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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
NATIONAL CAPITAL MARATHON AND 10K (OTTAWA) -MAY 2002 The National Capital Race Weekend in Ottawa, each May, is the biggest and best (local) inline event. It's a lot of fun. At one time there were two skating events but now there is only the marathon and half-marathon (which start at the same time). As well as skating, there are other several running and walking events of different lengths. The Ottawa weekend was, for me, a mixture of frustration and triumph and I certainly learned a lot about inline racing. Kathy, Kaylee and I drove up on Friday and spent most of Saturday seeing the sites of the capital. As the 10k race approached I told my family that I really wanted to do a 20 minute 10k in my first attempt at the distance. (That's 2 minutes per kilometer for the mathematically challenged). Me and my big mouth! I tried my best, but I just couldn't keep up to the fast skaters at the beginning of the race. The pace seemed insanely fast and I gave up the chase. For a while I skated alone but I linked up with another skater and then two more including Annie. Unfortunately for me, I was the strongest in the group and did most of the pulling. For the first time, I witnessed extreme reluctance to take a decent pull and I can now better understand the complaints I have heard about this from Beth and Herb. I'm not talking about Annie here; she took some good pulls. Our group dropped one guy, picked up another and passed the 5k mark at 10 minutes and 12 seconds. My 20 minute 10k was in serious jeopardy and I decided to pull harder. We picked up Benoit at around the 8k mark and I could see Morgan up ahead. We passed the 9k mark in 18:03 -just a touch off the pace I had set for myself. I bore down on Morgan and passed him just before the line. One of the layabouts in my pack out sprinted us both to the finish. Life is not fair, but I did get my 20 minute 10k and I did beat her in the marathon. The start of the marathon, the next morning, was much more relaxed so I just picked a good pace for me and waited to see what would happen. In a fairly short time we had a pack of 5 but two dropped off and three of us continued. We each took some good pulls and skated almost a whole loop together, picking up one more skater. Early in the second loop we saw Ian, Beth and Herb up ahead. As we pulled hard to catch them, my companions started planning how we could get past without picking them up. "Those are my teammates" was all I had to say to put an end to that nonsense. After we pulled up, I yelled to Beth that I'd pulled up 3 female skaters for her to race with. She believed me! I didn't have the heart to let it go too long. It became apparent that Herb was hurting and just managing to hang on. In this fast group I wasn't much good for pulling either. I did lead a couple of times but mostly I hung out with Herb at the back of the pack, clinging for dear life like a cat half way up a telephone pole. Ian was a bull, sharing most of the pulling with a couple of guys from my pack. We dropped one skater and picked up another. Meanwhile, I was taking split times and couldn't believe my eyes. We were well under 2 minutes per kilometer and headed toward a time I had only dreamed about. Coming down the backstretch I thought we were going to lose Herb but he crawled back with a valiant effort. Seven of us crossed the line within a few seconds. We had just strung together four 19 minute and 20 second 10ks in a row! It's all about drafting. I really learned that this weekend. On the rainy drive back to Toronto I reflected on what a great event the National Capital Marathon is and resolved to make it an annual event for as long as I am able. It also occurred to me that I had managed to finish the marathon with the three major TISC award winners for 2001 -a fine lot of skaters if there ever was one. This is a picture of my team mate Andres (left) and me after the race. My official time was 1:21:28. That is a good time for me.
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