New Brunswick’s Nadine Jackson took the dive into roller speed skating this past February.

Along her young journey, she made stops in Duluth, MN, and New York City after training with USA’s legendary Eddy Matzger.

Jackson spent time trianing with Matzger at his SkateFarm located in Virginia.

She wrote about her experiences here; Huge Smiles and Thanks to Eddy and the Skatefarm.

On February 20th, 2009 I put my first pair of inline speed skates on. I live in the eastern part of Canada where the snow banks are as high as the telephone poles.

In June I was rolling down the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, home of the Skatefarm. I decided that since I was very new to this sport that I should get a few lessons. This was an understatement. What I received was bigger than a few lessons. Eddy has this innate ability to explain the technical aspect of skating. But what really stood out is Eddy’s enthusiasm and love of this sport. This is what made me a better skater. I went home with a totally new perspective on skating. I was more confident with my abilities and I was more confident with my in-abilities.

Nadine Jackson was part of the re-do crew at the 2009 Northshore Inline Marathon. Along with 5 other skaters including Eddy Matzger & 3 other Canadian skaters, she skated the NSIM 42km twice for a total of 84km’s- once to race and a second time to cheer on the skaters still on the course!!

Skaters from across Canada competed at the recent Northshore Inline Marathon in Duluth, MN. Canadian skaters from Frederickton, Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Thunder Bay, and Winnipeg attended this year’s NSIM.

The annual marathon, which attracted over 3000 skaters, was part of the NROC, a North American race series that included events in Ottawa and Montreal.

Sarah Hopkins finished 3rd overall in the Pro Women’s race. Hopkins, who recently moved to Calgary to train in long track ice speed skating, had to sprint with a group of over 10 Pro Women and a very big group of Advanced Men to earn her podium finish.

A $10000 bounty was offered to any skater who could set the course record. The Pro Women ended up being about 12-minutes off the record. Meanwhile, the Pro Men finished only about 1 1/2 minutes off the record, finishing the 42km race in under 1-hour. With a stacked field featuring past World Champions, the Pro Men had a tough race.

Steve Robillard (left) coming in with 200-meters to the finish ahead of USA’s James Springer, Eddy Matzger, Rob Bell, and a Colombian skater- photo from Inlinepics.com

Montreal”s Steve Robillard was Canada’s top Pro Men finisher, managing to crack the top-10 overall finishing first in the chase pack. Robillard came into the race fresh from the Canadian Olympic Short Track Speed Skating Team trials in Montreal.

• Results
• Live race updates
• Live from the Expo
• InstaMapper trail
• Northshore stories
• Peter Doucet’s photos
• Inlinepics.com’s pictures
• Pictures from ASI Orders
• Lemon Drop Hill pictures
• Over 3,000 cross Northshore finish line
• Pictures from Duluth News Tribune
• Mike Garvin’s report- The Big Show
• Pictures from Dale
• Collins report
• Candy Wong’s report- Worse For Wear
• Pictures from Ann Kools

The Ottawa Inline Skating Festival, part of the National Roller Cup (NROC), attracted hundreds of skaters from across Canada and from the USA.

Morgane Echardour and Sergio Almeralla were the big winners in Ottawa today. Echardour won all three of the women’s events — 10K, 42K and 21K — while Almeralla won two: the 42K and 21K.

In each race, Echardour positioned herself in the lead men’s pack and rode the draft to big victories.On the other hand, Almeralla used hard breakaways and strong sprints to overcome James Springer’s early lead in the Triple Crown standings.

Sergio Almeralla & Morgane Echardour were the top finishers. Echardour collected wins in the 10km, 21km, and 42km races while Sergio topped the competition in the 42km & 21km races. USA’s James Springer was the winner in the 10km race.

• Results [5km] [10km] [21km] [42km] [42km pro]
• Report from Mike Garvin
• Peter Doucet’s photos
• Live updates from the race course
• Report from Road Rash Chronicles
• l3xh2k’s pictures
• Report from Peter Doucet
• flickr_photographer’s pictures
• NROC Standings Updated After Ottawa Inline Skating Festival

Photo from flickr_photographer

Photo from SpeedSkateWorld.com

Winnipeg played host to the annual North of the 49th Marathon this past weekend.

• Results [Full marathon] [Half marathon] [Kids on Wheels]
• Report & Pictures from Herb Gayle
• Report- The Collins Report

Top-5 overall women’s marathon finshers- photo from Herb Gayle