Chris Weaver writes about the ice rink in Virginia
The massive snowstorm that crippled the Washington D.C. area over the weekend had threatened to delay the start of American Cup III - Short Track in Dale City, Virginia. Incredibly by the time the warmups began on Saturday morning the skaters had all braved the snow and were at the Prince William Ice Center ready to race. The men were about five minutes into their warm up at around 9:50am when a large bang was heard behind the coaches box. The coaches turned around to see that one of the buildings support beams had gone from a sturdy straight peace of roof supporting steal to a bow shaped wobbly piece of metal that no one had any confidence in. The cinder blocks surrounding the the beam cracked and the cold air from the winter storm outside could be felt coming through the wall. The weight of 20 plus inches of wet snow on the roof was too much for the building to handle.
The officials immediately got the skaters off the ice, an announcement was made to leave the building, and everyone was out in around twenty minutes. To everyone's credit, it was all very calm and orderly. A meeting was called for noon at the host hotel, and everyone waited patiently in the lobby for news. In the time between the evacuation and the meeting, the local fire marshall declared the building unsafe and made it clear that no one was allowed inside. The meet was cancelled.
At approximately 2pm the building collapsed when the beams lining the wall running parallel to what would have been the front stretch gave way, causing the roof to come crashing down onto the ice destroying everything inside. No one was inside at the time of the collapse. Incredibly there were no injuries. The building is a total loss.
Rink owners Bill and Pat Hutzler, the local Fire Department, all the officials, all the skaters, and all the coaches should be commended. Their quick thinking and cooperation saved a lot of lives on Saturday. US Speedskating is very gratefull that everyone will live to skate another day.