Speedskating
The Empire Skate Club's speedskating wing is known as Empire Speed. (Yes, who would have guessed?)
As of 2026, Empire Speed members meet to train together twice a week during the nicer parts of the year.
Beginning around mid-March when the weather improves, Empire Speed will train on Brooklyn's Prospect Park Loop on Sunday mornings. The group meets up at the Bartel-Pritchard Circle entrance to the park (map), at the corner of Prospect Park West and 15th St. However, the Sunday start time varies during the season — it could be as late as 10:30 a.m. in early spring, but it will shift to 9 or 8:30 a.m. during the summer in order to avoid warm weather crowds of joggers, etc. Starting time announcements might be announced on the Empire Speed FB page.
Training sessions on the Central Park loop usually begin mid April and will occur Thursday evenings, but there might be an occasional session on Monday or Tuesday. (It varies year to year.) These sessions normally meet up at 7:00 p.m. and roll out a bit after from "the curb" (map), on CP's west loop close to Tavern on the Green (West 67th St.). However, meet-up time might be a bit later depending on when sunset will happen.
The Thursday training session usually wraps it up for the season around the time of the NYC Skate Marathon (i.e., late September), but the Brooklyn Sunday morning session may continue for another month as skaters stay in shape for the end-of-year races in Florida.
Other off-the-loop training sessions and clinics are held an ad hoc basis. These may include cornering technique, sprint drills, etc. These are usually at an out-of-the place such as the Icahn Stadium parking lot on Randalls Island.
Longer distance training, including skates to Nyack (and back!) on Route 9W or along the Westchester County South and North Country Trails, should also occur a couple times per summer month on Saturday mornings. Or you can call it cross-training and ride a bicycle during these sessions. Again, check the FB page for announcements of times and meet-ups.
