8 Wheels Roller Sports Newsletter

8 WHEELS-TRICITY FORUM
VOLUME 1  ISSUE 2

Hello everybody, and welcome once again to our monthly newsletter.

The months of August/September has been a busy month for the skaters of the Speed club with four racing events and a club picnic.

August started off at the Toronto International Inline Race Weekend.
Seven Tri-city Skaters took part in the two-day event with most participating in the Marathon and the Half-Marathon.

Tasha Burnside had a remarkable comeback having missed most of the outdoor season due to an injury. In her first race back she manage a second place in the women's category, and a fifth place overall.

Len Porter managed a fourth place finish in his age category for the full Marathon, with a time of 1:31:22.230, which is his fastest time for a marathon this year.

MARATHON TIMES

HALF-MARATHON TIMES

The second race of the month was in Belleville and was the last race of the RSO series for this year.

Once again Jason Fischer just missed breaking the 3min mark in the 1500-meter time trial, but we all know that day is coming.

The track was set up in a narrow parking lot and could be best described as two long straights with two indoor corners at either end. The track ran a little slower than some of the courses this year but it was a fun track to run on.

Items of note for that race were Jason beating out Pan Lau for second in his 500m sprint, when Pan thought the race was over and stopped skating, while in fact there was one more lap to go. Hey, we have all done that at one point or other.

John Fischer lapped the entire field twice in his 10km race.

Len Porter was able to stay with the lead pack in his 10km race (he actually lead one lap late in the race) till about 15 laps to go. He finished with the pack but one lap down.

Through a bad error in judgment and technique, Andrew Thompson snapped his streak of eight consecutive last place track finishes, by finishing 25th out of 29 skaters in the 1500mm time trial. But he is sure he can correct this problem and start finishing last again.

In August, the club held its second picnic at the Beachfront Trail in Hamilton. Many skaters attended and had fun as we skated the trail, sat in the shade, and shared skating stories for a day. The trail was skated many times and we talked with other rec skaters about our club, giving pointers on better technique and just had a good time. Joel Stitt set the mark by doing 80km during the day.

OTTAWA EXTREME WEEKEND
By Andrew Thompson

It was a great day for the marathon on the Saturday. Not too hot and very little wind. I went to the course in Hull Quebec early just to check it out and to see if I was going to have any trouble skating. I had hurt my ankle on the Tuesday at a TISC practice and was having all kinds of difficulty with my boots against my ankle. Little did I know that was going to be the least of my problems.

The course is a small loop, just under 2km and very easy to skate, except for a rough section on the back straight. This lasts for about 300m. So to do the marathon, we would be doing 22laps.

I had the worst start of the year for me and was the last one from the entire field to get away. With a lot of passing I was able to finally get into the pack I wanted to be in. Thank goodness for 100mm wheels, I would not have been able to catch them on my old 84mm's.

The first six laps went well, until I picked up a stone on the back straight. At least I thought it was a stone. When I stopped to check, I was missing a wheel. I looked and picked it up and handed it to my Dad as I passed the start/finish line. I also told Gavin from ZT Sports what had happened as I skated by.

The next couple of laps I looked for my axle but no luck. The third time by Gavin asked if I wanted a new axle and I said sure. This led to what is now called "the first ten second pit stop in Canadian Speed skating history".

As I skated up to the start finish line, I could see Gavin with the wheel in one hand (my dad saw something was up and gave him the wheel) and the axle in the other. I skated straight towards Gavin and when I hit the curb, I rolled onto my back and stuck my skate out. In perfect timing Gavin stuck the wheel in, inserted the axle, and bolted it down. Then like a true pit crew, he threw his hands in the air and yelled, "Go". People who witnessed it at the timing table said the whole process took about 10seconds. Unfortunately, I had to stop on the next lap to check my other axles, as another one was coming loose.

The rest of the race was pretty standard as I started forming a pack with skaters that I started to lap. The pack grew from two to four to nine and back down to two, so I imagine it was a case of lapping some skaters while unlapping myself from other skaters, all the while still being lapped by the "Pros from Dover".

The Ottawa club put on a great weekend and with the skate on the Sunday, both in the hills in Quebec and the skate in the City, I would strongly recommend this weekend to anybody.

Duluth Marathon
By Christine Stitt

We left Thunder Bay for Duluth around 10:00 Friday morning hoping to stop in Beaver Bay for a skate but it started raining heavily just as we got there. So we continued on and by the time we reached Two Harbors the rain had stopped and the roads were dry. We parked at a rest area on the race route, put our skates on and skated the shoulder for 45 minutes.

We arrived in Duluth around 3:00, checked into the hotel and headed over to the DECC to pick up our race packets and attend the expo. The place was buzzing with people … some on skates, some not, but most checking out the vendors. All the usual suspects were in attendance selling their wares. Some great deals were to be had on clothing, wheels and other assortments of gear. We spent time some shopping and taking everything in. On our way out we managed to attend an Eddy Matzger mini-clinic in the parking lot. He demonstrated technique, technique, and technique, talked about drafting and answered any and all questions from the crowd.

Race morning was cold (3 degrees), but clear with no rain in sight, thank goodness. Walking to the bus at 6:00 a.m. with the stars still out we noticed we weren't the only people wearing 3 layers of clothing. People wore everything from fleece shirts to sweatpants and toques. It was freezing! The drive to the start line in Two Harbors took about 40 minutes. It was even colder there. Because we took an early bus, there were few skaters about so we had space to warm up. But, by 7:15 or so the road leading to the race was jammed with thousands of skaters waiting to start. The air hummed with excitement. The race would soon begin.

