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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
MOLSON INDY -JULY 2000 I found out about this 8k race from my friend Grant a few days before the race. Although I had told him a couple of times that I wished there was somewhere to race on inline skates I was nervous about actually going through with it. Like a true friend, Grant called a couple of hours before the race to make sure I had not "forgotten" about it. I had just recently purchased a new set of 8 wheels so I raced home from work and quickly put them onto my beat up old Ultrawheels. I collared my daughter Amy into being my "equipment manager" and rushed down to the CNE where the race was to be held on the Molson Indy track. There where three different "races" to choose from but the one I wanted to enter was the "pro" event because they got to do 3 loops of the course and they would provide the best competition. I noticed on the application form that to skate in this race you were supposed to go to a TISC practice beforehand so they could see if you were fast enough to skate in that category. I just filled out the form, checked off "pro" category and handed it in. Nobody said anything. As the race grew closer a whole bunch of people with really tight racing suits, fancy helmets and cool sunglasses started warming up. Of course they all had 5 wheel skates. I looked like a geek with my 10 year old styrofoam bicycle helmet, jogging shorts, 4 wheel "rec" skates and event T shirt. When they called the start I tried to line up at the very back but there were another half dozen idiots in the same boat as I was in so we had our own little competition to see who would start last. When the gun sounded I waved to my daughter, took a deep breath and started skating. After a couple of hundred meters I decided I could handle a faster pace so I started passing some of the fancy five wheelers. I noticed that they were dividing up into small groups and skating right behind each other. It was obvious that they were taking turns cutting the wind for each other in the way that bicycle racers do. For quite a while, I kept catching up to these pelatons (drafting lines), joining the back of the pack, deciding that they were going too slowly and then passing the whole lot. Finally, as I went by one pack, a guy with all the fancy gear started to follow me. I couldn't shake him and he stayed there for more than half the race. Eventually, near the beginning of the third and final lap I caught up to my last group. I was getting pretty tired now so I decided to stay at the back of this group for a while to catch my breath. At long last, my fancy friend (we had not exchanged any words) went to the front to take a pull for his friends. I let him get good and tired up there and then I passed the whole lot of them and sprinted away.My daughter reported that I came about 30th place in a field of about 60. She said that I was almost lapped by the fastest skaters. I was amazed by this fact because until that day I thought it would be impossible to skate at over 35 kph for any sustained period. Clearly, this was not the case. This race set into motion a chain of events, related to inline skating, that hopefully has only just begun.
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