Cogs can think.

It’s sad. They want to put a roof on top of one of the most beautiful and legendary speed skating rinks in the world: Inzell. While understandable from their point of view - they want to remain relevant too now that Erfurt is stealing a lot of their thunder - it would be a shame from our point of view.

I like out door speed skating. There’s something magical about it; whether in good weather (like this weekend’s World Cup sprint), or in bad weather, with snow storms and gale force winds. We are loosing professional-grade outdoor speed skating rinks at an alarming rate, and that’s a sad thing. It’s progress, I know, and of course, I like the world records in Salt Lake City, Nagano, and Calgary - but when it comes to atmosphere, these just can’t compete.

If there is one skating track in Europe that could do with a roof, it’s Collalbo. This is a ‘highland’ track in the Italian Alps, and Europe desperately needs its own highland track to compete with North America and Japan.

One may dream.