Long Track Speed Skating
Learn to Speed Skate at the Oval - for FREE
The Halifax Regional Speed Skating Club is pleased to offer a Learn to Speed Skate program on the Emera Oval. We would like to thank the Halifax Regional Municipality, and our skate sponsor Killam Properties, for their support in making this program possible.
Our speed skating program is designed to take you from your already-acquired basic skating skills, to the fundamentals of speed skating. Participants should be comfortable on skates, with good balance and directional control, before starting the Learn to Speed Skate program. If you have not yet reached this skill level, you should complete the Learn to Skate program first.
Here is what you will find on this page:
Cost & Schedule
Registration
Helmets
Skates
Speed Skating Lesson Checklist
Speed Skating Program
Cost & Schedule
Speed Skating lessons at the Oval are FREE and are offered by pre-registration through the HRM RecConnect system to both children and adults.
The Learn to Speed Skate program will be offered from 9:45 to 10:30 on Sunday mornings starting January 8, 2012.
Please check the Emera Oval Schedule to confirm that the sessions will be available on the day you have chosen, in case weather or ice conditions result in schedule changes.
You should be ready to go on the ice when the session starts, so allow enough time before the session to collect a helmet and to change into your skates.
Registration
Registration is through the HRM RecConnect website. You can register for as many sessions as you like, as long as there is capacity available. These are the bar codes for each of the sessions:
268130 (January 15)
268131 (January 29)
268132 (February 5)
268133 (February 12)
268134 (February 26)
When you arrive at the oval, check in with the Halifax Regional Speed Skating Club volunteer to sign your waiver and make arrangements to borrow speed skates (if available, see Skates section below).
Parents and guardians need to stay on site when children are participating in lessons.
Helmets
All participants in the Learn to Speed Skate program must wear a helmet. Helmets must be CSA approved. Hockey helmets with a face mask offer the best protection against injury. Bicycle helmets are not permitted. There are some helmets available for use during the speed skating lessons.
Skates
The Halifax Regional Speed Skating Club has a small inventory of speed skates that will be available for use during the speed skating lessons. Sizes are limited, and skates will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Participants should arrive at the oval at 8:45 if they wish to borrow speed skates from the club.
If you have regular skates, please bring them with you to the oval in case there are no speed skates available in your size. The first few levels of the program can be completed in any type of skates. The more advanced skills can be learned more effectively in speed skates. If you are wearing your own skates, please see the notes in the Skates section of the Learn to Skate Program.
Speed Skating Lesson Checklist
We recommend the following equipment and clothing:
Speed Skating Program
We will be offering levels 1 to 8 of the Speed Skating Canada Cutting Edge Pin Program.
Still need to be convinced that you must experience The Emera Oval “on ice” this winter?
- Be inspired by Sheila McGinn, Long Track Speed Skater from Halifax
- Listen as
Shoneth describes her first experiences learning to Speed Skate
Sheila McGinn, Long Track Speed Skater
"Think of an ice surface extending around the outside of a soccer field. A hundred metres in each straightaway, a hundred metres in each turn.
 Maybe skating as fast as you can, accelerating as hard as you can, not confined in the closed space of an arena, but freely, with breathing space, outdoors.
Maybe skating slowly, your partner by the arm, a good friend engaged in conversation, covering a kilometre every two and a half laps, never even thinking about it, just moving gracefully in time to the music.
Maybe helping a small child to discover the joy of achievement, the wonder of balancing on blades for the first time.
And on those magical days when the air temperature, the ice conditions, and your blades are in perfect harmony, skating until the light fades and you reluctantly pull your skates off, glowing with a sense of well-being and a memory of time well-spent.
If ever this statement is true, it’s on big ice - you have to be there."
Shoneth, Speed Skater (3 weeks)
 Watch on YouTube.
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