Speedskating

The Empire Skate Club's speedskating wing is known as Empire Speed. (Yes, who would have guessed?)

Empire Speed team members meet to train together on the Central Park loop and Prospect Park loops from April through September. Training sessions usually conclude just before NYC Skate Marathon weekend, although they may continue another week or two as skaters prepare for Athens-to-Atlanta.

Sessions on the Central Park loop typically begin about mid April and are usually Thursday evenings, but there may also be a session on Monday or Tuesday. These sessions typically meet up at 7:00 p.m. and roll out a bit after from "the curb" (map), just uphill on CP's west loop from Tavern on the Green (West 67th St.), but times might vary just a bit depending on the season. To find out whether speedskaters will be on the loop on a given weekday evening, please check the Empire Speed Facebook page for any late announcements.

Empire speedskaters also train on weekends with our friends on the Brooklyn Speed Team (FB) on Brooklyn's Prospect Park loop. These Sunday morning sessions begin early April and some years in March. Meet-up is at the Bartel-Pritchard Circle entrance to the park (map), at the corner of Prospect Park West and 15th St. However, the Sunday start time varies during the season — it could be as late as 10 a.m. in early spring, but it will shift to 9 or 8:30 a.m. during the summer in order to avoid warm weather crowds of joggers, etc. Starting time announcements are announced on the Empire Speed FB page.

Other off-the-loop training sessions and clinics are held an ad hoc basis. These may include cornering technique, sprint drills, etc.

Longer distance training, including skates to Nyack (and back!) on Route 9W, or along the Westchester County South and North Country Trails should also occur a couple times per summer month on Saturday mornings. Or you can call it cross-training and ride a bicycle during these sessions. Again, check the FB page for announcements of times and meet-ups.