Canadian Skaters Compete & Earn Podium Finishes At North America’s Biggest Inline Skating Marathon

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.