Skate The Lake Video, Photos, Event News- Walk & Roll & Squiggy, Track Specs, A Time Capsule

Skate The Lake Video: Between training sessions, I had time to edit the video and put it together for you to enjoy. Press play below or click here to view-


Photos: Click here for photos from Inline On Fire- looks like it was quite cold. Thank goodness they were skating on a covered track…ohh how jealous I am. I wish they would build a banked track in Mississauga- I wish I could build one.


Inline on fire!
Event News- Walk & Roll & Squiggy: Here’s an event- Walk & Roll- that Team Rainbow Inline Speed Skating is participating in. Their goal is to raise $5000 for the American Cancer Society. Good stuff; I like how the power of inline skating can be used in the quest to slay and eventually end the Cancer demons.


Team Rainbow at the 2005 Longbeach Marathon
The Squiggy Inline Classic will take place on March 10th and 11th.

Track Specs: Amongst all the things that I’ve been filling up my days with, I’ve tried to keep up with what’s being written about the specs for skating tracks. I thought janneman had an interesting response on the Skatelog Forum, saying ‘…I suppose that FIRS has a set of specifications or better: a standard that describes their requirements of when a track can be certified…Standards are most often free or just at the cost of copywork. Otherwise they cant be standard, because one can only standardise if knowledge is public and shared’.

I don’t want to take what’s been written out of context here, so to get the full perspective from this post, click here.

A Time Capsule: Melange is a blog worth checking out, so check it out.

News- New Event & Website, Blogs- Still Water Heron & Dream Chaser On Wheels, Italian Indoor Champs & Ontario Long Track Champs, Big Rideau Panorama

News- New Event & Website: The Inline Planet is reporting that there will be a new marathon in San Francisco. You can find all the details in TIP’s New California Marathon.

Powerslide USA Racing’s website is just about finished. Check it out; looks good.

Blogs- Still Water Heron & Dream Chaser On Wheels: Are you constantly hungry for a different perspective? Then Stillwater Heron is a blog that is consistently updated with goodies that will fill your day with a little bit more joy.

Dream Chaser On Wheels is another blog that I sometimes link to. Candy Wong posted videos from last Sunday’s Scooter’s Indoor Speed Club practice in her Woohoo, New Practice Video entry.

Italian Indoor Champs & Ontario Long Track Champs: Click here for the complete results from the Italian Indoor Championships.


Italian skaters at the 2005 world championships in Suzhou, China- these two might be in the results that I linked above
The CITC has posted a report on the Ontario long track championships. You might have to scroll down to find the report titled the highs and lows for a 10yr old. It chronicles whata it says: the ups and the downs of a competition.


Paisley Perrie and her dad, Alex Perrie during the summer of 2006
Big Rideau Panorama: You probably can’t really see many details, but below is a panoramic shot of the 500-meter track that was used on Big Rideau Lake for the Skate The Lake which took place this past weekend.

Jordan Belchos Qualifies For The Canadian Jr. Long Tack Team, Big Rideau’s Skate The Lake Pictures, More Links For You, In The News

Jordan Belchos Qualifies For The Canadian Jr. Long Tack Team: Just as he was coming of age and becoming a threat in inline skating, Jordan Belchos made a successful transition to ice skating. Own The Podium groomed Belchos for about a year to earn a berth on the national junior team this past weekend. He won the 3000-meter race (junior) and placing 3rd in the 5000-meter race at the Canada Cup #2/ Junior Trials race in Fort St John, British Columbia. Click here for the results.


Jordan Belchos (in 2nd) behind Jesse Pauley and in front of Robert Watson; Jordan is the newest addition to Canada's junior long track squad
Big Rideau’s Skate The Lake Pictures: Here’s the link to my photos and here is the link to Alicia Weiss’ pictures. I froze my toes while taking pictures, but it was worth it. Here are the results for the Skate The Lake. MSI’s next race is this weekend’s North American and US National Championships in Lake Placid. I haven't had the chance to work on the video yet.


Driving to Portland on Saturday was the most dangerous drive of my life- and I've logged a heck of a lot of miles. Other than seeing about 30 cars in ditches and crashed up, I witnessed 2 accidents; this van flipping over a few times was the more dramatic crash that I saw. I was the first one on the scene. The driver walked away rattled but uninjured.

A pack including Montreal's Francois Leclerc (in 3rd)

Eventual 50km race winner Adrien Loewen in the lead in front of Jake Maarse

Aaron Arndt; this previous top-3 finisher was unable to finish this year- the cracks took their toll on Aaron- with 4 falls in 12km and his calves seized up, he had to call it a day

Women's champion Martine Charbonneau

A metal worker

Suzanne Dionne in front of Suzanne Tousignant

How typically Canadian eh? A game of hockey on the pond

Friends from all over!

