.380. Charley Huang from the Sydney Arrows was third in 27.379 with Amelia Sykes in fourth.

1. Christian Tan (Arrows)
2. Michiel Van Heyningen (CAISC)
3. Charley Huang (Arrows)

Nippers 111m
The one-lap dash for the nippers saw Devin Joyce take out the A Final in a photo finish ahead of Hannah Taleb. Joyce clocked 16.748 with Taleb just a breath behind in 16.783. A fast finishing Arjun Mootoosamy was third in 16.919 with Amanah Taleb fourth.

1. Devin Joyce (HIRC)
2. Hannah Taleb (Arrows)
3. Arjun Mootoosamy (Arrows)

Masters 500m
Scott Weekes made his mark in his first Masters 500m race, winning in an exciting finish in 47.882. Tim Davids led for much of the race and Herbie Labiche made a few challenges but it was Weekes who steadily came round the outside on the bell lap to take the lead and the win. Danny Kah was fourth.

1. Scott Weekes (Arrows)
2. Tim Davids (Roos)
3. Herbie Labiche (Roos)

Subjunior 2000m Relay
The Sydney Arrows team 1 took top honours in the Subjunior 2000m Relay. Coming in second was Olympic Southern Flyers with the Sydney Arrows team 2 coming third.

1. Arrows 1 (Denali Blunden, Chloe Tan, Kieran Guan, Edison Lam)
2. OSF (Stephanie Fabian, Ryan Justice, Max Solin, Katie Fabian)
3. Arrows 2 (Charley Huang, Vicko Phoon, Arjun Mootoosamy, Christian Tan)

Two-time Winter Olympian Lachlan Hay has come out of retirement seeking a final shot at Olympic glory.

The 29-year-old retired from competition at the beginning of 2013, unable to push himself to the Sochi 2014 Olympics.

“Mentally I was not in a good place,” Hay said. “I was just overwhelmed with skating. I wasn’t happy or happy with where I was at with the sport.”

Hay made his Olympic debut at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games as part of the men’s 5000m relay team that finished sixth. Four years later he was the sole male skater for Australia contesting the 1000m where he was 26th out of 32 athletes.

Since retiring, Hay has remained close to the sport, as part of the elite team’s coaching staff.  After the Sochi Games, the national program underwent some changes including a new head coach in Anthony Barthell.

“I saw a change with the team,” Hay said of the new program.

“After spending some time as an assistant with the national team, I learnt a lot and grew a lot as a person. I thought that there could be a place for me back on the team.

“I made the decision to come back in the first few months of 2015 and started my training back up at the end of March this year.”

Head coach Barthell is nothing but supportive of Hay’s decision.

“I was pumped when he told me he wanted to come back,” Barthell said. “I knew that would be another strong skater and hard worker.  The thing that people won’t know is that Lachlan has put in a ton of work to get back to where he is now. 

“He and his teammates have all worked together to get him back on track and prepared for the long journey ahead. There’s no stopping him right now and I don’t see it happening until after he achieves his goals. “

For now Hay is keeping his goals realistic.

“I hope I achieve my third Olympic Games and qualify our team,” he said. “I also just want to achieve what I thought I was always capable of doing and see how far I can go.”

Hay will get a chance to test his racing skills this week at the 2015 Australian Open Championships. He will be up against 2014 Olympian Pierre Boda as well as rising star Andy Jung as well as a host of competitive senior men all vying for national titles and a coveted spot on the World Cup team.

The 2015 Australian Open Short Track Speed Skating Championships will take place from 25 – 26 September at the O’Brien Group Arena (formerly The Icehouse) in Docklands, Melbourne.

Race Schedule:
http://www.australianiceracing.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Race-draw-20150924.pdf
Friday 25th 7.30am – 7.10pm
Saturday 26th   7.45am – 2.00pm

Livestream Link:
http://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/4293418?t=1442378943298

Social Media
Twitter - @ausiceracing
Instagram - @ausiceracing
Facebook – Australian Ice Racing Incorporated

For more information:

Alice Wheeler
Splash Maverick Media
0418 961 184
alice@splashmaverick.com.au