As an opening comment from a skating guru from down under, all I can say it was an awesome experience, something I thought was only visualised in my dreams.
After a late flight from N.Z. caused me to miss two connections, I was told that I was rebooked the next day to reach Duluth. But alas the event would be all but finished. I was a desperate man, having to grease a palm at LAX, to get me on flights that would get me to Duluth late on the Friday night. Fortunately for me, I mentioned skating while at the gate at Minneapolis Airport and long time skating pin-up girl/commentator Heather Lacayo overheard and said, I know you. Well thanks to Heather and her uncles van we hit Duluth, in the middle of the night.
My first rest was in the back of the van. In the middle of the morning I ventured out and confronted a skunk. I knew enough, that when they lift their tail, you scatter. The next morning we arrived down near the bus area and I caught the last official car heading out to the start 40K north of Duluth.
As we hit the area, the U.S. Airforce was flying over & the national anthem was being sung. I made it with about a minute to spare, clambering in the back of a utility with my host Lauri Dowling from FaSST, along with radio station man Mike. I was indebted for Lauri inviting me to accompany her, as a co-commentator, in what she refered to as the best seat in the house. It was a great experience for someone who thought he had nearly seen it all, live links to an overhead helicopter, Mike doing the groundwork, with Lauri and myself chiming in to try and keep the public up to speed with what was happening.
It was important for me to observe the race, as I was on a New Zealand Prime Ministers coaching scholarship to observe World Cup events in Vienna, Berlin and Duluth. I thought this was great during the first 5K, the bunch was intact with fast Eddy Matzger doing his thing beside the bunch. Then there was Chad Hedrick experimenting with a new 100mm setup, giving the bunch an early work out. Jorge Botero made an attack, with Juan Carlos Betancur-saab/salomon-col ever present.
But my dreams of viewing an active working bunch were destroyed by a fellow N.Z. skater Shane Dobbin. He was the chief protagonist in a 5-man breakaway, that was to build a lead to in excess of 1 mile, Shane appeared to be in the box seat with two Rollerblade team members Jordan Malone & Fabian Rabeau in the break with him.
But the other two escapees were the young, well performed Josh Wood-K2 along with Saab-Salomon member and eventual winner Betancur. This breakaway signified what the World Cup is all about, skaters from four different continents in the break.
I have to apologise to Josh and Fabian at this stage, as we could not see the numbers and I called Fabian as Wouter, while Josh was an unknown, we could have done with binoculars, or a motorbike nearer the bunch, relaying us some numbers. But I was impressed with the efforts of Woods, who for the second year in a row, was heavily involved in a major break.
Team Rollerblades tactics went wrong, as when Dobbin put in some hard attacks, both Woods and Betancur went with him, while Rabeau and Malone tailed off. All three Rollerblade skaters needed to be in contact to counter attack after Betancur and Wood became tired after the chasing. In the end it got down to three, with Dobbin leading the sprint out about 300m from home. A bad choice of the line around the last corner, saw the fast finishing Betancur come over the top to claim the victory with a well earn'd 3rd to the hard working Josh Wood from K2.
The skating memories of Duluth were the surprise at how much hard work Betancur had done chasing the breaks, then turned on a real fast finish to win the event, the great effort by Wood and the great technical ability of Dobbin.
While I did not see any of the ladies race, I did see a very powerful Julie Glass-powerslide overcome the bunch, to win from Verducci teammates Jessica Smith and Theresa Cliff.
Also the privilege of interviewing the placements in the mens race, plus seeing how a whole community, in this city nestled at the end of Lake Superior all rally behind this event to make Duluth the success it is. Also to see the major hotel in the city taken over by the skating community, the major problem being it closes far too early. Also a special thanks to the girls who gave the visitors a little show outside Subway.
A great event I can recommend to anyone, no wonder people keep going back there each year. Great to also meet many of my message board sparring partners, JL, the Major, Ron, Jim, Paul Alias Heron and many others, special thanks to Lauri and Heather for ensuring I got to see it!
Well after spending time with long time acquaintances, the famous Muse family of Des Moines, where I was cleaned up in a game of golf with Mark, Tony and Dad, I then made my way to Vienna, for a supposed Sunday World Cup event. Unfortunately my luggage did not arrive with me, I arrived with camera, computer, and little else on Saturday to see roads closed with skaters on them. They had about 10K to go, so I got about 3 minutes film on a flat battery, to actually show I had been there. After the event, I approached Coni Althers of Iguana Think Tank, the organiser, about not giving notice of the change of dates on the official site program. He said he advised the teams three weeks earlier, but that did not help other people not in teams. I spoke to two teams who only found out by accident & were lucky not to miss the race.
Well Chad and Jessica were the winners, but no luggage for 3 days, ripped off by a crooked taxi driver and only seeing a bit of a race. Vienna was not a happy experience, with what obviously appeared to be a lack- lustre event, there was not enough for me to put Vienna down as a future A1 port of call. The singer at the stadium afterwards was real good, so at least there was some enjoyment for me.
Well Berlin - what an experience, what a memory! Stayed at a very friendly hotel not too far from the start and finish. In Berlin every street seemed to have a musician: harps, flutes and the likes, relaxed cafes with outdoor seating, and those cycle ways everywhere with the Tiergarten Park right there in the middle of the city.
To see a city the size of Berlin, Germany closed off on Saturday for a skating marathon, was a sight to behold, with a 10,000 limit on entries, there was a notable lack of youngsters in the event. I did not have an official pass, but thanks to Reiner from inlion.com, he gave me his pass, so I was able to get onto the centre medium strip and film 10,000 skaters coming past me on either side of the road.
Well it was all too much for me, the tears were freely rolling down my cheeks, as I tried to describe, while filming, a sight which was beyond my wildest dreams. As the skaters came past me, wave by wave by wave heading off past the Siegessaule, on their 1 lap 42K circuit of this famous city. In a big bunch sprint Juan Carlos Betancur wound off the rest of his team to win from Saab-Salomon teammate Max Presti and Hypers Diego Roserio, Chad Hedrick and Rollerblades Jorge Botero were the next to finish. Once again Julie Glass-powerslide prevailed over Jessica Smith-verducci and Laura Lardani-rollerblade in another big bunch sprint finish.
You do not get to see much of the race, but an estimated half a million enthusiastic spectators got to see our wonderful sport pass by in there area of the city plus the front page media coverage; this is promotion for our sport at the highest level.
The party afterwards right on the ground, where the infamous Berlin wall used to be, at the Brandenberg gates. The music, the drinking and street food stalls all combined to create a great atmosphere and memorable experience.
So the World cup from my perspective, yes, I will take up an offer to coach / manage an International team in the event. I need to be part of it, to fulfill my skating life and experiences, plus I want my family involved as well.
Coni Altherr is right, we need another World Cup event in the U.S. from a practical and financial perspective, as far as the European based teams are concerned, it would need to be the week before or after Duluth. Perhaps a New York World cup event on Saturday with perhaps Eddy and other serious endurance skaters, doing the 100K doubleup on Sunday. The World Cup events do have hiccups, but it presently is the saviour of our sport on a world wide exposure basis. I for one am a big fan of these events.
Photos: WIC