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(Talk about the 2008 NorthShore) 3:41 p.m. Race Summary
Elite women at the finish line: From right: Leidy Galeano, Helen Havam, Martine Charbonneau, unidentified male, and Sonia Galeano. Photo: Sports Management Associates, Inc. It was a great day for racing on the north shore of Lake Superior. Cool but not cold with a slight tailwind. Lots of skaters posted personal bests. The Colombian men went out hard from the start, in hopes of beating the course record (57:18) and collecting the $10,000 bounty. But after a few minutes, it was clear that they wouldn't get it, and it turned into a game of "hurry up and wait." The Colombians (Luis Mejia, Julian Rivera, Julian Aparicio, Luis Moreno and Francisco Ramirez) did most of the pulling ... except when Eddy Matzger would bolt off the front. But in the end, it came down to the field sprint. Tru-Rev's Rivera had the lead but fell on the final turn (not only ruining his finish but that of the young Cado Motus skater James Springer who was right behind him). Bont Colombia's Aparicio took over the lead, but Simmons' Adam Miller, the NROC champion, caught him and hawked at the line to win by a wheel. The women's race also came down to a field sprint. The three Bont women (Helen Havam and the Bont Colombia skaters, Leidy and Sonia Galeano) took the lead coming down the highway ramp with Canariam's Martine Charbonneau chasing. Bont Colombia's Leidy Galeano finished first; Havam second; and Charbonneau third. A few hours after the race, the much dreaded rain started to fall in Duluth. 1:14 p.m. Misidentified Leader "That guy" — the one we were calling Trevor Casey — was actually Canariam's Luis Moreno, another one of the Colombians who pushed the pace for much of the race. Moreno, who finished sixth, was misidentified on the start list. 12:24 p.m. Women's Finish
Leidy Galeano, left, wins in this reverse angle view. The elite women finished along with an advanced men's pack. Photo: Sports Management Associates, Inc. 12:20 a.m. Master Men, Top Finishers:
11:40 a.m. Women's Race It was a typical race for the elite women: slow and tactical until the sprint. Canariam's Martine Charbonneau and the two Bont Colombian skaters took a lot of hard pulls. Charbonneau, 30, of Montreal, said she tried to pick up the pace a few times but every time she came off the lead the pack slowed down. Seven women remained in the lead pack when it arrived at Lemon Drop Hill, near the finish line in Duluth. Charbonneau charged up the hill with the three Bont women, the Galeano sisters and Helen Havam, close behind her. They passed her on the downhill. "I sprinted and caught one of the women, but I couldn't get past Helen," she said. Bont Colombia's Leidy Galeano won the sprint, finishing just ahead of Havam. Charbonneau was third. The winning time was 1 hour, 19 minutes and 29.1 seconds. The two top skaters in the master women's division, which started in a later wave, finished behind the elite women but posted times that were more than four minutes faster. Team Rainbo's Marcy Turek, 37, of Loves Park, IL, won the masters' division with a time of 1 hour, 15 minutes and 9.5 seconds. Kara Peterson, 39, of St. Paul, was second, nine-tenths of a second back. 11:08 a.m. Back in the DECC Two Cado Motus skaters, Chris Springer, 17, and Ryan Weiderhold, 19, are standing in front of the booths with splints on their arms. Three miles into the race ... "we were all just talking and all of a sudden Terrell (Bradley) fell on me," Chris said. "He fell right on my skates. The whole team was together and he just took us all out." "I broke my wrist and my pinkie knuckle," Springer says. The whole Cado Motus team fell, except for Chris' twin brother, James. But everyone got up and kept skating. "I finished," Chris said. "I got back up and got going." Chris finished 19th. 9:58 a.m. Photo Finish
Adam Miller hawks for the win. Photo: Sports Management Associates, Inc. 9:29 a.m. Happy Winner Simmons' Adam Miller is happy. "This is my biggest win ever," the 26-year-old skater-plumber from Independence, MO, says.