Jake Maarse, Adrien Loewen, and Tony Ziegers

Frozen ice on Adrien Loewen's lashes

Morgane Echardour, Martine Charbonneau, and Mike Rivet

Women's 50km podium

Men's 50km podium
More Links For You: CP Calzada- I know I had this one before but they’ve got a cleaner look to their website. Speaking of changing looks, Andrew Hegarty changed the look of his blog and reorganized it so that when he hits this year’s world cup circuit, you can easily browse his reports. One final link for you to explore is Patinaje de Velocidad.


Track plans- see if you could build your own...better yet, please come to Mississauga and build one here...please?
In The News: Enjoy these skating photos from skating in the California desert. From California to Montreal: photos from Roller Montreal’s end of season dinner.

There has been some more information about track constructions posted; it’s been an interesting thread to follow. Check it out.

There’s an interview with Cado Motus’ Diederik Hol on SpeedSK8rs.com. Finally, Bill Begg started a thread called BIG Colombian New Year Event which contains a whole bunch of information and names that will get you pumped up about the Bolivar 150 Years Race. I can only say that I wish I was there; I wish I was there.

Speed Skate World

Speed Skate World: I hope you like the new name for my site. Since March 31st, I've been calling my site Peter's Inline Racing Web Page. After much thought, I decided that Speed Skate World was a more representative name for what I put online.

The name covers the many disciplines of speedskating, including inline (indoor, outdoor, road, fitness, marathons) and ice (short track, long track, marathons). This opens up my website to a broader audience and allows me to better market my website.

A few changes you will notice include: A new logo, a new skin suit that I will sell on the site, a push for more sponsorship, donations, & support, and some more ice related material.

I hope that my website can continue to promote the great sport and disciplines of speed skating. I also hope that my website can support the sport with media coverage, support for teams, events, businesses, and races.

Big Rideau, A Couple Of Links- Cado, Mundo, & Hayward, Unknown Legends, Inline Planet's How To Get Sponsored, Where You Come From

Big Rideau: I went to watch the Big Rideau Marathon today in Portland, Ontario. I will post a more detailed report later this week with a whole ton of pictures that I took. I also have some video footage, so you can expect a video too. I just wanted to let you know that Adrien Loewen and Martine Charbonneau were the winners of the 50km race in weather that I can only describe as much more than cold!

A Couple Of Links- Cado, Mundo, & Hayward: Cado Motus' website is starting to come alive. Mundo Patin- this site used to be CPenol. If you read Spanish or if you have a computer program that could translate Spanish to English, then this site can be a rich source of information. Finally, the Hayward Inline Marathon's registration is now open.


Cuco (with the ear phones and the funky haircut) working the media machine at the 2004 world championships in Italy- he runs the Mundo Patin website. You'll also notice Patincarrera's Guido Ferra on the left
Unknown Legends: Here's a good article from the Toronto Sun called Unknown Legends. The article takes a look at the stardom that Canadian speedskaters have to deal with (perhaps there’s a small hint of sarcasm?). I can add comments to this topic: There's been a few times that I've been hanging around with world cup, world championship, and Olympic medalists and I think they have been recognized...let me think...probably nonce. That is my made up word for once.


Top short track skaters Olivier Jean and Steve Robillard being interviewed after winning a marathon- I've walked the streets of Montreal with them, going to jazz festivals and breakfasts and they've rarely if ever been recognized
Inline Planet's How To Get Sponsored: Sponsorship 101: How To Get Sponsored is a good article by Debbie Rice recently published on the Inline Planet. If you're looking for a sponsor and you are either confused or unsure about what to do, this article can act as a guide. Note the K2/Empire uniform in the picture: It is me at the start of the 2005 Northshore Inline Marathon.


Some of these guys are sponsored because they're good (at skating and at representing the sport AND their sponsors
Where You Come From: I use Site Meter with PIRWP. Site Meter gives me a whole bunch of stats that for the most part, I do not know what to do with. There is a cool feature which lets me know which websites visitors are referred from. This has allowed me to discover a few of them: The most recent website is Dennis Richmond's Resource Site. That’s another website for all of us to follow. Good stuff.

Banked Track In The Works For Vancouver, The The, Tampa Videos

Banked Track In The Works For Vancouver: There is word that there are plans to build a sister track to Harriston's CITC in Vancouver- host city of the 2010 winter Olympics. The Vancouver Torrent has plans to build a banked track in Vancouver's Strathacona Park.


