HEARN, Michael Everett

MICHAEL EVERETT HEARN played ice hockey with the Queensland Juniors in the early Seventies. [5] The young speedster progressed through the Brisbane Blackhawks Junior squad to become an Alternate Captain of the state Under-16 team in 1974, winning the state's first Tange Trophy on its debut in the competition at the Four Seasons Ice Palace in Brisbane. [2, 6] Then, still a high school student in 1976, he surprised and delighted Australian officials at the national speed skating trials in Sydney.

Hearn broke both the Australian senior and junior records for the 1000m and 1500m events. He broke the 1000m record held by Jim Lynch in a time of 1.43.8 and eclipsed Colin Coates 1500m times with 2.47.2. [4] The Australian Amateur Ice Racing Council selected Hearn to represent Australia the following year at the World Junior Ice Speed Skating Championship, and the Tour of Five Centres in France. He raced in North America, England and Europe. [4]

His best results in America were at the Land O'Lincoln meeting at Champaign, Illinois, the largest indoor competition in the States which attracted 287 skaters. He missed winning the Intermediate Men's division by a single point. In the 1000m he clicked skates with Steve Hickner while trying to overtake him, and could only recover to fifth place. In the 1500m race he set a new meet record, taking 8 sec off the previous best time to finish in 2 min 37 sec. The Queenslander placed third in the 400m event with a time of 39.2 sec, just 2 metres behind the winner. [4]

In the North American Indoor Championships, Hearn came fourth in the 1500m final. At the World Indoor Speed Skating Championships in Grenoble France he won Bronze in the 500m in a time of 53.67 sec. His elimination times in the 1000m and 1500m were 1.40.11 and 2.47.48, respectively. [4] The next year, Hearn competed in the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, then returned for a total of five appearances (1978, '79, '80, '83, '84). [8]

By the early Eighties, the high cost and long wait of bringing overseas equipment to Australia had produced a local market in racing equipment that was self-sufficient, from blades to boots to racing suits. The HGS boots from Brisbane backed by Hearn were very popular, as were boots supplied by Inze Bont in Sydney and Altamura in Melbourne. [1] In the Nineties, Hearn refined the moulded short track boot and later, started RAM Skate with current National Coach Richard Nizielski. At one stage, a high proportion of the world's skaters were winning medals and breaking records on a RAM Skate-Pennington Aussie combo. [3]

In 2018, the national association recognised Hearn's National Team contribution as part of the 40th Anniversary of the first World Championships in 1978. [3] The 16th Inductee to the Australian Ice Racing Roll of Honour made the trek up Everest to South Base Camp in Nepal in May 2016, the year after an avalanche swept through, reportedly killing 19 people.