gloves.htm

SPEED SKATING GLOVES

As you can see, many types of gloves will work for speed skating. The major concern is to protect the hands and especially the fingers, not only from the cold, but from the remote possibility of having another skater skate across them during the inedible fall (everyone falls!). Next is the fit...they must be non-bulky and fit snugly, so they will not be easily thrown off the hands by a good, strong armswing. If they are too loose, the skater will be distracted trying to keep them on, and will not be able to skate well as a result.

Aside from these concerns, it's what ever you want to wear. There are only a few gloves actually made for speed skating. The only real speed skating glove readily available to the general skater is the Viking. A very nice glove, but fairly expensive at around $30.00 per pair. Baseball batting gloves are popular, especially for Short Track, but these too a little expensive, at around $20.00.

However, there are many alternatives, as shown below:

Loren bought her gloves at a bike/skateboard shop. She paid around $20.00 for them.

Scott's gloves are soccer goalie gloves. He bought them for just under $10.00.

Megan says: "My gloves have colored fingers and I bought them in a skate shop at the rink. They were not very much money. Katy's gloves are Mizuno baseball gloves".

Many short track speed skaters touch the ice with their left hand (finger tips only) while skating through the turns. Note that some of the world's top skaters sometimes touch the ice with both hands! Touching the ice is often necessary when the skater is skating very fast, but is discouraged for newer skaters who cannot skate fast enough to do it properly (it tends to bring the skater up on the front of their blades, making them unstable and prone to falling). Therefore...

Since touching the ice while skating 20-30 miles an hour is obviously kind of hard on the glove material, many skaters coat the finger tips with something that won't wear out. Some use "Shoe Goo" (left,) however it tends to peel off. Scott used the 5-minute epoxy that you can buy just about anywhere, and it has stayed on for over a year without any sign of peeling.

Another answer to worn out finger tips, as well as providing cut resistance, is the Kevlar glove. You can see a little wear on this pair, but these have been used for over a year! They also offer cut resistance. They are available from speed skate equipment companies.

Two other examples of neat gloves: on the left, soccer, and on the right, all terrain cycling.

Here is a look at some different kinds of gloves. Notes on each kind are shown below the picture.

Gloves #1, 5, & 6: Simple work gloves bought at a hardware store. At under 10.00 per pair, they are cheap, offer great protection, but alas, are not found in kids sizes. Often they can be found in Womens' sizes, which helps a little.

Gloves #3 are baseball batting gloves. They usually cost around $18.00 per pair, depending on the model. Use caution, though, as they are sometimes extremely light, with little leather used. Leather offers excellent cut protection.

Gloves #2 are bicycling gloves, purchased from a bike mail order catalog.

Gloves #4 are Viking speed skating gloves. As I stated at the beginning, this is an excellent glove for both long and short track. However, at $25-30+ per pair, they are a little on the expensive.

If you are in the market for a pair of gloves for speed skating, shop around! Bike shops, skate shops, inline shops and catalogs, hardware stores, etc. Sufficient cheap gloves for kids can even be found in grocery stores during the winter months!

P.S.: Remember: "You don't need to put your name on everything, just the stuff you want to keep!!"

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