Un covered ice ring has recently been inaugurated in Quebec City. One of the only ones of its kind in North America, this new sports equipment could not only give a tremendous boost to long speed skating track in Quebec, but seems to be in the process of being adopted by the entire population of the region.
The contrast could hardly be greater that morning at the Intact Insurance Ice Cream Center located at the exit of the bridges, next to the Sainte-Foy bus terminus. Outside, the weather is nice, but the wind is strong and the cold is biting. Later in the day, it will all turn into a snowstorm.
Inside, a small jacket is enough to make the 12 to 14 degrees Celsius comfortable at the edge of the new 400-meter-long covered track inaugurated at the end of summer and bathed in light thanks to the large windows. that surround it and its white walls and ceilings. The space is so large that two Olympic-size ice rinks have been built inside the ring, in addition to two other adjacent ice rinks that already exist. A running track also passes between the ice and the large exterior windows.
Sitting on the cushions bordering the track, a few dozen skaters in tight-fitting suits wait patiently for two resurfacers to have finished with the ice to set off on their long, thin blades. From inside the track, Marc-André Poudrier-Michaud follows the skaters who pass in a gust of wind.
The young long track speed skating coach remembers all too well the years he spent on the old Gaétan-Boucher outdoor rink, which was in almost the exact same place. We only managed, at best, to keep it open about four months a year, months during which we were exposed to the best and the worst of the Quebec winter. Beyond practicing their resistance to the elements, the athletes quickly understood that if they wanted to go further in their sport, they had to expatriate at least several months a year to continue their development in Calgary, Alberta, in Lake Placid or Salt Lake City, USA, or some other foreign city that was lucky enough to have a covered ice ring. “But since the opening of the [nouveau] Ice center, several short track speed skaters have started doing long track. »
Régis’ first promise
This ring of covered ice, Robert Dubreuil dreamed of it for a long time. A former runner, himself, of the Canadian short and long track team, the general manager of the Quebec Speed Skating Federation (FPVQ) had noticed, like everyone else, the impact of having access to such equipment on the development of the sport. Dominating until then with standard bearers of the caliber of Gaétan Boucher, the contingent of Quebec athletes within the Canadian long track skating team at the Olympic Games had melted away after the opening of the covered Oval in Calgary in 1988, going from 7 Quebecers on a team of 7 Canadian skaters at the 1984 Games and 13 out of 16 in 1988, to only 2 out of 9 in 1992, and 0 out of 3 in 1994.
Far from being a sign of Quebecers’ lack of interest in speed skating, their presence in short track developed at the same time with the international successes that we know, with another 9 Quebecers on a Canadian team of 10 athletes at the Beijing Games. Today, barely 7% of the 6,500 members of the FPVQ practice long track skating.
But hey, these arguments were not going to be enough to convince the three levels of government to give Quebec a covered center whose cost ultimately amounted to 68 million, Robert Dubreuil quickly understood. “This equipment also had to meet the needs of the community. »
It bumped its nose at the indifference of many elected officials over the years, until an obscure candidate for mayor of Quebec who was trailing in the polls adopted the project and made it his first great electoral promise in 2007. His name: Régis Labeaume. The path was to be still long thereafter, but the mayor kept his word and was able to inaugurate what is considered, with its 13,500 m2 of ice, as the largest indoor skating center in America.
Make way for the people of Quebec
As soon as the morning training of the young runners in skin-tight suits was over and the groomers returned, it was the turn of small families, couples holding hands and older people to slide on the large ring. A minimum of 25 hours per week is thus reserved for free skating, explains the general manager of the Ice Center, Jean-François Harvey. The running track and its large exterior windows are also very popular with athletes, humble joggers and even old people, who come here just to walk, especially since it is cold outside. “It’s more beautiful, with the view outside, than doing that at Place Laurier. »
There were already 200,000 visitors just after the first three months, says Jean-François Harvey. “Then came the 5and wave of the COVID…” and its procession of health constraints.
In the corridors of the Ice Center, large murals tell the love story of the Quebec region with ice skating for 250 years. The place could host a stage of the World Cup, but does not offer enough places to spectators for the holding of Olympic events. At least, not as we conceive of them today. There are also plans to organize other kinds of sporting, social and cultural events.
There were already 200,000 visitors only after the first three months.
“Next to my Rose”
The Sunday skaters left and the resurfacers returned before giving up the ice in turn to just two skaters in tight black, gray and red suits. He is the son of Robert, Laurent Dubreuil, and Antoine Gélinas-Beaulieu, two athletes from the Quebec region, who were then only a few days away from their departure for the Beijing Olympics.
For them, being able to train a few minutes from home is a total game-changer. “It was really something to never have the same conditions [météo et de glace] and having to skate in the cold and windy January. We had been taken with execrable conditions the weeks which had preceded the Pyeongchang Games, says Laurent Dubreuil, which we will see in the 500 m and the 1000 m. On a day like today, my only concern was to scrape the ice off my windshield to find ice that is still beautiful, in stable condition, at a pleasant temperature…these are ideal conditions. »
But above all, it means for him that he will no longer have to add two and a half months of training in Calgary to the two and a half months he must already spend on the road for competitions. It’s anything but a detail when you have the happiness, like the 29-year-old athlete, of having a spouse and a 2-year-old little Rose.
Same story on the side of his teammate. “As an athlete, we used to reassess each year if it was still worth continuing,” explains the 1,000m and mass start specialist, also 29 years old. But the new center brings a huge change in my life. I can have a more normal, more stable life. Without that, I would probably have stopped competing at the end of this Olympic cycle. But there, I plan to pursue at least another four years, after which I may be able to become a coach. »