The Canadian & US anthems were sung, 2 fighter jets flew overhead and at 7:30 sharp the World Cup pros took off. Waves of skaters were scheduled to start every three minutes. We all lined up behind signs designating our starting wave while the race emcee pumped us up with some rocking music. Seeing the long line of skaters was nothing short of mind-boggling.

Racing conditions were perfect. The sun had warmed things up a bit and there was a very slight wind mostly at our side and back. The 42 km straight course is hilly, but not too severe. There are a lot of road snakes, but most are horizontal so they barely affect skating. There are a few bad areas along the route. The road leading to Lemon Drop Hill and Lemon Drop Hill need repaving. The concrete onramp to the freeway and the freeway are okay considering they have horizontal drainage grooves. But overall, the course is pretty good.

It was a fast race and we each suspected we were moving quickly. Joel checked his watch at the finish…1:24.19 - 9 minutes faster than 2003. Christine too checked her watch as she finished…2:02.33 - 34 minutes faster than 2003. Personal bests for both of us!!! The winners, however, were just a little faster. Skaters from France won the men's and women's races with times of 1:01.48 and 1:17.35 respectively.

After the race we got our finisher's shirts, snagged some fruit and water and joined some TISC skaters in the resting area. It seems we all had personal bests. We arranged to meet at Grandma's Grille for the K2 party (free beer) later that evening. We passed on the awards ceremony because it's lengthy (2 hours) and boring unless you've won, of course. Grandma's, however, was hopping. We met people from everywhere and shared race stories. A great time was had by all. Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. a fun, easy 8-mile skate through Duluth was arranged for anyone who wanted to attend. We also passed on that but heard later that it was enjoyable.

Overall, the event was well organized and well attended with over 3,600 skaters between the full and half marathons. The organizers had plenty of activities and parties planned to keep us busy all weekend. It was a really good time!! We're set to go next year and hopefully we can get a big Tri-City team together. It would be awesome.

VOLUME 1   ISSUE 1

Hello everybody and welcome to the first issue of our new newsletter.

The club has competed at many events this year and has done well at all of them.
The Canadian season started early at the Ottawa Marathon with seven members of Tri-city taking part in the event. Melanie Hunter finished with a faster time than she skated at Disney in spite of a frame coming loose, Len Porter skated a good time in spite of still doing stretches when the starters horn went, and Joel and Christine Stitt skated well in both their respective races. Andrew Thompson did what he wanted to do in his first Marathon; he survived.

Through-out the summer the RSO point series has been run for the speed skaters with events being held across the province. Some noticeable results have been put in by our club in the first four races. Paul Shoebridge skated a sub 20min 10km race in Ottawa. He says that is the first time he has done that in about ten years. Len Porter also skated well at that race inspite of a leg injury and getting real bad heartburn from a protein gel that Andrew Thompson offered him just before the 10km race. Keep in mind never to take anything that Andrew offers you before a race, it is his way of slowing down the competition.

At the last RSO race in Missisauga, both John Fischer and Jason Fischer just missed breaking the 3 min mark for the 1500 meter time trial, and both Jeff Burnside and Alex Newdick skated sub 3min 30secs.

Jason Fischer won his 500meter sprint race at that event.

Many club members skated at the Canadian Outdoor Speed Championships Marathon and Half-Marathon. Below are listed some of the results.

MARATHON

HALF MARATHON

Congratulations to all those who participated

It has also been a very good year for the Artistic club, with four National Championships being won.

.Hello Everyone,

I am very happy to be writing to you in this first issue of the "8 Wheels-TrCity Forum". I would like to thank Andrew for suggesting the newsletter and volunteering to be its editor. The Newsletter will be an excellent way for club members to keep up to date on club activities and events and member achievements. If you have any skate news - races and competitions you took part in, upcoming events, committee activities, equipment for sale or needed, etc. please be sure to send the information to Andrew.

Now that we are well into summer (already!), the Board is busy planning for the fall. The 2004-2005 season promises to be another exciting and busy year. More information will follow in the next issue of the newsletter, but some upcoming activities to mark on your calendar are:

    Sunday Aug. 22, 1:00pm: Club picnic at Confederation Park in Burlington. Bring a picnic lunch (and your own BBQ if you wish), lawn chairs, frisbees, plastic swords and of course skates since there is a beautiful 8 km trail along the waterfront. Confederation Park is located below the Burlington Skyway Bridge. Information on the park and directions can be found at:

www.hamrca.on.ca/parks/visit/confederation.asp

    Saturday Sept. 11: Start of Learn -to-Skate Program (10:00 - 12:00 am).

This program is very important to the club as it is a way to bring in new members, not to mention that it is a good fundraiser. The success of this program is very dependent on volunteers, so please come out and help. We need volunteers to help teach the Learn-to-Skate. We will be holding "Teach the Teacher" sessions to give our volunteers pointers. They will be held at The New Forum and are scheduled for:

    Saturday Aug. 21, 11:30 - 1:00 (Badges 3 and 4)     

One final date to keep in mind is the Sunday Sept. 12, 10:00 -12:00 noon when we will be holding our Annual General Meeting. This meeting is important because we elect a new Board, vote on new Club policies and guidelines and discuss activities for the upcoming year. Hope to see you there.

Well, more news will follow in the next issue of the newsletter. Have an excellent summer skating and best of luck to you if you are competing. See you at The New Forum.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Dykstra
President