New York 100K and Skate Marathon Race Reports

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Permalink Reply by Philippe Candelier on September 27, 2010 at 2:24pm

NY100K is always a great event. Whatever the weather condition is. That was my 4th participation in a row. Being able to see in action some of the best skaters of the planet is part of the excitement. 2007, 2009 and 2010 were sunny. 2008 rainy.

Skating downhill at 45 km/h in a pack is amazing, especially with all those joggers, dogs, kids, bikes and horses around you. Being passed by the head pack during downhill, hearing bearings and wheels roaring is unforgettable.
I remember one downhill where our pack was easily catching up on 2 bikes side by side. Front skater blow in his whistle (thanks god, he had one). Question to myself: passing left or right? Bikes start zigzagging then decide to goes right, pack moves left in a 2 feet wide corridor delimited left by runners, right by bikes. What next? Oh yes, the bump at the bottom of the hill…

Those New Yorkers are afraid of nothing. A friend of mine was watching the race at the top of the hill... She spotted a jogger with ear buds listening music. Jogger crosses the path 45 degrees without paying attention to others people arriving at her back.
Friend (friendly): "Watch out, there is a race in progress. Skaters are fast, share the road please",
Jogger (aggressive): "Skaters should watch. We have priority here",
Friend: "Better watch out. Those guys have no brake",
Jogger raises shoulder and continues...

4 ambulances evacuated people that have been hit by skaters. Almost all skaters can told you that at least once, it was close. Not only during downhill.
I do not know any other sport where world-class athletes would accept racing under those risky conditions.
Personally I may be back, but god, I cannot bring my kids racing here.

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Permalink Reply by Ty Fidler on September 27, 2010 at 3:01pm

Due to a lack of time, my report will be short. But, hopefully, I can capture some of the highlights and pass on additional information to anyone considering this race for next year.

Prospect Park is a nice venue for the race. It’s a big park, with a nice road course that makes a loop. This particular park would be a nice “training ground” for any skater – meaning if I lived near Brooklyn, I would love training at this park. Granted, the big hill would get old fast, but it also makes you better. I skate on the same flat trail four or five days a week here in St. Louis, and I’ve paid the consequences for it at the US 10K and NY 100K. So, having a big hill is actually an advantage.

Anyway, the race was fantastic. I was actually surprised by the pace early on. I’m not sure how fast we were going, but it felt like were maintaining 22 or 23 mph during the first several laps (maybe more). I’m not sure why (considering the talent that was there), but I was anticipating a little slower race at the start. I thought there would be a lot more attacking early on, especially on the hill. But, for the first 8, 9 or 10 laps, the group stayed together pretty well. Early on, Peter Doucet appeared to be the strongest skater (at least in my mind). He would take off on a solo breakaway, get ahead of the main pack, and then do it again (once we caught up). Peter skated extremely well.

Eddy, on the other hand, was hanging towards the back of the pack (earlier in the race). I kept waiting for him to hammer it up the hill but he stayed pretty conservative until the end – and, then he just dominated. I didn’t get to see the dynamics of the race play out at the end (because I fell off), but obviously, Eddy showed his strength by pulling away from Olivier and Luca. As a side note, Olivier is a great skater – that’s a no-brainer, considering he is an Olympic gold medalist, but he is a really good inline skater. If you didn’t know that he won a gold medal (on ice), you wouldn’t think he was an ice skater. His inline technique seems so natural – most ice skaters look like ice skaters even on inline skates. Olivier on the other hand looks like an inline skater. I skated with him at Chicago and at NY and he gets so much power out of his technique – he reminds me a lot of Jorge. Jorge can just blow by people and Olivier seems to have that same explosiveness.

Congratulations to Eddy…after watching him at the US 10K (even though he didn’t win) and seeing his dominance at New York, it says a lot about what kind of skater he is. He’s very unique and appears to be on a whole different level when it comes to endurance / training. Eddy doesn’t seem to suffer like the rest of us.

Also, hats off to Francisco Ramirez and his team for hosting this event. If you look at the distance (100K), the talent (world class skaters), the course (challenging hill), and the prestige of winning this race, there’s no doubt that it’s one of the best events in North America.

P.S. - I do agree that there were some close calls, in terms of people on the race course. But, I guess that's something we have to deal with. I think the race crew (and police) do their best, but it's up to us and other's on the course to pay attention. Don't get me wrong - it's tough to race and always be aware of other people (especially when it's not at the forefront of your mind). Just being honest, I was thinking about the race and not always watching for walkers / joggers.

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Permalink Reply by Nadine on September 27, 2010 at 8:44pm

I'll make this short and sweet. Great event! Nice course. Beautiful weather. Good choice to start at 7am, I wouldn't even mind starting earlier. Eddy and Morgane rocked the 100k.
Thankful for Eddy allowing me to train with him at the Skatefarm for the past three weeks. Prepared me well for this race.
Cheers!

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Permalink Reply by Mr. T on September 29, 2010 at 1:47am

Nice report Philippe...
As a fomer resident of NYC (2006-2008) I am used to that attitude towards skaters (and anybody else, really) by New Yorkers. I experienced that while skating in Central Park several times. But, New Yorkers usually don't like to be told to do anything... still when the time comes they show good common sense.
But this is Brooklyn.. dodgy characters live there.. not like in Manhattan ;-)
However, you scared me when you report that 4 ambulances evacuated people hit by skaters. When I skated in Central Park and there was a cycling race, there is no way that "joggers have priority". Plus, I am not so sure there is such thing as priority in the sense that you just cross wherevere you like; there is spot and spot with properly marked areas even when races are not on. They have their lanes and there they do have "priority" but not when they get out to cross. However, I agree that rightful or wrongful, it is never pleasant to hit a pedestrian at 45km/h and faster. In Central Park the issue was mostly with tourists who cross shooting pictures and not paying attention to the road.
Anyway glad you all enjoyed it.

