Toronto Inline Skating Club duo taking on world’s best masters skaters at Championships in Italy

The Toronto Inline Skating Club’s Leo Frusteri and Morgan Williams will be representing Canada at the World Masters Championships this weekend in Italy

The pair leave for Italy on Thursday and will race against the world’s best Masters skaters this weekend. They will be racing in the marathon- a 42km race taking place in Pavullo nel Frignano near Bologna, Italy.

The two skaters have trained very hard for this competition, following a strict regimen of daily work outs, concentrating on proper nutrition, and attending key races.

Roller Sports Canada wishes all the best and good luck to Leo and Morgan.

Morgan Williams (in white) skates with good company, including World Champion Jorge Botero and strong skaters from Italy- photo by spdhk

Leo Frusteri displays strong focus at starting line- photo SpeedSkateWorld.com

The Toronto Inline Skating Club‘s Candy Wong finished first at October 3rd’s Athens to Atlanta.

Skating in the 38-mile distance, Wong cross the line in a hair over 2-hours 15-minutes.

Martine Charbonneau, who won the full 87-mile distance in the past, placed 4th of all women in the full 87-mile distance. According to reports, Charbonneau was in position to finishing in the top-3 when she took a wrong turn and got lost while skating the closing section of the open-road course when entering Atlanta.

• Athens to Atlanta website
• Results [87-mile results] [52-mile results] [38-mile results]
• Eddy Matzger Wins A2A!
• Pictures [a2a 2010] [Athens to Atlanta 2010]

Candy Wong (in red) skating Athens to Atlanta- photo from Lenny Willcox

Peter Doucet, Morgane Echardour, Morgan Williams win NROC divisions, more Canadians on podium

Canada’s favorite skate couple won matching titles today as the top skaters in the pro open division of the 2010 National Roller Cup.

Speed Skate World’s Peter Doucet came from behind in the last three weeks of the season to take the title away from NROC newcomer Ty Fidler.

Canadians raced to the podium steps of this year’s NROC, a North American racing series comprised of a variety of events including marathons and ultra-marathons.

Nadine-Currie Jackson (left) and Morgane Echardour (right)- photo from Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Peter Doucet and Morgane Echardour were crowned the Open Men & Women’s Champions while Morgan Williams was the Veteran Men’s Champion.

Peter Doucet (right): NROC Champion- photo from spdhk

Other Canadian skaters who stepped onto the podium included Herb Gayle (Veteran Men) and Nadine Currie-Jackson (Open Women).

Candy Wong was a members of the winning team- Asphalt Beach/K2- while finishing 4th in the Open Women’s category. Also placing 4th in his catergory was Scott Pauley.

In the advanced division, Claudia Thibodeau and Chantal Desjardins placed 2nd and 3rd while Montreal’s Dominique Clement was 4th in the senior men’s division.

• Doucet, Echardour Win 2010 National Roller Cup: Congats to the winners of all 18 NROC divisions!

• Le Taz: Club de Patin s a Roues Alignées a Montréal

L’école de Patin à roues alignées enfants à pour objectif de proposer une activité sportive et ludique aux enfants. Elle permet aussi d’enseigner les techniques afin d’amener ceux qui le souhaitent vers une discipline (Course, Artistique, Roller in line Hockey, Acrobatique). Chaque séance sont composées d’un échauffement, d’un apprentissage technique et de jeux axés sur la pratique du roller skating.

Morgane Echardour win, Nadine Currie-Jackson & Candy Wong finish in top-5 at New York 100k, Olivier Jean faces Eddie Matzger and a strong field & places 2nd

The best part? The luxury of soaking in everybody’s whoops and hollers through the human chute that welcomed me across the line. I will rewind and play that memory in my mind for years to come, drawing energy and inspiration each time.

Canadian girls were top of their class at the recent New York 100k held in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Mississauga’s Morgane Echardour won the women’s 100k in a sprint finish with USA’s Karin Gabriel. Frederickton’s Nadine Currie-Jackson placed 3rd.

Echardour felt she could have wrapped up the race prior to the sprint. After winning the ‘Queen of the Mountain‘ and having tested Karin Gabriel in the mid-race uphill sprints,  she felt confident that she could out-skate Gabriel at the end of the race.

Morgane Echardour leads Nadine Currie-Jackson, Jessica Wright, and Karin Gabriel in the closing laps of the 100k- photo from Robo Skatesaround

This was Echardour’s first win in the 100k. With her win, she joins Martine Charbonneau on the list of Canadian winners of the illustrious race.

Ottawa’s Kim Brennan finished at the top of her division in the 42km, closely followed by Montreal’s Claudio Thibodeau.

