Hill Training In Thunder Bay

On Sunday, after the Inline Skate for MS in Thunder Bay, Morgane Echardour, Hal Lightwood, and I skated some mid-afternoon sprints up the Dufferin Street hill and then on the Belrose Street climb in Thunder Bay.

My brother introduced me to the Dufferin Street hill on Satuday after we spent the late-morning enjoying dragon boat races. On our way back home from the boat races, I had the opportunity to push my nephew Sebastien in the Chariot all the way up the hill.

The Dufferin Street hill is only about 100-yards from my brother’s house. It was easy to get to on Sunday after Morgane had an early-afternoon nap after the winning the race.

The steep climb is a leg killer with a sudden and sharp incline that leaves the best of skaters gasping to pull air in their lungs and trying to rush blood to their legs so they could support their own weight.

The Belrose Street climb, introduced to me by Hal Lightwood, features a longer and slightly more gentle climb than Dufferin Street. Don’t be fooled though, it’s still a tough killer.

Both climbs offered their own beautiful views to those who dare suffer and climb over and over again.

I really enjoyed my time in Thunder Bay. Between the adventures of driving the Sultan Industrial logging road, seeing a bear- still alive- suffering & dying just after being hit by a car, catching up with my Mother before she headed back to Mississauga, enjoying dragon-boat races, really really enjoying my two awesome nephews and their parents- my brother Oliver & his partner Marlene (the real reason to come up to Thunder Bay and get the extra bonus of having a race out of the trip), and skating with friends, I look forward to coming back to Thunder Bay the weekend of the Northshore Inline Marathon in September.

Morgane Echardour nearing the 1/2 way point of the Dufferin Street hill- her skating ‘looked’ better than this 3 strides before. She was rolling over to me just as I shot this picture.

Hal Lightwood- he didn’t sleep last night, he organized a race, and he ate up these hills like they were desert! Can you spot my brother Olivier holding Sebastien (hint- he’s wearing the red fire-fighter hat that he’s been wearing every day for the last 3-months), and Marlene holding baby Felix (hint- she’s talking with a taller man)

SpeedSkateWorld.com’s very own webmaster, Peter Doucet- in the house!! I really enjoyed skating in front of my nephew Sebastien and the rest of the gang! He was even cheering me on!

This view is quite a view after each sprint up Dufferin Street.

The Belrose climb keeps going and going.

Morgane surveying the Belrose climb before attacking it hard.

It;s quite the beautiful view from the top of Belrose.

Morgane Echardour & Herb Gayle Win At Thunder Bay MS Run And Roll Half Marathon

Thunder Bay’s annual Bay MS Run And Roll Half Marathon was held under ideal conditions on Sunday morning.

Before being treated to a strawberry covered pancake breakfast, skaters, runners, and cross-country roller-skiers needed to race the 21km’s along Lakeshore drive at 7am.

Race organizer, Hal Lightwood, worked very hard to ensure the race was bigger and better than the 2008 edition. The race drew just under 90-athletes from Canada and the USA.

The stars of the inline skating race were Morgane Echardour and Herb Gayle.

While skating with Herb Gayle and I, Morgane Echardour left us and took the lead after the u-turn with 10.5km’s to g. She ended up skating the rest of the race solo and was the first finisher of the day, registering a time of 38:57.8.

Herb Gayle finished as the day’s top male skater- 2nd overall in the race- by edging me out in a sprint, 20-seconds after Morgane Echardour crossed the line.

Overall Finishers
1- Morgane Echardour
2- Herb Gayle
3- Peter Doucet
4- John Schulte
5- William Field
6- Philip Luckai
7- Hal Lightwood
8- Ron Rost
9- Sarah Oftedahl
10-  Jody Kelly

Here’s an article on the race; Run and roll for MS marathon.

Echardour came in first for the inline skating category with 38 minutes and 58 seconds. Erchardour came down with Peter Doucet, who also participated in the race, to see Doucet’s family. Echardour said she goes into her bubble when she gets ready for a race.

The real race for Gayle was between him and Doucet. Gayle and Doucet knew they couldn’t catch (Echardour) so the competition between the two was to get second place. Gayle said he was lucky to catch Doucet in a sprint.

Roller In The Running For Olympic Inclusion- ‘For Sure We Are Right In There’

The following is from Bill Begg in OLYMPICS NOT A DONE DEAL;

Hi Skaters & Supporters,

Some very good & positive news comming out of the World Games, shows we are well in the running with a more than 50 / 50 chance.

Its down to two choices 1/ The Money sports & 2/ The modern sports, as to who will get the nod.

A number of big brockers close to the Olympic power brockers have been present observing the skating & what is happening here is giving our sport a very big boost in the push for Olympic Inclusion.

1/ Chinese Taipei winning has all the TV focusing reports on the skaters.

2/ The Front page of the Taipei Times has seed skating a big coloured photo, showing the ladies 1,000 meters 2nd Semi Final.

3/ On ESPN last night Golf first up, had nothing to offer compared to the exciement & racing spectacle at the Bank Track.

CIC President lost everthing in the big LA Aquilla earthquake & has thrown all his energies into the Olympic bid, it would be a wonderfull reward for Roberto to see his beloved sport gain Inchusion in the October voting showdown.

For sure we are right in there.

Videos, Results, Reports, Pictures- World Games- Roller Speed Skating Is A Hit!!

