Equipment

Intent: Prevent cut and puncture wounds of the Achilles tendon from blades during the thrust phase of the stride.

Minimum Requirement: When no cut resistant suit is worn, a cut and puncture resistant anklet made of Kevlar or Dyneema must be worn on both legs, covering the legs from the tops of the boots to 10 cm above the tops of the boots.

Note: These are provided to Intro to Speed Skating Participants and can be purchased from the club for $20

Intent: Prevent eye injuries resulting from ice chips or a collision with a blade or other object.

Minimum Requirement: Shatter-resistant glasses or a complete visor are required for all skaters.  All glasses must be held in place by a strap.

Note: Clear or yellow lenses are required.  These can be standard safety glasses or squash type glasses

Intent: Prevent cut and puncture wounds on the hands from blades.

Minimum Requirement: For Learn to Skate programs, gloves or mitts must be worn.  For any long blade activity, full leather gloves or a synthetic glove which offers an equal or superior level of cut and puncture resistance to leather must be worn.

Note: The club does have some kevlar liners that can be used under your existing mit/glove.

Intent: Prevent major and minor head trauma and traumatic brain injury due to impacts with ice, boots, blades, bodies, boards and crash pads

Minimum Requirement: A helmet must be worn for all on-ice activities.  It must be securely fastened under the chin at all times.  A skate blade should not be able to penetrate any ventilation holes in the helmet.

Helmets must be ASTM F 1849 certified or CSA approved (hockey, snowboard/ski skateboarding helmets only).

For competition only ASTM F 1849 certified are allowed

Intent: Prevent cut and puncture wounds to the neck area, especially in the areas of the major arteries.

Minimum Requirement: All skaters must wear neck protection covering the lower half of the full circumference of the neck and covering all soft tissue below the chin to a point extending below a line joining the armpits at the front of the body.

Neck protection must be made of Kevlar, Dyneema, or ballistic nylon.  Protection may be integrated into the design of a skater’s skin suit or worn tucked into a skater’s skin suit.  If separate neck protection is worn it must fastened securely.

Intent: Prevent cut and puncture wounds along the shin from blades, as well as some measure of blunt impact protection from hitting hard objects/bodies.

Minimum Requirement: When wearing long blades, skaters must wear hard plastic or built-in cut and puncture resistant material with some impact energy absorption.  Full frontal shin coverage is from within 2.5 cm of the top of the boot to within 2.5 cm of the bottom of the knee protection.   Protection may be worn over/under a skater’s skin suit or it can be integrated in the suit.

Intent: Prevent puncture and blunt force impact wounds to the knees.

Minimum Requirement: Full frontal knee coverage providing complete coverage of the patella.  Made of puncture resistant (e.g. Kevlar or Dyneema) and impact absorbing (e.g. high density foam) material.  Protection may be worn over a skater’s skin suit or it can be integrated in the suit.

Note: Volleyball style knee pads work well.