About 130 athletes from across North America from young to old put on their skates this weekend to compete in the annual American Cup II and the John Rose Open.

AmCup II is for all skaters who have achieved the US Speedskating AmCup time standard while the John Rose Open is for all ages and abilities.

“It’s the AmCup circuit, you know, you get three of them per year. So, you know, after the last AmCup, you kind of fix your focus on the next one. And, you know, just keep moving throughout the season on working towards the next big competition,” said Zachary Johnson, a competitor who began speedskating four years ago. 

The Midway Speedskating Club puts on the event every year. The program director, Nick Pearson has competed in some big-time events and is a two-time Olympian. He says athletes at the AmCup II and John Rose open don’t compete for a cash prize, but rather for points. Those points could qualify someone for the American Cup series. 

Pearson also notes that this year, warm temperatures brought some challenges to the ice.

“We had some problems put in the ice here in early November. got delayed a day or two just because of the warm weather. So yeah, we’d see a change and today is actually pretty nice. I mean, wish it wasn’t raining and snowing here, but this is great temperature to be skating,” said Pearson. 

The weekend race continues on Sunday morning at 8 a.m. You can also livestream the competition here.