The roller speed skating portion of the World Games is now wrapped up. You can use the links below to catch-up on what happened in the races;

With ESPN covering skating & live coveridge of finals, Chinese Taipei has gone speed skate crazy, after 2 days they trailed Russia on the medal table & all the medals from the host country, have come from Speed Skating.

An an Electric atmosphere at the Yangming Speed skating track, with racing at its best Speed cried out to all, that we are good enough & should be Olympic!

With a capacity crowd & even a stadium across the field the Chinese Taipei people warmed to the sport, the President of the World Games committee was here for the final night, as /throughout the 3 days CIC president Roberto Marotta had a constant flow of top ranking officials present, with a number involved in the Olympic web.

WE have a better than even chance of Olympic Inclusion come October declared Marotta in a meetting we have, its down to two Choices Money with Golf & Rugby or the Olympic promise of modern sports, we are the best of the modern sports.

With so much ESPN television & slow motion replays, we really took the stage over many other sports, while the track was bumpy & tight the racing was very good & exciting & the organization terrific, with an excited crowd.

Pictures- from FFRS

Videos- from FFRS

Complete results

Bont Forum; WORLD GAMES RESULTS & STORIES

Pictures from PatinCarrera

Live results from PatinCarrera

Training & News- World Games Day 1

Hyper Forum; World Games

OLYMPICS NOT A DONE DEAL

RollerCourse.com- Jeux Mondiaux 2009 – le bilan

ASTA- World Games 2009 : Yann Guyader médaille d’argent sur le 15.000m à élimination– with video

ASTA- World Gammes 2009 : Alexis Contin médaille d’argent sur le 1000m

ASTA- World Games 2009 : Marseillaise..et photos….

ASTA- World Games 2009 : 1ere médaille d’or pour la France grâce à Yann !

FFRS- WORLD GAMES – KAOHSIUNG 09 – Jour 2

FFRS- WORLD GAMES 09 – Jour 2– with video

FFRS- WORLD GAMES 09 – Jour 1

FFRS- WORLD GAMES KAOHSIUNG 09 – Jour 1 seconde partie– with video

FFRS- WORLD GAMES KAOHSIUNG 09 – Jour 1 première partie– with video

Photo from PatinCarrera.com

Photo from FFRS

Photo from FFRS

Road Rash Chronicles- Pot Pourri- Cor Knows Skaters Are Falling

One of the latest entries from Road Rash Chronicles is Pot Pourri–

Road Rash:

*sigh* People, you are disappointing me. I have seen the proof of falls, smelled the fresh blood…heard of teeth hitting the pavement and yet there are no pics rolling in for me to post. Either way, I am going to call you out on the floor for not cooperating!

Dominique: Poor girl hit the pavement and seperated her shoulder/clavicle…etc. Plus with a fall from the prior week, I totally expected some photo action shots. I will harass her endlessly.

Allain L: I heard he fell a few weeks back in a pile up before the Canada Day Weekend. In this case, I will probably have to find an old pic and add some road rash with photoshop. Tracking this guy down is like trying to find the abominable snowman.

Benoit: You can always trust Ben to fall at some point doing something or other. It doesn’t have to be skating either. He looks the most natural covered in blood an bandaids. And yet….no pics. Hmmmm.

Marie Eve: The second place reward for crashes…I only heard about this yesterday. Cracked teeth, torn up chin, arm…etc! A road rash dream come true! Check out her Facebook page for pics as she hasn’t shared any with me. *sniff sniff*

Inline Planet Skate Tip: Fine-Tune Your Skates

The Inline Planet‘s latest skate tip is Fine-Tune Your Skates–

Properly aligning your frames beneath your skates (as outlined here) fixes a lot of common technical problems for skaters. But if it doesn’t fix yours, try fine-tuning your setup with this troubleshooting guide.

Ask Bill Begg- What Wheels Are Best for Inline Marathons?

The latest Ask Bill Begg! is What Wheels Are Best for Inline Marathons?–

Wheel hardness is one factor to consider when buying wheels — and it’s very important. But just as important is rebound. You can find one 84A wheel that rolls and rolls and another that goes nowhere. The general rule of thumb is the rougher the road, the more you need rebound.

Live Video Feed- USA Indoor Championships

Click here to view the live video feed from the USA Indoor Championships.

Report With Pictures- French Track Championships- From RollerSisters

Thanks to RollerSisters.com, you can read a report and view pictures from early July’s French Track Championships held in Valence d’Agen.

Le championnat de France CJS Piste a eu lieu les 4 et 5 juillet 2009 à Valence d’Agen. Placé sous le thème de la piraterie, ce championnat a été superbement organisé par le Valence Roller Skating. Bravo donc à Brigitte Gardères et à ses troupes – ou plutôt son équipage – pour cette manifestation de roller très réussie.

Photo from RollerSisters.com

Photo from RollerSisters.com

Candy Wong- Training, Skating 100k At ‘Petit Train Du Nord’

A training program is only effective if one adheres to it. In my case, squeezing in two sessions a day is a big challenge. Aside from recovery between workouts, I have a hard time waking up early enough so I can train in the morning.

Read more of Candy Wong’s latest entry here; Two A Day.

She recently skated 100km at the Petit Train Du Nord near Montreal; read what she had to say here; My First 100K–

The distance rolled by easily. While I was skating in the pack, it was amusing to see our little pack of Camelbaks. It had been years since I last skated with anything more than a small waterbottle in my back pocket so it was a strange feeling indeed. Obviously you do not want to overpack and carry unnecessary weight for such a long skate. At the same time, you do not want to run out of supplies long before you’re done either!