Click here for a file containing all the necessary information for the first of the TAZ Roller Cup events taking place on Saturday November 28th.
Entry fees are only $20 if you register before November 20th.
To register, send your name, phone #, e-mail, and short resumé of your skating experiences to Simon Clement
TORONTO — After years of disappointments, Toronto has finally won a major international sporting event, beating two South American cities to host the 2015 Pan Am Games.
Read more here; Toronto wins bid to host 2015 Pan Am Games.
Mississauga’s Morgane Echardour (left) shares her reaction with the media, after news of the bid’s success was announced. Echardour along with Peter Doucet were on hand at the Hosting Decision Announcement event at Toronto’s Labatt House
Jordan Belchos won the 10km long track speed skating race for Canada’s long track speed skating fall World Cup Team trials. You can read more about the competition here; Clara Hughes’s Second Victory; Jordan Belchos Wins the 10 000m event.
Belchos represented Canada at the World Junior Roller Speed Skating Championships as well as the Pan American Championships prior to taking on ice long track speed skating.
You can find results here.
Finishing first in the 10 000m event gave Jordan Belchos his first victory at a national selection competition. Skating at the same time as Mathieu Giroux, the 20 year-old athlete was satisfied with his performance. “We were close throughout the race, but I had the lead. I knew that Mathieu would speed up towards the end, so I had to create a gap – I expected the race to go that way.” Belchos has already qualified for the 5000m event at the World Cups, and has just qualified for the 10 000m event.
“I like the 10 000m, because you can establish a rhythm and try to hang on; that’s the event I prefer.”
Belchos is a former in-line skater, where he participated in two World Championships. It was only in February 2006 that he began speed skating, in part thanks to the Own the Podium program.
Toronto’s Herb Gayle placed 1st overall in the 52-mile distance at Athens to Atlanta earlier today.
Fredericton’s Nadine Jackon was the 4th woman to cross the line in the 87-mile distance coming in 6-hours 34-minutes, good enough for 31s overall.
Colombia’s Luis Carlos Meija and USA’s Marcy Turek were the champions in the 87-mile distance.
The event, which starts in Athens, Georgia, and finishes in Atlanta’s Piedmont Park, attracted about 160-skaters this year.
Past Canadian winners of the legendary event, include Aaron Arndt, Martine Charbonneau, and Dominique Laroque.
Results [87 mile overall] [52 mile overall] [38 mile results]
Tyler Congdon- Roller Sport Canada’s Vice-President for Speed- and his work with helping to grow roller speed skating in Cameroon is recognized-
I do express sincere gratitude to my supervisors, Jonathan Seutter, Tyler Congdon, Remi Hubert for their professional, guidance and technical support which help me enormously in the accomplishment of skating in Cameroon.
You can read more about skating in Cameroon here; Speed skating Developments in Cameroon.
*PLEASE NOTE- DATE IS NOW SATURDAY NOVEMBER 28th*
Montreal’s The TAZ (Inline speed club) will organize the first ever competition to be held at the 200-meter indoor track in Montreal. The first TAZ Roller Cup will be held on Sunday November 29th.
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.
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.
Photo from flickr_photographer
Photo from SpeedSkateWorld.com
There is a very strong bid from Toronto to host the 2015 Pan American Games. The bid’s website, Toronto 2015, includes information on the venues for roller speed skating and roller figure skating.
Roller Sports Canada 