RACING WITH TIME 73-YEAR-OLD ICE SKATER STILL WINNER.Byline: Amy Raisin raisin, in botany and cooking raisin, dried fruit of certain varieties of grapevines bearing grapes with a high content of sugar and solid flesh. Although the fruit is sometimes artificially dehydrated, it is usually sun-dried. Staff Writer NEWHALL - The whole ice-skating thing started more than 50 years ago, when Don Meramble and his pal were trying to pick up girls. ``His friend said, `We need to go ice skating ice skating, gliding along an ice surface on keellike runners known as ice skates. Skating as a Sport Skating, besides being an important form of winter recreation and the essential skill in the game of ice hockey (see hockey, ice) has developed because the girls are better-looking at the ice rink than the roller rink,''' said Gloriann Meramble, who met and married her husband after a chance encounter at the Pasadena Winter Gardens ice rink in the late 1940s. Now 73 and a grandfather of 10, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. native Meramble still eases his feet into a pair of custom-fit speed skates Skates may refer to:
About 25 years ago the longtime Newhall resident took up running to help with his endurance on the ice. Endless log books support his claim that he has run more than 37,000 miles since then. ``I'm better at longer distances, not so much in the sprints,'' Meramble said as he stood before his wall of trophies and ribbons. ``Like this one here - this is from when I won the 3,000 meters. I've got good endurance.'' As the years passed and the couple's four children grew up, Meramble lost his passion for speed skating speed skating Sport of racing on ice skates. The blade of the speed skate is longer and thinner than that of the hockey or figure skate. Two types of track are used in international competition. - until his slender frame reached 195 pounds. ``I couldn't move as well. My clothes didn't fit so good,'' he said. ``So I stared skating skating: see ice skating; ice dancing; roller skating. skating Sport in which bladelike runners or sets of wheels attached to shoes are used for gliding on ice or on surfaces other than ice. again.'' Retired for 17 years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time former designer of aircraft tools said he's busier now than he ever was as a 9-to-5er. He skates in about six competitions a year, and his face lights up when he explains how his custom-fit boots were made. He submerged his feet in a mold, and the plaster replica of each foot was sent to Australia, where his $900 ankle boots were created from fiberglass and carbon fiber to conform to Verb 1. conform to - satisfy a condition or restriction; "Does this paper meet the requirements for the degree?" fit, meet coordinate - be co-ordinated; "These activities coordinate well" even the slightest variation on the surface of each foot. That price didn't include the $300 blades. While his wife enjoyed figure skating figure skating Sport in which ice skaters, singly or in pairs, perform various jumps, spins, and footwork. The figure skate blade has a special serrated toe pick, or toe rake, at the front. when the couple first met, she has long since hung up her skates. But she's never far from her husband and his renewed passion for the ice. ``Always,'' Gloriann Meramble answered when asked if she watches her husband compete. ``I always go with him. Sometimes we used to take the camper and go to the competitions. We've just always done things together.'' Her husband jokes about it and recalls their first meeting. ``When it was couples time on the ice, you had to skate around and find a girl if you wanted to stay on the ice,'' he said. ``I picked her up and couldn't get rid of her again.'' Despite Meramble's lack of enthusiasm for entering relay racing himself, the gray-haired man who looks much younger than his age admits to watching 2002 Winter Olympics relay racing on ice with excitement. ``That was really exciting to watch,'' he said about Gold medalist Apolo Anton Ono's performance. ``Personally, I don't like skating in relays, but boy were they fun to watch on TV.'' CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Don Meramble of Newhall, grandfather of 10, shows one of the $900 boots with $300 blades that he says help him ice skate comfortably and keep winning trophies at 73. (2) Retired tool designer Don Meramble, second from left, competes regularly in speed skating. Married 50 years, the Newhall resident met his wife on the ice, and she still roots for him in all of his races. (3) Endurance, enhanced by running when he's off the ice, is the key strong point of 73-year-old Don Meramble, still competing in speed skating. Michael Owen
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