Chicagoland Marathon 7/25/2010

Inline Planet Report:
http://www.inlineplanet.com/10/07/chicago-inline-marathon.html

Photo's from Herb gayle:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hoigaards_inline_racing/sets/72157624488491373/

Herb Gayle, Ovid Westin and Andy Kostka

Results:  http://www.allcommunityevents.com/gfasf/ffasf_results.html

                                  

Ovid's torn left leg of his brand new skinsuit 

Trexlertown 21K Race July 17, 2010

Herb winning the field sprint

Herb 1st place Pro Masters/Vet

Report from Herb Gayle on the Race

I won the pro master/veteran men's 21k race overall on Saturday, July 17, 2010 in Trexlertown, Pennsylvania. I chased the leaders up the hill on the final lap 13th of this half marathon and then passed everyone coming down hill to take the win. Earlier in the race, some of the master/veteran skaters would attack on the up hill to try and wear down the sprinters, but some skaters would catch back up. I sat near the front of the pack of 15 skaters and I knew with the extreme heat, that it was not wise for those skaters to be hammering away.

Peter Doucet from Mississauga , Ontario skated an awesome race and won the elite men's 21k race The young boys kept up 9 blistering lap times, so it was a very good day of racing for Canadian skaters.

There were lots of strong master/veteran skater pushing the pace and I was struggling at the half way point around lap six, plus the high temperatures in the 90's were taking a toll. My body temperature was on high alert, so much that I felt like a baked chicken. "Herbal chicken" was on the race menu today.(ha ha)

 ADDITIONAL PHOTO'S by PETER DOUCET:
 http://speedskateworld.com/?p=7511

Lawrence Village Criterium Inline Marathon

Team Hoigaard's Herb Gayle takes 5th place overall in field sprint

see Inline Planet story:

Canada Day Marathon 7/01/10 Pg 1

Herb Gayle and Andy Kostka in front of podium

Report from Herb Gayle

Part 1:

"Canada Day Inline Marathon, July 1, 2010. Location: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Super fast race from the gun with lots of attacks and of course rolling hills. I got dropped from the leaders after the 1st lap of 3. Andy Kostka stayed in much longer and I believed he finished 'unofficially' 13th overall.

My time was slow and nothing special to write about. There were a few crashes and Andy told me that Morgan Williams crashed just before the finish line in the field sprint. According to Morgan, 'an Ottawa skater by the name of Adrian Loewen, stepped out as he was about to pass him at the line. Morgan said he was okay, but he was walking with a slight limp after the race.

Jacky, a Toronto skater was in my pack at one point or another and he had close call with a car. Apparently, two vehicles had stopped on the race course, which had plenty of signage that a race was in progress. A car and a Ford 150 truck was in the middle of a blind right hand turn. The drivers were talking to a police officer and oblivious to the skaters, so when we came around the right turn which had a slight down hill, I yelled for the cars to get out of the road because it was scary and plain disregard for our safety. Jacky decided to pass the car on the left side as the driver was moving over to the left, next I saw Jacky doing one of those Superman drives onto the grass. I slowed down a bit and lost the second pack that was just a few feet in front of me. I felt bad for Jacky as he bailed on the grass, but he able to get back up and another pack of skaters brought him back to my group."

continued

Canada Day Marathon 7/01/10 Pg 2

Part 2:

"Good news: Once again many skaters love the Hoigaard's skin suit and I am happy to report that Andy and I did not crash in our cool looking skin suits. Sergio Alleralla, the overall winner asked me where he can buy one of the Hoigaard's skin suits.

Andy had to leave shortly after the race to head to the airport, so I did not get to hear how things went for him near the front of pack.

Andy mentioned he was not feeling well and had trouble breathing...maybe a cold is coming on. This was Andy's first Canadian marathon and he said the skaters race a lot different in Canada from the skaters in Minnesota. The course is also rather challenging with the rolling hills, then the attacks were relentless with some hard accelerations that were short, long and one that was so intense, I felt like a 'shake and bake chicken'. I got this phrase from the my Oklahoma friend: Alex Fedak. Yes, I got the royal shake and bake treatment today in the Canada Day marathon. I can still feel the effects of the Badge State Games which was just 5 days ago.

Sergio Alleralla and a few others knows how to make the Cambridge race course very painful; for those that dare to hang with the leaders.

This race was very good training for me because the Chicagoland race weekend on July 24-26 will also be a suffer-fest.

Bye for now.


Herb"