Welcome! My name is Michael Gilday and I am a Short Track Speedskater from Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. I currently train at the National Training Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I've created this blog primarily to let family and friends know about competitions and travel. I also hope to educate a bit about short track and maybe even entertain. Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Hewitticious

I now present to you Hewitticious. Video and lyrics created by Keara McGuire and Kaylin Irvine. Jess Hewitt asked me to post this because she wants to see how many views it can get on youtube. She has been shamelessly self-promoting this video for a while, but it has only hit youtube recently. It is pretty sweet though, so if you haven't seen it, check it out.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Things that are REALLY awesome day


I thought we had a well sponsored team. Well the truth is we are. But this is a little over the top. And awesome.

From Fasterskier:

Flying Start for the Swedish National Team

The Swedish National Team is aiming high this winter and they are reaching the sky with the help of their own airplane - Swedish Ski Force 1. “This is literally a lift for us. With our own chartered plane we’ll save both time and energy when traveling,” says Olympic hopeful Emil Jönsson, 24.

Last season the Swedish team presented their unique wax truck. The impressive, easy to spot Scania truck gave the team many advantages on the World Cup and at the World Championships in Liberec. It is a great advantage to be able to travel from race to race with your own mobile workspace with room for 600 pairs of skis, poles and waxes. Now, get ready for the sequel: an airplane - Swedish Ski Force 1. The plane is painted in the Swedish National Team colors, just like the Scania truck.

A few days ago the athletes were told about the plane, their newest weapon when battling the other skiers on the World Cup, and they gave it two thumbs up! “It’s a nice, cool and very comfortable plane. We will feel like kings traveling to and from the World Cups like this,” says sprinters Emil Jönsson and Robin Bryntesson. Both Emil and Robin were onboard for the first flight, a domestic flight between Bromma and the Östersund/Åre Airport.

It is the very progressive airline NextJet that will be sponsoring the national team with specially chartered flights, carrying Sweden’s fastest skiers to their destinations. “This sponsorship agreement means that we can, on very short notice, fly skiers to and from races all over Scandinavia and Europe. We will save a lot of time. We don’t have to deal with the difficulty of buying tickets or the long layovers in airports. In addition, we’ll minimize the risk of exposure to sick travelers,” says Johan Sares, head of marketing for the national team.

“We are happy if we in any way can add to the team’s success and victories, says Magnus Ivarsson the CEO of NextJets. He adds, “I’m also exited over the fact that 13 out of the 15 national team skiers live in my native Jämtland (region in Sweden).


Friday, September 18, 2009

Nouvelle Blogue - Laurie Marceau

Pour les francophones qui lisent cette blogue, et je pense qu'il y en a, car il y a un link sur le site du CNCP, je vous presente la blogue de Laurie Marceau, patineuse de l'equipe nationale. Comme vous le savez peut-etre deja, Laurie est dans sa premiere annee sur l'equipe nationale Canadienne.

Vous pourez trouver sa blogue ici.

Je m'excuse si il y a des defauts dans cette petite paragraphe, mais ca fait longtemps que j'ai ecris en francais.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Old Age

This morning I read a story about Japan populations. Apparently, Japan now has more than 40 000 people that are aged 100 years or more.

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2009/09/11/japan-centenarians-record.html


It got me thinking about a conversation I had the other day with Jeroen, the coach of the European mixed country team that trains with us. Basically the debate was this. I figured that because I am an athlete, and therefore eat very well, don't smoke, don't drink excessively, get alot of sleep, exercise daily etc, I would be a likely candidate to live to 100. Makes sense right? Jeroen didn't think so, and I think his point is valid too. He figures that the exercise that I have to do to get to and stay at an elite level is actual harmful to my health. Each day an elite athlete breaks down there body in training. Doing this repeatedley over many years can't be good he argued. Of course we take time to recover, but all that training has to be hard on the body. Probably true. Will I live to 100? It's probably all genetics anyways...

Food for thought I guess.