A2A Report

A2A Report: Here are some quick links before you're stuck with reading what I wrote;
- My 182 pictures
- Click here to find all the results
- Pictures from Lenny Wilcox
- Pictures from Ilene
- Peter Starykowicz's report
- Initial resutls & thoughts
- Inline Planet report
- A2A- Double Canadian Win
- G'Morning From Athens!
- Off To A2A & My Thoughts During The New York 100k
- Herb Gayle's photos
- Video of finish by Renee Coffman
- A2A - Canadian Aaron Arndt WINS!
- Video at finish line
- 2007 a2a 38-mile race + 49-mile cool down skate
- Athens to Atlanta Roadskate A2A 2007 Inline Skate Report (Friday)
- An Amazing Race
- Athens to Atlanta Roadskate A2A 2007 Inline Skate Video
- Athens to Atlanta Roadskate A2A 2007 Inline Skate Report (Sunday)

I managed to make my camera's video capabilities work after the event- you can hear from the champions Martine Charbonneau, Aaron Arndt as well as the legenday Eddy Matzger- click here or press play below




2007-10-07 Peter Doucet's Athens to Atlanta 182 photos
Athens to Atlanta is the mother and father of all inline skating ultra marathons. The event, which takes participants in an 87-mile journey through the rolling hills of Georgia, spans Athens and Atlanta.

Commonly refered to as A2A, the event can reduce skaters to a pile of bones and flesh in Pierdmont Park, Atlanta. This pile of bones and flesh can be found lying on the grass in pain and joy and in a rush to remove the skates from its feet! A2A also builds relationships and character, instilling a great sense of accomplishment in those who have skated and raced the event. A2A is a humbling event and has a lot of respect from those who have stood on the line and stared down an 87-mile long journey starting at 7:30am.

I am very proud to have finished this year's A2A, and I think everyone who took part should be proud of having supported such a great and challenging event.


I drove down to Atlanta on a glorious day

Aaron Arndt helps Rudy Maas find the directions to the check points- I think Mr. Maas had a 50% success rate in meetin his son, Eric Maas at the check points to hand off food
After this year's A2A, I hung out with some friends and at one point, some 4 or 5 hours after I was finished, I accompanied this year's winner, Aaron Arndt, to his van. We noticed some skaters who were approaching the finish- they were coming down a hill and had to cross a stop light- they had way too much speed, and as much as they were using their breaks, it was clear that their speed was going to carry them into the traffic! They had to bail onto the side-walk to avoid catastrophe! Aaron and I watched this event unfold, and we thought about how challenging A2A was, not only for us, but for those who were far behind us without the benefit of the motor-bike that used the correct route this year, intersections protected by police and volunteers, and a large visible group of skaters to follow.

As you know, this year's A2A was a shining day for Canadian skaters- both the first 87-mile finishers were Canadian- Brampton's Aaron Arndt and Greenfield Park's Martine Charbonneau.

Martine Charbonneau skated a great race and set the women's course record by over 10-minutes. She battled in the men's pack for the better part of 3-hours, clawing for positions, following strides, taking leads, and putting herself at her physical limits. Despite a fall in the last 500-meters, she was bubbly and joyous, extremely pleased at finally finishing A2A after a couple of previous attempts at the journey.

On the men's side, Aaron Arndt put himself in such a position that winning was virtually the only option. Faced with some fast and fit skaters, Aaron used every tool that he had at his disposal; he studied the course and set up a team to support him. He had plans and back-up plans. His equipment was sorted out and he was physically prepared.

This year's A2A started off right on time at 7:30am, with eventual winner Aaron Arndt taking the lead and making sure he went the right way in the early goings. During last year's A2A, the lead pack followed the motorbike the wrong way- some of us skated an extra 10-minutes or so, and we had to skate really fast to catch back up to the lead group.


Inline Club of Boston before the start

Fruit Boots! Does Eddy Matzger eat them?

Skating friends at the start line
Once out of Athens, a group of 30+ skaters settled into a rhythm, hitting speeds of 70-80km/ hour down some of the hills. The pace was more subdued and less 'panicky' this year during the start. There were a couple of accelerations, but none that were a threat to get away and none that caused a large chase or gap.

The first had chase hapenned when a couple of skaters- Luis Carlos Meija and David Sarmiento got a gap about 30-minutes into A2A. Eddy Matzger, Aaron Arndt, and a few other guys put the pedal to the metal and closed the gap very quickly. This acceleration caused the pack to shrink down to just over 20 skaters.

One-by-one or or two-by-two, skaters dropped off. I remember one guy just hit the wall going up one of the hills. His friend, or it might have been his brother said 'come on, keep going!' only to hear the response 'shut up!' as the skater faded out of the lead pack.

We got to the first water station, but there was no water or bananas. I could feel a lot of anxiety and tension in the lead pack at that point, but many of us carried extra water and power gels just in case this would happen.

I was battling my own problems; thanks to last weekend's New York 100k, me feet were blistered up and bloody, so I wore EZ feet to prevent more blisters from forming. EZ feet are very effective, but I wore the thick EZ Feet, and with my custom skates being tied too tight, the pain was unbearable half an hour into A2A- I knew it was going to be a looooooong and painful day for me. Then again, when is A2A never painful?

