A strong group of Canadian skaters traveled to Chicago this past weekend to compete in the Chicagoland Marathon (NROC) & Pro Inline Tour. Skaters from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Cambridge, and Vancouver supported the event.

The Chicagoland Marathon was part of the NROC race series. The NROC is a series of North American marathons. The Montreal Roller Marathon held earlier this year in May was part of the series, and this September’s Ottawa Inline Skating Festival is also part of the series. Toronto’s Candy Wong currently leads the women’s standings with Mississauga’s Morgane Echardour tied with USA’s Breanna Kramer.

A number of the skaters earned their way up on the steps of the podium with excellent finishes in the 340-meter group sprint, the 3.2km time trial, the 10km points race, and the marathon. Peter Doucet, Morgane Echardour,Herb Gayle, Sarah Hopkins Morgan Williams were amongst the Canadian podium finishers in the Pro categories.

Go to the results & pictures archive to find all the results, reports, pictures, and videos.

Pro Women’s marathon podium, including Sarah Hopkins (4th place- left) and Morgane Echardour (3rd place, 2nd from right)- photo by Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Pro Master Men’s marathon podium, including Morgan Williams (2nd from right) and Herb Gayle (right)- photo by Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Pro Women staring the marathon- photo by Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Women’s Pro Inline Tour race- Morgane Echardour & Sarah Hopkins tucked in the draft in 8th and 9th position- Hopkins won the race while Echardour came 4th- photo by Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Skaters from Toronto, Mississauga, Waterloo, and Cambrdige- left to right are Peter Doucet, Morgane Echardour, Brock Howes, Sarah Hopkins, Jesse Pauley, Candy Wong, Morgan Williams, Jade Pauley- photo from SpeedSkateWorld.com

Mississauga’s Peter Doucet (center) with World Champions Jorge Boter0 (Colombia- front) and USA’s Harry Vogel- Doucet finished 3rd in the marathon- photo by Thong Nguyen

Pro Women’s lead pack racing for points at the end of the 2nd of 3 laps during the marathhon- photo by DuffManOhYea

When: August 30th

Where: Winnipeg, Canada

Why: Great, well run race, closed course with smooth pavement, $1,000 in price money, easy online registration, wonderful way to show your support for Randy Plett (inline racer for Bont who was injured earlier this year in a bicycle accident)

What to bring: Passport, it’s now required to have a passport to get back into the US.

Race Registration

Click here for more information on the event.

Roller speed skating was smash hit at this year’s World Games held in Taipei.

With plently of media covering the exciting races, there is now a great buzz within the roller speed skating community for the sports’ potential inclusion in the 2016 Olympic programme.

Bill Begg, one of roller speed skating’s most passionate advoates, has been sharing his joy and motivating all the associations, clubs, groups, and individuals to lobby and keep strengthening roller speed skating’s presence in the final stretch leading to the desicion later this year.

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.

• Vote For Roller Sports’ Olympic Inclusion
• The Days Of The World Games 2009 From Inline Skating Notebook
• World Games- Blogs, Articles, Videos, & More
• Roller In The Running For Olympic Inclusion- ‘For Sure We Are Right In There’

Another bit of publicity here in Canada as next year we are hosting the 2010 Olympics. CTV television is the official network carrying the event and they have a serie of commercials that will start airing next month. Yesterday they just finished filming Paisley Perrie for their “Do you believe” promos. She spent half a day on ice and later another 5 hour segment with inlines on the track. This will be seen throughout Canada for the next few months. I think the bonus is it will be shown as part of an Olympic promotion.

Read more from Alex Perries here; Olympic Bid.

Photo from here

Morgane Echardour and Herb Gayle were the top-finishers at this weekend’s annual MS Run And Roll Half Marathon held in Thunder Bay. Echardour set the day’s fastest time at 38:58, about 20-seconds ahead of 2nd place finisher Herb Gayle and 3d place finisher Peter Doucet.

The race, which saw growth in the number of participants, featured a smooth 21km race course followd by a complimentary pancake breakfast and awards.

Race organizer Hal Lightwood, who is a father of two children, not only did a lot of the behind the scenes work, but he even competed, placing 7th overall.

Overall Finishers
1- Morgane Echardour
2- Herb Gayle
3- Peter Doucet
4- John Schulte
5- William Field

• Morgane Echardour & Herb Gayle Win At Thunder Bay MS Run And Roll Half Marathon– Peter Doucet
• Run and roll for MS marathon– TBNewsWatch
• Thunder Bay Race Report– John Schulte

Getting read to start- photo Peter Doucet/ www.SpeedSkateWorld.com

Hal Lightwood finishing ahead of 8th place finisher Ron Rost- photo Peter Doucet/ www.SpeedSkateWorld.com

The RSO Series was supposed to make a stop in Ottawa/ Aylmer on July 19th. However, a soccer group booked the field inside the 400-meter Aylmer track. As a result of this conflict, the RSO Series is postponed. A new date will be announce at a later time.

Click here for the results (zip file) from July 1st’s Canada Day Marathon & Half Marathon.

Roller Sports Canada held its annual Canadian Outdoor Speed Championships in Toronto. The competition was held this past weekend.

Skaters came from Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario to compete at the Father John Redmond 400-meter track. Skaters who use the track, which is located near lake Ontario, usually encounter windy conditions. Skaters faced very strong winds on Saturday. On Sunday, winds were weaker, but were shifting directions.

Despite the wind, many Canadian Outdoor Records were set, including Primary, Freshmen, Intermediate, and Senior levels.

These Championships served as a qualifier for Canadian skaters to represent Canada at the upcoming World Roller Speed Skating Championships being held in China this September. No skaters tried out for the World Team. This means Canada won’t be fielding at team at the World Championships.

The 2010 Canadian Outdoor Speed Championships will take place in Calgary in July. Dates & more information will be posted on the website.

• Click here for complete results (zip file)
• Day 2 pictures & report- from Peter Doucet
• Day 1 pictures & report- from Peter Doucet
• Report- Candy Wong- Encouragement
• Report- Candy Wong- Racing Without Expectation
• Pictures- From Flickr Photographer
• Pictures- From Marie Eve

Photo Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Photo Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Photo Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Photo Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Photo Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Photo Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

The Canada Day Marathon & Half Marathon were held on July 1st in Cambridge. This year’s course featured newly paved sections of asphalt.

With a good turout of skaters from Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, and the USA, the race ended up being a success.

Featuring good levels of competition, an open-road course, and a BBQ, the Canada Day Marathon has become a main-stay on the Canadian roller speed skating scene.

Race organizer Jim Mallard and his team of volunteers put together a good event and were very appreciative of the support from local clubs & skaters.

Peter Doucet finished in the top positiong in the marathon after breaking away from an attack that featured Sergio Almeralla and Benoit Tremblay. Almeralla and Trembaly skated with a small group of skaters. The second and third steps of the podium were decided in a sprint, with Almerally claiming 2nd and Benoit Letrouneau coming in 3rd.

Morgane Echardour edged out Sarah Hopkins in a close sprint to post the fastest women’s marathon time. Dominique Lalonde finished in 3rd.

Click here to view photos and to find the preliminary results.

Otttawa’s Sergio Almeralla leads Calgary’s Alex D’mello and the rest of the marathon lead group- photo by Harry Wallace, from SpeedSkateWorld.com