AN ELATED senior leader at Coventry University has smashed a speed skating world record with an ice cool performance at the Masters International Short Track Games in Poland.
Steve Humber recorded a time of 2:41:42 in the 1,500m, clinching one of his five silver medals at the competition and recording a new world record in his age category of 55-59.
Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor and CEO of Coventry University Online, Steve has long held a passion for speed skating, first taking to the ice at the age of eight.
Since then, he has competed in numerous national and international competitions and was even part of the UK team at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, which he describes as a fantastic experience.
Skating is a lifelong passion for Steve.Steve said: “This was a Masters competition and it was 11 races over three days. It’s tough mentally as much as anything else because if you have a bad race you can’t dwell on it, you’ve just got to put it behind you and go again.
“I wasn’t really concentrating on the time for the 1,500m but as I finished I looked up at the board and I thought ‘that must be a world record’. It was such a sense of elation I can’t describe it – I just couldn’t believe it.”
Steve trains early mornings three days a week and does sessions on the ice with Mohawks Ice Skating Club in Solihull twice a week – often training with younger skaters, which helps to push him.
He added: “This is a lifelong passion for me as I’ve been skating since I was eight years old. I used to go to the general disco sessions at the ice rink in Nottingham but after a while I wanted to do something a bit more interesting.
“I saw some of the older teenagers doing speed skating there, telling me about all the trips they’d been on, going around the world. It inspired me to give it a go myself and I feel very lucky that I had the chance to do the same thing when I got older.
“This can be a hard sport – you’ve got to be determined and show resilience and in that respect I think it’s helped drive me in my professional life as well.”
Steve also showed his passion for skating to a national audience when he appeared on the BBC’s Repair Shop last week with a pair of vintage speed skates which helped propel him to sporting stardom.
The skates were originally lent to Steve in 1985 when he took part in – and won – his first ‘long track’ skating race on the frozen Cambridgeshire Fens.
The episode, from April 29, is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