As the event went on, those who wanted to race it out started to control the front and the page. One of the stronger skaters to emerge at the front was Carlo Luis Meija. He pulled hard a few times, causing the pack to form a single line of skaters who'se only goal was to draft as effectively as possible and follow.

Despite a few attacks, the pace and the 'tone' of this year's A2A was more relaxed up front. I didn't feel like we were skating on the edge where anyone could attack at any time. I think that has to do with the fact that four of the skaters in the lead pack wanted to skate away from A2A with nothing less than a win.

I remember asking the legenday Danny Dunne about how his legs felt; we talked about how his legs felt like they were on fire! There was plenty of converstion in the lead pack, with funny questions being asked like 'so how's your personal life?'.

It was sort of funny watching the strategies that skaters used to pee during A2A. I saw everything from people stopped and going on the side of the road, people using water bottles, and others unzipping their costumes or pulling up their costume from their leg and going while skating. The funniest thing is though when everyone in the pack is aware that someone is peeing, everyone just sort of laughs and sometimes makes jokes. The pack was very respectly not to attack or accelerate when it was known that someone was doing their duty.

The hardest part of A2A came at about the 2 hour 15 mark, when Luis Carlos Meija and David Sarmiento teamed up and broke from the front. The attack was hard and it split the entire pack up; Aaron Arndt and Eddy Matzger chased while Francisco Ramirez and Peter Starykowicz followed. I got dropped not only from this front pack, but also from the 2nd pack which contained Martine Charbonneau, Hernan Diaz, Dennis Humphrey, Bruce Belden, and David Weber. My feet were in excuciating pain and I coulnd't push. We were skating through a city at this point and I though to myself that I don't want to skate A2A alone. I caught back up to the chase pack, we re-grouped, kept a constant pace, and bridged back up to the lead pack.

Luis Carlos Meija launched a few more hard breaks, and that formed the lead group into 7 skaters. The 7 of us stayed together until the 4-hour mark, hitting high speeds down silver hill. During silver hill, which is a fast downhill, I stood up going down the hill because I couldn't control my right food anymore thanks to the pain. I must have been going some 70+ km/ hour. Even at that speed, while alone, the lead pack ended up about 500-meters in front of me once the hill was finished. They took it easy and I caught back up.

Between hour #3 and hour #4, Eddy Matzger went on the offensive on some of the uphills. He didn't get any food from his support at the meeting points, so he was low on energy and calories, but he skated very well despite that.

At the 4-hour mark, Francisco Ramirez and I got dropped from the pack. I tried to keep the lead pack in sight, but I could see that they were moving and motoring- a few of the 5 skaters in the lead pack looked back, saw Francisco and I off the back, and they pulled extra hard to make sure we coulnd't mount a come-back. Francisco dropped off while I kept pulling, hoping that they would slow down. It ends up that the leaders covered the final portion of the race in 30-minutes whil I took an extra 4-minutes to cover the same distance.

I was dead, my feet were in pain, and I had to skate the final and roughest portion of the A2A course, battling all sorts of thoughts and thinking as positively as I could. The pavement is so rough in the last 10-miles or so. My feet were in pain, so much so that I was just thinking when the f*** is this going to be over?

Once in the city, I tried to regroup and skate with 'good' technique, but my foot was in such pain that any attempts at skating was futile. Finally, while entering Piedmont Park, Francisco passed me and said 'come on Pete'. I sprinted and caught up to him, and we finished 6th and 7th.

I didn't care about my position; the first thing I wanted to do was find out who came across first, and also to take my damned skates off. I found out that Aaron Arndt had won, just edging out David Sarmiento and Luis Carlos Meija in a close finish that he led-out!


Aaron Arndt after A2A- he could barely walk and stand right after the race and on Monday as well. He was yelping in pain while he was having massage done on his feet after his victory

Ahh the joy of finishing

France's Olivier Heuz; he ran out of water and got lost and got very very tired- what a great A2A experience to bring back to Europe, eh?

Home sweet home

Germany's Eberhard Eschlauer-hefter with the German flag coming in the finish

Mark Sibert and David Kaplan coming in the finish

Canada's A2A Champions; Martine Charbonneau and Aaron Arndt
Skaters trickled in over the next few hours- in pain and in joy. Getting massages, eating plenty, drinking beer, drinking whatever they could find, eating sandwiches (they didn't have the Derek Downing sandwhiches this year- those are sooooo damned good!).

The funniest thing that I overheard someone talking about after the races was this; 'I got a water bottle from the 4th water station, but I still had water in my camelback, so I gave the water bottle back at the 5th water station'. Hehehe.

I drove home in good company; with Aaron Arndt, Dean Arndt, and Erin O'Reilley. We stopped somewhere on Sunday night in Tennesse and slept in a motel that they said is a lot like the one from the movie 'Vacancy'. We were tired but giddy, we had a hard time falling asleep.

While I sit here at work typing this up, my feet are bloody- the blood is soaking into my socks, drying up, and my socks are stuck to my feet. I feel proud to have those marks on my feet- I know many other skaters earned marks like mine last Sunday while skating from Athens to Atlanta. Well guys, the good news is that we have 360+ days for those scars to heal. For now, these scars are my medals, painful ones, yes. But medals...made of blood.


Women's 2nd place finisher Gianna Guerino sitting during the awards ceremony where we all wanted to be during A2A; right on the finish line!

First-time A2A skaters!

The sun sets during my drive home