Detroit's Wolverine Marathon Report, USARS News, Publow In Toronto, Inline Planet Tip On Weight Training

Detroit's Wolverine Marathon Report: Hello everyone! I am somewhere in Michigan at an Indian restaurant right now enjoying some chicken tikka, samosas, and some kind of fresh juice that I am unable to describe. I've got time to kill since I am en-route to Elkhart for the 10k tomorrow morning.

I'm sure you're waiting and waiting to hear about what went down at the Wolverine Marathon Report. Well, I'll tell you; rain, rain, and more rain; lots of rain! Frankly, I was surprised to see the good turnout of skaters that braved the rain, wind, and cold. I was even more surprised to really feel everyone's enthusiasm! Everyone was positive, in a good mood, and wanting to skate in the rain! I really enjoyed the fact that everyone was friendly and saying hi and cheering each other on during the marathon and half marathon.

I left my house at 3am and arrived at Belle Isle in Detroit with enough time to say hi to a few friends, warm up, and start the race (FYI Herb Gayle and Ryczard Adamczyk left Toronto at 1am-ish!). There was a good number of skaters who came from out of town, including a strong contingent from Toronto, Chicago, and even Florida! Inline skaters are hard core bunch, let me tell ya!

I won't go much into the race details because I prefer to spend my time uploading the photos and making a video. I think the pictures and the video will do a better job communicating my (and a few others') experiences than what I can write.

Just before we go on, I just wanted to say that I was impressed on a few skaters and how strong they were, in particular Peter Starykowicz, Mike Anderson, Jillianne Rookard, and Helen Havam. There were some really really exciting group sprints, and everyone in each bunch sprint was really going for it right to the line (and beyond for a few)! Danny Fredericks (sp?) looked really strong, and he's a really nice guy! A few of us were shiverring in the pouring rain after we finished our race, but we stayed near the finish line to cheer and watch the sprints.

42km Overall (results are approximate)
1- Peter Doucet
2- Peter Starykowicz
3- Mike Anderson
4- Danny Fredericks
5- Jilleanne Rookard
6- Morgan Williams
7- Bobby Piedra
8- Helen Havam
9- Herb Gayle

EDIT: Toronto-area skaters faired quite well, with Ryczard Adamczyk placing 3rd overall in the half marathon, Ed Leung and Stephen Fischer winning this age groups in the full marathon, Sarah Hopkins placing 4th in the women's marathon, and of course yours trule (that's me) chalking up a win!

Before I you check out a couple of pictures, I'll first put up my video- click here or press play below to view- I think that the end of the video is very funny. It's worth watching to listen to the story that Herb Gayle tells. Herb's a great story teller!



Skating friends gather up for a blurry/ wet picture before the start

From Florida (Lenny Wilcox) and from Toronto (Sarah Hopkins)

Top-3 42km overall women and men (Helen Havam, Jilleanne Rookard, Mechele Bubsy, Mike Anderson, myself, and Peter Starykowicz)

They all came from Toronto (and surroundings) at different times- Ed Leung, Munro Foster, Morgan Williams, Herb Gayle, and Sarah Hopkins. A few Toronto-ites are missing including Stephen Fischer and Ryczard Adamczyk

Bont in Detroit- Glenn Koshi and Michelle Bubsy (sp?)- many of us took some time to check out the Bont boots, but the real hot-ticket was the ultra cheap bearings that Glenn Koshi was selling. He'll be in Eklhart tomorrow

The mighty GM tower disappears into the Detroit clouds
USARS News: For a list of registered athlete-team sponsors, click here. There's a little bit more information on the USA Panamerican Games trials, which are takig place in conjunction with the USARS outdoor nationals.

Publow In Toronto: Barry Publow will be running a SpeedCamp in Toronto June 8-10. Click here for more details.


Barry Publow on the phone
Inline Planet Tip On Weight Training: The Inline Planet's latest tip is Weight Training for Skaters Part 1: Intro and Squats. I know all about squats- they're fun...cough cough.