Vancouver's Strathacona Park- site of the proposed banked track
This is awesome, there might be a 2nd banked track in Canada! According to Microsoft Street & Trips, Strathacona Park is only 4387.6 km’s from my house; The CITC in Harriston is about 125 km’s from my house.

On a serious note, I think this is a great move for the development of our sport in Canada. Wayne Burrett, the president of Roller Sports Canada, has often alluded to us in Canada as gypsies; we’re a sport without a home. I agree. I hope the track is built; I think it could inject a lot of potential and much needed development & excitement in the Canadian roller speed skating scene.

The people that are trying to build the track are trying to get their hands on plans/ track specs. If you have any specs for a banked track, please let me know and I will forward the information to them.

If you read the thread on Bont’s Message Board, the CIC supposedly charges 1000 euro’s for specs.


The banked track in Anyang, Korea; Vancouver may soon have its own facility
The The: I know that my website has been plagued with spelling mistakes in the past. Eric ‘Hip Hop’ Gee once called me on a report in which I wrote ‘The the’. He’s good at finding my mistakes and he likes to mock me. Anyways, I would like to take this time to apologize for my spelling mistakes. I usually rely on the little red lines that go under the spelling mistakes when I am typing using Microsoft Word. When I type directly into the website window to update my site, I don’t have the privilege of having the mistakes underlined in red.

Sometimes though some mistakes slip through- Morgane Echardour was reading yesterday’s entry on my site and pointed out to me that the text under the picture of my cat indicated that it was a picture of my car (see screen shot below). I figure that mistake slipped through because ‘car’ was spelt correctly.


Screenshot from yesterday's spelling mistake: cat for car. I can assure you that Presti is still a cat and NOT a car
I’ll keep making an effort in keeping what I post on my website as accurate as possible. I won’t take responsibility for anything that is inaccurate, mis-spelt, or wrong. If I do spell things correctly and if the information that I post is relevant, up-to-date, important, and interesting, then I will definitely take credit. If you notice that there is a mistake, then I’d like you to ask yourself ‘What word did Peter intend to use?’. I find this a good strategy to use, especially when you’re trying to understand someone who is trying to use big words that they don’t understand.

Tampa Videos: Here’s a link to a few videos from the Tampa Classic. It’s good stuff and watching the videos that are currently posted should take just enough time to fill up your break. Interesting to note that Herb Gayle was in the Master Men’s 500-meter final. He didn’t get a good start, but fought off a few skaters to finish in 4th.

The Cat & The Mag, Upcoming Events, How Cold It Is

The Cat & The Mag: I finally got my hands on the latest issue of Race & Roll Skating Magazine- not a bad deal considering I am the editor of the magazine. Things have been moving slowly with getting the issues out, however I can assure you that I am committed to the magazine and I am working to ensure that things are more timely. Sometimes though, things are out of my and Dan Archambeau's hands- there are things we are unable to control including health issues.


I thought this might be a good time to put another picture of my cat Presti on the site. I figured this shot would be good since I got the R&RSM in the background. Presti likes to make the magazines fall from the wall onto the ground. Maybe I should buy him some sparkly balls or little jingle toys or something. Note the reflection of the my street name sign on the 'Joey Mantia' issue. The sign is on the opposite wall.
Upcoming Events: I got this in my email today; Some of you probably got it as well: 'The 3rd annual Metrodome Inline Marathon will be held on Saturday, April 7th. To secure your spot in the marathon, click here and register today. The field will again be limited to the first 500 skaters to sign up'.

Another event for you to check out is this free time trial in Austin, Texas on February 17th 2007. Here’s the website and here’s one of the two flyers. Finally, the Walt Disney World Inline Marathon will take place on April 1st.


Eric 'Hip Hop' Gee and I left my house by car at 11:30pm on Friday night to skate in the 2004 Disney Inline Marathon. We were back in Mississauga at 6am on Monday morning- on that weekend, we drove over 4500km's, raced a marathon, bought a trunk load of oranges, slept 2 or 3 hours, and had a few yelling spouts (mostly from Eric directed at me and involving a lot of 'why the f****** h*** am I doing this?' & 'how did you convince me to go on this stupid trip?'. From left to right: A cranky Eric gasing up, driving nice & relaxed, lobsters that we almost bought, me and the oranges, and the lead pack
How Cold It Is: I had a whole lot of fun running today. It was so cold that the students at my school had to spend recess inside. With the windchill factor, temperatures dipped to 22 Celsius below zero. How fun!


