A speed skater from Sutton made history last weekend by representing Great Britain for the first time at the 25th edition of the World Masters Speed Skating Games.
David Smith, 48, and a team of GB skaters travelled to Leeuwarden, Holland, to take part in the national competition, which pits senior speed skaters against one another in five-year age blocks.
Male and female skaters from over 16 nations skated over four distances – 500m, 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m.
David donned his skates and sped to a new personal best time for the 500m on the first day of the competition, shaving two seconds off his previous best time to achieve an impressive time of 46.67 seconds.
The man from Sutton smashed his personal records twice more a day later in the 3,000m and the 1,500m.
The final day of the competition brought the most difficult race of the three days – the 5,000m.
David skated a well-paced race, completing 12-and-a-half laps of the 400m track in a time of nine minutes and 18 seconds. Despite his speedy time, David was disqualified and did not receive an overall ranking position.
Despite his disqualification, the Sutton skater was to be involved in his his first ever tournament.
David said: “The reception the team got was fantastic. So many skaters from so many countries were really pleased to see Great Britain being part of international speed skating”.
David wasn’t the only member of the Great British team to bag a number of personal bests, as his team, comprised of Robert Mitchell from Castle Bytham and Peter Carr, from Guildford, achieved a total of 14 best times between them over the three days.
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