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National Roller Cup
Tough Battle Expected in Team Time Trial
March 15, 2012
Planet report
Last year, Adam’s Test Team could have stopped for a latte and still won the team time trial at the Metrodome Inline Marathon.
The team of David Sarmiento, Danny Frederick, Matt Meyer, Kara Peterson and Tom Peterson finished nearly three minutes ahead of the second-place Skateway Gators.
But this year, the team is unlikely to have time for a coffee break as it defends its title in the season opener for the 2012 National Roller Cup.
Stalking it around the Metrodome concourse on Saturday — or maybe it will be the other way around — will likely be the newly reconstituted Hoigaard's team, which includes the Metrodome record holder and a former world-class ice skater.
"I think our team is going to do very well," said Hoigaard's team manager, Chuck Smerdon.
The team's roster includes: Ovid Westin, who broke the Dome record last year when he won the solo marathon in a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes and 47.96 seconds; Andy Kostka, winner of the 2011 Summer Inline Series; and Paul Dyrud, who was one of USA’s top speed skaters before leaving the ice three years ago.
Dyrud finished fifth in the men's 5000-meter US Olympic speedskating trial in 2009, competing against the likes of gold medalist Chad Hedrick.
Dyrud doesn’t have a great deal of inline experience. But he seems to impress everyone who sees him on wheels. “He looks very strong,” said Adam Bradley, owner of Adams Inline, which sponsors the Adam’s Test Team.
Rounding out the Hoigaard’s roster are two marathon veterans: Herb Gayle from Toronto and Chad Johnson, who is returning to inlines after two years running, swimming and cycling in triathlons.
Meanwhile, Adam’s Test Team will be racing without one of its strongest skaters, Danny Frederick, who is restricting his skating due to a knee injury. (Frederick is expected to skate the half marathon.)
Replacing Frederick on the Adam's squad will be Andrew Peper, who skated on the Midwest Skate team that finished third in last year’s race.
Eight to ten teams are expected to compete in the time trial, which starts at 1:15 p.m. (CT) Saturday. Among the other teams are Cannon Valley Speed, Max Muscle, Media Machine and Team Rainbo.
Skaters will also compete in solo half and full marathons in the morning, starting at 9 a.m.
Eighth Year
The Metrodome Inline Marathon, which is in its eighth year, is the world’s only regularly scheduled indoor marathon. Skaters race on the second-floor concourse of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis.
Each lap is 600 meters. So a full marathon is 70.7 laps of the concourse.
Typically, outdoor skaters don’t like to skate laps, especially indoors. But during the Minnesota winters, there’s not much choice. So many skaters train at the public skate sessions at the “Rollerblade Rollerdome.”
And when spring approaches, those skaters embrace the Metrodome Inline Marathon, which once again is near capacity this year.
“We have a publicized cap of 200, and we are north of that, so it's another good year for the Metrodome Inline Marathon,” said Adam Kocinski, a partner in Podium Sports, which puts on the event.
Live blog coverage of the event will start at 8:30 a.m. Saturday (CT) on the Inline Planet. (Share your photos, videos and reports on the Skater Network.)
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