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Ed's Sk8toronto Website
CANADIAN NATIONAL MARATHON (CAMBRIDGE) -JULY 2003 The Canadian National Marathon is held each year in conjunction with the Canadian National Sprint and Distance Championships. Both the track racing and the marathon, which is held on the road, take place on or around the Canada Day long weekend. The 2003 marathon event was held in Cambridge Ontario on some country roads just north of Highway 401. The event was well run and the course was very nice. This account was written partially in response to an account written by Andrew Love (from Ithica NY) and published on the TISC website. I am always fascinated by the vastly different experiences that people have at the same event, and in this case even in the same pack. Next time I see Andrew I am going to ask for his permission to put his account of the race into this space. Although I skated in the same pack as Andrew Love for the entire race I saw things from a much different perspective. As I surveyed the roughly 50 male skaters that lined up for the start of the race I realized that getting into the right pack was the key. With so few skaters it would be easy to end up skating most of the race alone. That was something I wanted to avoid. I was hoping that there would be no breaks while we were completing the first 3 1k loops and I got my wish. The serious race began as we headed out into the first big loop with a pretty sizable pack. Because my stride rate is so slow not many skaters like to follow me and I was constantly being passed by skaters that I knew I would eventually beat. The perspective from the back of the pack is a little different than what you get at the front. Early on in the race I really didn't know or care who was pushing the pace up at the front. In a sort of sadistic way I was having fun watching skaters get dropped from the back of the pack each time there was a surge. It was easy to tell who was stressed and was likely to fall off the pace in the next big push. Several times I had to cover a gap developing in the paceline ahead of me in order to stick with the lead pack. At the end of the first big loop, at around the 16k mark, the surges had whittled things down to a little over a dozen. Except for one skater (Alan Marcosson from Cleveland), I knew them all. The highlight of the race (for me) came a little way into the second big loop. The pace picked up for a considerable time and the pack started to string out. I was getting dropped along with Benoit, Herb, Morgan and Stephan. It was time to cover another gap. As I raced by the 4 of them I wondered whether anyone would come along. Herb yelled some words of encouragement and I knew that he was not coming. In the end, I caught the lead pack fairly easily and pulled Morgan up with me. I was pretty pleased with myself. The pace stayed pretty intense for quite a while and I lost site of the unlucky threesome behind us. Now, even skating at the back of the pack I could see what was going on at the front. The lead pack was down to 10 skaters. Aside from Morgan and myself, there were 3 current or former TISC coaches (Peter, Aaron and Mike), 3 Americans (Dennis Humphries, Andrew Love and Alan Marcosson), Jordan Belchos and Mr. Bob Tysen. I knew that I would not be finishing the race with Peter and Aaron and I doubted that I would see Dennis or Mike finish either. I figured that my best hope was to not cover any more breaks. We rolled along for a few kilometers with Dennis and Bob doing all the pulling but the big surges came to an end. I doubted that anyone else would be dropped but I turned out to be wrong. For some reason, Jordon went on a break. The pack just let him tire himself out and, in fact, I think we slowed down just a little to make sure he would really suffer. Of course, there was a surge just as we caught up and he ended up being the last one dropped by the pack. As poor Jordan faded into the distance I could not help but wonder if this would be the last time that I ever beat him in a serious race. At age 14 Jordan is already a hell of a skater and I am sure that he will do great things in this sport. Aaron and Peter broke away with just a little over one loop to go. I didn't even try to cover because I knew there was no hope. The surprising thing was that nobody else made a sustained attempt either and I was happy to find myself in a pack of 7 for the last loop. Dennis and Mike both broke away for short periods but when nobody went with them they did not stay out for long. I tried to lead a bit but like everyone else, I did not want to get dropped after a strong pull. Poor Morgan's skate started to rattle and we were trying to figure out if it was a wheel or the frame. It turned out to be the frame and the rear bolt dropped out completely as we turned toward the north for the long straightaway to the end. I hate to beat a competitor this way and I am sure that he would have done well in the final sprint. As it was, he did well not to loose any positions. I didn't really have any illusions about finishing high up in the remaining group -especially because the final sprint was down a hill. This is the only complaint I have about the course. As it turned out, I only managed to beat out Bob Tysen who, as usual, complained that he did the lion's share of the pulling and then lost out in the sprint. Bob, at the risk of pointing out the obvious, nobody makes you pull and nobody is preventing you from developing your sprint. In retrospect, I am very happy with my results. The final time was under 1:17! Somewhat surprisingly I came 7th in the race but I was only 3rd in the Grandmasters. Some old guys can really skate. Only once, at the Northshore Marathon under ideal conditions, have I skated that far that fast.
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