Ahh here I am sitting in front of my house all bundled up (that’s my neighbour’s house in the background)

Indoor Carpet Skating, RSO Indoor Speed Series #2 Results, New York 100k Again

Indoor Carpet Skating: I wonder if Fun Slides could take indoor skating to a whole new audience and more important, to a new venue.

RSO Indoor Speed Series #2 Results: Here are the results for last weekend’s race: 300-meter solo time trial, 500-meter group races, 1000-meter group races, and stage #2 rankings.

New York 100k Again: I love the New York 100k, I really do. You can now register online for this year's race which is taking place in September. Since this year’s 100k is after the world championships, I am pretty much 100% going to race. I am also thinking that Athens to Atlanta will be in my ‘post worlds’ race schedule. Aaron Arndt keeps telling me he wants to win this year’s A2A. I’m being humble and I am letting him know that I would like to finish top-3 again. Shhh, don’t tell him, but I want to win A2A as well.


Start line of the 2004 New York 100k

Placid, A Little Bit Of Canadian Perspective, A Little Bit Of USA News

Placid: One of Andrew Love’s recent posts called 10 things about Lake Placid takes some of us down memory lane with a nostalgic and photographical account of the city and its uniqueness. If you’d like to make a trip to Lake Placid and you’re searching for an excuse to hit the winding road of the Anarondac mountains, then you need look no further that the 2007 US National Marathon Championships/North American Marathon Championships which are taking place on February 3rd and 4th.


Racing on the oval in Lake Placid: Frank Cherry in front of Allison Turner
If ice marathons are an excuse for you to get out, then I definitely suggest that you make your way up to Portland, Ontario for the Big Rideau Marathon. The two day event is set for this weekend (January 27th and 28th). I think I mentioned it on my website a few times, but I want to re-mention the race because I think it’s worth it if it will convince someone who’s on the border of going of heading out to the race. Plus, race organizer Marco Smit puts a lot of time, love, energy, and resources into making the event happen and the entire town (or so it seems) really gets behind the event.


Swans close to the Big Rideau Lake
A Little Bit Of Canadian Perspective: The Canadian Inline Training Center has a report from long track age class races that took place on January 13th in Ste Foy, Quebec.

Aaron Arndt recently posted an article called A Terrible Introduction. Aaron posted some more thoughts on the issue. Good stuff and good ideas.


Aaron Arndt at the 24 Hours Inline in Montreal
Andrew Hegarty posted some videos and photos from the 2006 world championships in Korea in an entry called Korea in depth.

I think this series of links about the RSO Speed Series #2 that took place this past weekend offers a good perspective from Candy Wong: RSO Sunday, Objectives For This Sunday, and I Did Everything I Set Out To Do But...


Scott Pauley in front of Eric Gee during this past Sunday's RSO Speed Series #2
Here are the results from last weekend’s the Bytown Marathon.


Paisley Perrie gives her thumbs up this past Sunday in Ottawa at the Bytown Marathon (at least I think it is her thumbs)- photo taken by Alicia Weiss
Finally, here’s a link from Calgary's Speed Skate Cellar. It’s a speedskating store that you can actually walk into, much like Dimon Sports in Lake Placid. I love to hang around in the Dimon Sports store, plus, John Dimon rocks!


Good guys in the sport at the Dimon Sports shop: Left to right: John Dimon, Aaron Arndt, and Andrew Love

Germany skaters warming up during the 2005 world cup in Calgary
A Little Bit Of USA News: I’ve been to the Spring Elite Banked Track Clinic in 1997 in Colorado Springs, CO. It’s sweet. The OTC is sweet. This year’s clinic is planned for May 2nd to the 6th.

I think this has a lot of potential: Read on in this thread: Daytona 500 Pre-Race show - need skaters.

RSO Indoor Speed Series #2

RSO Indoor Speed Series #2: The 2006-2007 RSO Speed Series had its 2nd of 4 races yesterday at Scooter's Roller Palace. Aaron Arndt won all three races (300, 500, and 1000-meters) and Sigrid Ziegler was the top-finisher for the women. Aaron was challenged by Jade Pauley in the 500 and by me in the 300 and 1000-meter races, but he was just that much stronger. Sarah Hopkins put some strong laps together to stay within striking distance of Sigrid Ziegler. It's nice to note that there were almost twice as many skaters who participated yesterday compared to the first race (in other words, there weren't a lot of skaters at the first RSO).

