Canada Day Marathon Report & Photos

Canada Day Marathon Report: Let's kick off this report with the pictures (taken by Morgane Echardour and Maude Lefevre) You can see a few results-

Men Elite 42km
1- Sergio Almeralla
2- Allain Legacy
3- Peter Doucet
4- JF Messier

Women Elite 42km
1- Sarah Hopkins
2- Conny Strub
3- Marcia Woodfield

21km Overall
1- Brian Jalbert
2- Paul Shoebridge
3- Nick Zacchia

The Canada Marathon was supported by skaters North and South of the 49th parallel. Not only is it nice to see skaters from the USA supporting events like this, but it's very encouraging that Canadian skaters from outside Ontario- including Quebec and British Colombia, made their way to Cambridge for the event.

A huge thanks to everyone who helped the Pan Am Games team by buying 50/50 tickets- every dollar makes a difference, especially when the skaters, coach, and manager have to fork out a substantial amount of $ to represent Canada.

Now on with a brief report- The race started off with a quick pace with Jesse Pauley and Jade Pauley taking their pulls at the front. The first attack came from Sergio Almeralla. The pack kept him in sight with pulls from JF Messier, Randy Bowman, and Youri Juteau, and a few others.


Skaters were greeted with a beautiful and glorious day with a slight headwind- this is the start of the 42km- you can see me in Canada's red colours!
Almeralla's break lasted only a few minutes- a no more than 10-minutes into the marathon, the big crash happened.

Jade Pauley went down hard; crashing after his skaters came in contact with JF Messier's. 2006 A2A winner Erica O'connor, who was sitting comfortably in the pack went up and over Pauley and injured herself. I couldn't avoid the pile-up and I went down. While I was falling, all I could hear is smash 'ahhh' bang. I looked around and saw skaters sprawled all over the road, including Sarah Hopkins- I figure 6 or 7 of us went down in the crash.


Randy Bowman leads the 42km lead pack with Youri Juteau, Morgan Williams, Oliver Martinez, and the rest of the group following closely
I tried to get up and I could feel incredible pain in my shoulder. I looked at my shoulder- my skin suit was destroyed and my shoulder- in extreme pain- was not quite in the position that it usually is. I shouted and yelled in pain, skated in circles while O'connor was down and out on the road. My shoulder- which I figure I dislocated- was propped painfully back into its socket after much effort.

Jade Pauley and I skated around and chatted, wondering whether or not we should go on and finish. We were in the middle of no-where, so we either had to wait for help or skate away. Our pace gradually picked up, and after a few minutes, we were back at race pace. My shoulder and cuts/ scrapes were hurting a hell of a lot, but I decided that I was going to give chase and see what I could do.


Oliver Martinez getting a good draft from Morgan Williams
I pushed the pace to finish the first of 3 laps, and continued skating solo- skating, in the wind, in pain, putting my arm in any position that would make me feel less pain. I caught no one on the 2nd lap- and with about 5km to go, I saw the lead pack.

With my heart rate at 180-something beats per minutes, my legs sore sore sore, and my shoulder in crazy pain, and oh my back- I didn't get up at all for the better part of 1-hour since the crash- I picked off the skaters one by one and pack by pack until I clawed my way back into the top-3 overall. I watched Sergio Almeralla collect a well deserved win and Allain Legacy come in 2nd- a strong race for this ever improving skater.


The 42km grand champion Sergio Almeralla
The top female skater- Sarah Hopkins- finished in about 1:14. This was a very good time considering she crashed and lots a lot of time. While I was trying to get up after my fall, she asked me if I was ok- she had this look of horror and genuine concern on her face. I told her I'll be fine, I'm alive; she can't help, go on and skate. And skate she did!

The 21km race- Brian Jalbert held his ground and outsprinted Paul Shoebridge, Nick Zacchia, and Beth Clarke.

The lead pack of the 21km race, with Alex Newdick leading the charge, followed by Nick Zacchia, Beth Clarke, Brian Jalbert, and Paul Shoebridge
It was nice to see some friends from the long track ice world including Adam Lawrence. It was also nice to catch-up with some friends that I had not seen in ages!

Congratulations to everyone who finished. There were a lot of fall victims. Marcia Woodfield, Stephen Fischer, and I heard that Randy Bowman went down. For some reason, the race course was unforgiving. Worry not though, many of us will be back next year. The race was well organized, on time, and featured a good BBQ. Thanks to all the sponsors, including Tru Rev who donated some wheels and Il Peleton. Until next time, thanks for reading.