On the men’s side, it was the legendary Eddie Matzger who faced down a top international field of skaters including World Champions & World Cup winners Luca Presti, Jorge Botero, and Francesco Zangarini. Canadians Olivier Jean and Peter Doucet stayed in the mix and were very competitive. Matzger won the race, followed by Olivier Jean. Peter Doucet took the title of ‘King of the Mountain‘.

Ottawa’s Stephane Tremblay (4th with white skates and blue helmet) follows Luca Presti, Francesco Zangarini, and Jorge Botero- photo from Dawn Stoppelmoor

• 2010 results
• NYC Brooklyn marathon
• Live updates, photos and videos- New York 100K and Skate Marathon
• Pictures from Peter Doucet [New York 100k- Post-Race, 100k & NROC Podium, MISC Pictures] [New York 100k- Race Pictures] [New York 100k: Morgane Echardour & Eddy Matzger Win 100k]
• Eddie Matzger: How I Won the New York 100K
• Tony Muse’s report: New York Skate of Mind
• New York 100K and Skate Marathon Race Reports
• Brian Holtan’s Photos – NYC 100K 2010
• The 19th NYC Skate Marathon & New York 100K_09.25.10
• 2010 NYC Skate Marathon & NY 100k – video screen shots
• Joergen Geerds’s Photos – NYC Inline Skate Marathon 2010
• New York Skate Marathon After Party 2010

Il y a deux semaines, j’ai pris part à l’édition 2010 du ” MS – Toronto Bike Tour”. Et tout comme par les années passées, j’étais le seul “cycliste”… en patins à roulettes!

Alain Quintard (droite) au ‘MS – Toronto Bike Tour’

Pour ceux d’entre vous qui sont familiers avec la région de Toronto, le parcours très pittoresque allait du parc Centennial jusqu’au Lakeshore (et retour!) en suivant la rivière Humber.

Continue reading →

Four Canadians took to the start of this past weekend’s Skate of the Union in Chantilly, Virginia. The race, which was held next to Washington Dulles International Airport, was part of the NROC- a North American series of races & events.

Morgane Echardour placed 1st in the women’s division, managing to race with the chase pack.

Morgane Echardour (center) flanked by Jessica Wright & Karin Gabriel- photo by Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

Peter Doucet leads the winning break- photo from Diana Tan

Peter Doucet placed 3rd overall after being involved in initiation a number of breakaways, including the winning break that featured 5 skaters.

Toronto’s Herb Gayle placed 16th overall and Frederickton’s Nadine Currie-Jackson placed 4th amongst women.

Herb Gayle- photo by Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

The great story here is Morgane Echardour is likely to win the 2010 NROC Open Women’s division. Candy Wong from Toronto & Nadine Currie-Jackson will likely finish 2nd and 3rd, making the NROC Open Women’s podium an all-Canadian affair. In the men’s NROC Open Division, Peter Doucet scored top points at the Skate of the Union, giving him a real shot at the NROC title. Herb Gayle is sitting comfortable in 2nd place in the Veteran Men’s division, with an outside shot at the Veteran Men’s title.

For results and pictures, use these links and see the archives under September 19th:

• Roller Speed Skating Pictures & Videos
• Roller Speed Skating Results & Reports
• Marathon results

Morgane Echardour finishes 3rd in Pro Women’s- Echardour and Candy Wong now 1st & 2nd in North American Series, Winnipeg’s Damian Konotopetz wins Senior Eilte, Erwin Baertschi wins Grand Veterans, Randy Plett 4th in Veteran Elite Men

A number of Canadian skaters used the biggest inline skating event in North America- the 2010 Northshore Inline Marathon- as a setting to earn excellent results.

Morgane Echardour placed 3rd in the Pro Women’s race at the NSIM- photo from Peter Doucet, SpeedSkateWorld.com

The 42km marathon, held in rain and wet conditions in Duluth, MN, attracted about 3000 skaters, including a strong contingent from across Canada.

Skaters rolled and raced from Two Harbors to Duluth in the point-to-point race, covering the 42km’s in a variety of age and ability categories.

• Results [Results] [Elite by category]
• Reports [Live updates from the racecourse: NorthShore Inline Marathon] [Brief report] [Collins Report: North Shore Inline Marathon 2010] [Lucky number 13] [Northshore Inline Marathon 2010.. reports] [Train crashes into car near start of Inline] [Wet and Slow NSIM] [Justin time: Louisiana racer wins inline marathon]
• Pictures [From Peter Doucet- Race] [From Peter Doucet- Re-Skate] [From Peter Doucet- Awards] [North Shore Inline Marathon 2010] [NorthShore Inline Marathon] [Duluth 2010] [Northshore 2010 – Photo finish camera] [Northshore inline Marathon 2010] [ASI pictures]
• Videos [2010-10-11 Northshore Inline Marathon- Redo Skate!]

You can join Eddy Matzger in January 2011 for a training camp in Thailand.

• SkateFarm Thailand