"Those Colombians are animals. They were the strongest skaters out there, especially Julian Rivera and Luis Mejia. "And Eddy Matzger," he says, "he went on a bunch of fliers himself and kept the pace fast." Miller was in seventh place when the leaders rounded the Duluth convention center on the approach to the finish line. Tru-Rev's Julian Rivera took the lead but fell coming around the final turn, a few hundred yards before the finish. Bont Colombia's Julian Aparicio, 21, of Bucuramanga, Colombia, took over the lead and started sprinting with Miller chasing. "It was full out sprinting and then I hawked at the line and got him," Miller said. Miller won by less than a wheel. 9:23 a.m. Top Women
8:57 a.m. Women's Winners One of Bont's Colombian women, Leidy Galeano, won the women's race just a fraction of a second ahead of Bont's Helen Havam; K2-Empire Speed's Martine Charbonneau was third. 8:53 a.m. Top Finishers
8:50 a.m. HOLD THE PRESSES!!! Team Simmons' Adam Miller beat Aparacio by eight-thousandths of a second in the sprint. He hawked. 8:35 a.m. Big sprint finish. ... Bont's Julian Aparacio wins. 8:32 a.m. Going up the final overpass. Luis Mejia in the lead. 8:30 a.m. Just through the first tunnel. A little more than a mile to go. They're standing up again. ... And now they're skating again. 8:28 a.m. We just passed the 58-minute mark. So no new record this year. We still have about 3 miles to the finish line in Duluth. 8:26 a.m. We're coming up Lemon Drop Hill now. Eddy Matzger has taken the lead again. But the pack's right behind him. Now Luis Mejia is back in front. 8:24 a.m. Now they are standing up again, looking at each other. A few skaters have fallen off the back. 8:20 a.m. We're on London Road, about four miles from the finish. Things are getting serious, finally, in this cat-and-mouse game. Luis Mejia is back on the lead. Rob Bell is right behind him. Then Julian Rivera and one of the Springer twins and Simmons' Adam Miller, the winner of the 2008 National Roller Cup. 8:14 a.m. The unknown kid, Trevor Casey, is apparently serious about getting on the podium. He's back on the lead again ... at the head of the pack of about 15-17 skaters. (Sara Reglat, 12, wins the women's half marathon.) 8:11 a.m. The pack catches Eddy and now they're all standing up, coasting downhill, spread out across the two lanes of Highway 61. 8:07 a.m. They finished 15 miles in 35 minutes. Bont's Luis Carlos Mejia takes a lead of about 15 meters but then the pack catches him. Then Eddy Matzger goes on another breakaway. (Bob Wasby wins the half marathon.) 8:00 a.m. The pack is just finishing a one-mile-long vacation. But then Twincam's Eddy Matzger goes to the front of the pack, turns around and starts videotaping. Then he takes off. That gets the pack moving again. Now Trevor Casey (who is this kid?) is back on the lead and the pack is all together behind him. 7:53 a.m. The Colombians take the lead and go on a breakaway. Julian Rivera is in the lead with Bont's Julian Aparicio right behind him. 7:50 a.m. Trevor Casey goes on a breakaway and gets more than a hundred yards in front of the pack. But now the pack is catching him. 7:45 a.m. Two foxes just watched the lead pack from the side of the road. Bont's Luis Carlos Mejia was leading. But now it's Rob Bell again. 7:40 a.m. A few skaters have fallen off the lead pack. It's made up of about 20 skaters now. Julian Rivera is leading. One of the Springer twins is now up in the front. And now its Simmons' Rob Bell. 7:30 a.m. The Start It's a fast start with the Colombians taking the lead. The pack is moving at more than 30 mph on the first downhill. Then Eddy Matzger goes on a flier (with his camera!) and builds a lead of about 50 yards before being reeled in. They finish the first two miles in five minutes flat. 6:30 a.m. Beautiful morning in Two Harbors. About 57 degrees. Mostly clear skies; the sunrise lighting up the clouds. No word on the wind yet. But it feels light. Nonetheless, a group of elite Colombians, including Tru-Rev's Julian Rivera and Adams Inline's David Sarmiento, plan to go after the $10,000 K2 bounty on Chad Hedrick's old course record of 57 minutes and change. (Talk about the 2008 NorthShore)
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