First off is a video (click here or press play below) with a couple of interviews (Jake Maas on his race, Candy Wong on her race plan, Ryczard Adamczyk on lap counting/ bell ringing, and Travis Shaw on getting his broken bones reset) and some racing action from each group (1000-meter races).


Next up; there are a few photos from the race-


The little ones in their 300-meter race

Jordie Desmond (left) and Alex Maas

Start of group 3's 500-meter race

Ryczard Adamczyk: Lap counter and bell ringer

Start of group 2's 500-meter race- left to right & clearly visible are Sigrid Ziegler, Eric Gee, Scott Pauley, and Eric Maas

Start of group 1's 500-meter race- left to right & clearly visible are Jade Pauley, myself, and Aaron Arndt

That's right, Travis Shaw came to watch the races and cheer on the skaters

300-meter time trials- left to right are Eric Gee, Aaron Arndt, myself, Jesse Pauley

MSI’s Bytown Marathon Report, The Guy Drill, Chris Hicks In Florida’s Video, A Date With The World Cup, Tampa Photos

MSI’s Bytown Marathon Report: The Bytown Marathon took place this weekend in Ottawa. The first race on Saturday was cut short 8km down to 32km due to freezing temperatures of minus 15 Celsius and a wind chill brining it to 26 below (which can very easily make one’s privates freeze…trust me, it’s happened to me and it hurts like there’s no tomorrow). Ottawa’s Adrian Loewen took the win in a sprint over Jim Cornell. Loewen out-sprinted Cornell in a finish. Martine Charbonneau from Greenfield Park (Montreal) claimed top-honours in today’s 25km races. Today’s 25km race, which saw about 50 entries compared to the 23 the day before, saw Loewen take himself out of the race after he collided the same rec skater twice! Jim Cornell won today’s 25km after breaking away with a 16-year old Ottawa skater. Click here for Alicia Weiss' photos.


Today's racing action: 25km's- photo from Alicia Weiss
The Guy Drill: The Scooter’s Indoor Speed Club is a club with a unique culture. I would expect most clubs to have their own ‘special things’ that are really just for them just like Scooter’s. A lot of these things, secrets, rituals, or drills remain hidden until someone shares them. If they’re good, then they’ll spread. Aaron Arndt has been the inventor, the innovator of a lot of unique ways to share information, ways to train on skates, in drills to put into practice. Sigrid Ziegler has posted her interpretation/ explanation of The Guy Drill.


Scooter's Indoor Speed Club members left to right: Sigrid Ziegler, Eric Maas, Aaron Arndt, Jade Pauley, and Jesse Pauley- watching the racing action from today's RSO Speed Series #2
Chris Hicks In Florida’s Video: He is male, 33 years old, and he lives in Tampa, Florida. He last logged into his MySpace account today. He’s got a sweeeeet video on his page: go to Chris Hicks In Florida's page and scroll down. It’s worth the click, believe you me. You can also click here to access the video or press play below.

My Inline Speed Skating Video

Add to My Profile | More Videos
A Date With The World Cup: Bill Begg has shared some of the World Inline Cup’s 2007 dates (scroll down to the 17th message). Check out the dates and get ready to travel to the races or surf the net to find the goldmines of pictures, results, news, gossip, and reports. I’ll try to keep pace with linking up to some juicy material for you over the summer.


Any of these guys gonna rock this year's WIC?
Palm Springs Challenge Photos: Make sure you don’t click on this link if you’ve got work to do. There are many pictures and you’ll need some time to check them out: Find your photos on PhotoReflect (that’s what the website says). Here’s some quick links to Tampa photos: Relays, Indoors, Track, and Road.

Palm Beach Challenge Results, Inline On Fire, Upcoming Events

Palm Beach Challenge Results: Here they are- click here.

Inline On Fire: Caution: The picture on the flyer in the following link is recommended for adult eyes; Sex sells, doesn’t it? If so, then Inline On Fire, which is taking place on January 27th...looks like somewhere in Switzerland, should be a hot race. I don’t know if the race could be as hot as the girl in the picture though…

Upcoming Events: Road to America is taking place on June 2nd. Gros Gerau’s Speedskating-Kriterium is going to take place on April 28th and 29th.

The Bytown Marathon (part of the MSI Series) is set for tomorrow and Sunday. The ice marathon is taking place in Ottawa. If you could get there, that’s great! If you go to the race and you can send me some pictures and send a report, that’s even better.


Jake Maarse (in 3rd) is one of the race organizers- a great guy and a super fast and fit skater
You can find some of these events and many more on the Inline Planet’s Event Calendar.