Avenue Magazine Calgary

1. The Ice Specialist
Speed skaters will race on the ice that Mark Messer made.

When the long track speed skaters take to the ice at Richmond’s Olympic Oval, they will be rocketing over Mark Messer’s work. Messer is the ice specialist in charge of creating the chilly one-inch surface that skaters will bolt over at speeds of up to 60 kilometres per hour. One small spec of debris, hint of frost or fluctuation in temperature and all hope of setting records is lost.

As the top icemaker in the world, Messer is no stranger to the pressures of maintaining high-performance sports venues. After four years creating the hockey surface at the Pengrowth Saddledome, the heavy-duty mechanic moved to Calgary’s Olympic Oval in 1987, six months before the venue officially opened and began its reign as “the fastest ice in the world.”

Since then, he has trained the icemakers for the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics. For the 2002 and 2006 Games, he also personally oversaw the seven-day ice-making process. The Vancouver Games are the fourth time he has been in charge of creating an Olympic ice surface.

Calgary’s high altitude and dry air give it ideal ice-making conditions. Duplicating Calgary’s record-breaking ice will be a challenge, but Messer is going to give it a try.

“We’ve got our hands full at sea level because the air is so thick and the humidity is high, but we’ll do what we can and hopefully challenge some Olympic records,” he says. —J.M.