Dutton Skates First World Cup Race in Holland

(Heerenveeen) William Dutton skated for his country Friday Nov. 12 in the World Cup of Speed Skating at the Thialf in Heerenveen Holland. He skated to a 15th place tie and lost a tiebreak by 3/1000ths of a second moving him to 16th.
In his World Cup debut Dutton raced Korean Olympic and World Cup veteran Joon Mun. Mun beat Dutton at the line.
"I thought I had him coming out of the final corner but he closed the gap and shot the line" said Humboldt Saskatchewan's Dutton. "I was excited and nervous but good nervous not scared nervous" he added.
Dutton 20 is one of the Canadian men's new generation of skaters who grew up watching the great Jeremy Wotherspoon blister the opposition along with his sidekick Mike Ireland. Now the youngsters are joining some of the less known veterans of the Canadian team and hoping to work their way onto the podium. The young Canadians are skating international competitors who saw mostly the back of Wotherspoon and Ireland for more than a decade. The international men are taking some pleasure beating the young Canadians.
All of this is taking place in the high temple of speed skating in Holland; the Thialf, the first closed speed skating oval in the world. The Thialf is to Holland what the the old Maple Leaf Gardens or the Montreal Forum were to Canadians; the revered home of a sport near to the heart. It can be more than a little intimidating but the Canadian team is not backing down.
Dutton skates Mun in the second 500 as well. This time Dutton falls of the pace but still betters his first time by two hundreths. Team mates and fellow youngsters MacLennan and Junio race in the B group. Junio has a good first race but also falls of the pace in his second start. MacLennan skates a fairly well in the first race then nearly falls in the second losing all momentum.
The kids have mixed feelings about their first time in the temple. Mostly they are turning their minds to the next series in Berlin next weekend."We'll be better in Berlin" said MacLennan as Junio nodded. They will be and the crowd that gathered around asking for autographs seems to agree.