On thin ice Calgary's Olympic Oval faces race against time

When Jeremy Wotherspoon laced up his skates and took to the ice, his field of vision narrowed. His world fell silent except for the deep cuts of his blades.

- Leyland Cecco

On a good day, he would move at blistering speeds. On better days, he would travel faster than anyone else, shattering 17 world records. To race at the edge of human limits is an overwhelming sensation, he said.

"It wasn't until after I stopped that I would hear the wind for the first time or notice how hard I was breathing." Heralded as one for the greatest speed skaters of all time, Wotherspoon set most of his world records at a single venue: Calgary's Olympic Oval.

Long track speed skaters gathered last weekend for a world cup race at the 400-metre ice track at the University of Calgary. But there is growing fear it has outlived its life expectancy.

Built for the 1988 Olympics, it was the first covered speed skating oval in the Americas. A facility sealed off from the elements meant speed skaters could focus on their internal rhythm and form to push as fast as possible.

But underneath the sprawling facility is an intricate array of 400 pipe connections that make and maintain ice and in recent years, those pipe connections have sprung damaging leaks.