How are we doing with the Montreal Marathon for 2011? Did you order the good weather? I am willing to pay extra to register if you guarantee some sun this year! :-)

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Permalink Reply by Philippe Candelier on September 29, 2010 at 9:26am

We are working hard to get Montreal Marathon back in 2011. I have asked for an end of May weekend, but we have no confirmation yet. A 250 skaters event does not have the negotiating power of a F1 or Nascar race! I agree, we are due to a sunny day.

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Permalink Reply by Ty Fidler on September 29, 2010 at 9:58am

Good luck with it...if possible, I would try to avoid the same weekend as the Great Midwest Marathon, which was the last weekend in May this year. It's always disappointing to have two big races the same weekend - then you have to pick and choose. There's not much in June - that might be a good month.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Mullery on September 29, 2010 at 12:30pm

Buckaroo’s Race Report – NYC100K

This was my first time skating this race, and my first time skating a race longer than 42k. I had a great time.
The course was beautiful and definitely punishing. I had not been able to do the kind of prep I wanted to (insert favorite skater’s lame excuse here) and it definitely showed up on the course.

The hill was certainly a factor. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t unusually nasty on its own. I routinely skate hills which are longer and steeper back home. I just don’t skate them 19 times. After about 7 or 8 laps, all I could do was think about how I was going to get over it during the next lap. I saw more than one skater on their behinds due to cramping or energy problem climbing that thing.

Between the hill and the general exhaustion, somewhere around lap 10, I lost count of how many I’d completed. Dawn Stopplemoor found out for me (Thanks Dawn). But that was something I didn’t anticipate struggling with. It would be great if the timing folks could work out some kind of notification system for those of us unskilled enough to stay in a pack. If anyone else has suggestions about how they successfully kept track, I’d love to hear them.

I had only two close calls with others using the park. On two consecutive laps, a volunteer directing traffic, misjudged my speed and flagged a car to turn left across my lane. I had to swerve both times to avoid expensive body work. The rest was just a lot of making sure I was very loud and proactive about announcing myself as I approached bikers and pedestrians. In hindsight, I feel lucky that I didn’t have to deal with too much of that.

I suspect that any wrinkles that occurred in race logistics (running out of water late in the race, late start), etc. were directly due to the large number of last minute registrations. None of that stuff noticeably impacted me.

Thanks to all the skaters and spectators who to took time to shout a word or two of encouragement. You made the race that much less a painfest, and that much more an enjoyable event.

Thanks especially to Francisco and his team of volunteers for putting on a fun race that I will remember fondly for years – about as long as it takes my hamstrings to loosen up enough to walk normally again. :-)

In case anyone else is thinking of skating this race next year, I’ll leave you with my

N00b’s guide to ten things you should know about the NYC 100K
1. Bring a pit crew. Mine got tied up in Washington DC. That made hydration and energy planning a lot more complicated. During the race, they did have water in bottles like other races. Until it ran out. For me that was around lap 15. They also had bananas to pass out starting around lap 7 or 8.
2. Hyrdrate. If you can’t bring your own pit crew, I recommend a camelback. I reluctantly brought mine and filled it with my new favorite race beverage, Max Muscle Enduromax. I knew I was going to look like a n00b, but I’m glad I did it.
3. Allow enough travel time. The train takes about 45 minutes from midtown. The Q line drops you off on the north east side of the park near the starting line.
4. Banana up. Plenty of folks were cramping during and/or after the race. Make sure you combat that with hydration and potassium.
5. Take care of business. Get in line early for the men’s bathroom. There was only one building close to the start that had 3 stalls in it. It is between the park gate and the starting area.
6. X Factor. 100K exaggerates EVERYTHING. Bad socks, nagging lower back pain, pronating ankles (my personal curse). Make sure you train with whatever equipment you will race with. Work out as many kinks as you can before the race.
7. Learn how to count. Now I know why Danny Frederick suggested I do all of those math problems earlier “(3 x 5min @ 80-85%max with 5min easy spin rest + 2 x 10min / 5min rest same effort)”. I lost count of my laps. Thank goodness for Dawn and Zach Stopplemoor. Dawn got me a count a 5 laps from the end. By three laps more I had forgotten where I was again. Then Zach came skating up to check on me and volunteered to go back and find out my count again. I did have my Garmin, but I accidentally stopped it for a lap or so.
8. Go “New Yorker”. Get loud and aggressive and leave some of that “Minnesota Nice” at the start line. The bikers and pedestrians will not pay attention to you unless you make it clear to them that they need to. Since it is not a closed course, you need to respect their lanes and safety, but make sure you can safely skate yours. Announce yourself loudly and clearly, well before you approach them.
9. Recover. Bring recovery fuel and use it. They were selling Gatorade in the K2 booth, but I should have had more than one after the race.
10. Smile. Especially important on the last few laps. It’s a long race, but it’s OK to smile and have a little fun. After all, what are you there for?

-Michael

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