Lawton Loop Marathon

Herb Gayle's Mini race report:

Date: May 14, 2011 10:00:00 AM

Track: Lawton Loop (1.6898 km)


I skated my first race of the season on Saturday, May 14, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana; plus I got to see my sweet Holly before she went to work. Holly was kind enough to take a few photos and she e-mailed the pictures to me on Sunday, May 15, 2011.

A big thank you to race organizer Tom Stergar II and his wife, announcer Matt, Timing by James and other duties etc, plus all the volunteers for putting on a great race in Indiana.

Photo #1: Amrit Singh"Nikko" (Ashpalt Beach), Herb Gayle (Team Hoigaard's). and Elizabeth White (Ashphalt Beach). Elizabeth is a strong new skater and you will be hearing her name in future races this season.

Photo #2 Bob Harwell and Holly

Photo #3 Herbinator trying to touch his toes and stretch before the race.

Photo #4 front line skaters at the start line...left to right: Larry Kaufman (hands on hips), Cale Carvell, Herb G with Christian Keesler, Gary Blank (Team Rainbo) and Bob Harwell (looking down)

We had about 20 skaters, and the competition ranged from novice to pro level skaters. The strong guys today were: Gary Blank who was by far in the best shape. Amrit"Nikko" looked like the man to win the race, however a young kid from Fort Wayne Indiana by the name of Christian Keesler took the top spot over Nikko (Amrit) 2nd and Gary Blank was the work horse finished 3rd. I did not see the finish for the top three spots, so I can not comment on how the action unfolded.

The marathon was on a closed looped course and we had to skate 25 laps for a full marathon. I knew I was not in racing shape, so I told Cale Carvell (Team Rainbo) and others skaters that I was going to be a "cling-on" and only take a few (easy) pulls at the front. Team Rainbo was well represented as usual at every race.

The race started at a reasonable pace and the weather was perfect, the rain Gods held off until the event was over, warm with a slight breeze and perfect conditions for me....I don't like to skate in the rain, or in cold and snowy conditions.

On the second or third lap, Nikko decided to stir things up and took off, then Gary and Christian chased after Nikko while the rest of the pack waved goodbye...I was exhausted from the long 10 hour drive after work on Friday from Toronto, Canada to Indiana, so I was happy to just stay with the pack and keep a steady pace.

The lap counter displayed in red numbers: 10 to go, which seemed like a long time and then Gary Blank (Team Rainbo), Nikko and young Christian caught and passed the main pack. I thought the trio would have lapped the main pack earlier, but the three leaders took their time and were probably playing the cat the mouse game behind us.

The main pack consisted of: Cale Carvell, Elizabeth White (Ashphalt Beach), Larry Kaufman (Team Rainbo), Doug Orman (Team Rainbo), Carl Stewart (Texas Flyers) John Sherwin (Team Rainbo). Bob Harwell was with us earlier in the race, however I believe when the pace picked up and we lost Bob, Margo Carvell (Team Rainbo) and Tom Gospel. The size of the main pack changed throughout the race because we picked some lapped skaters and also lost some skaters.

The Lawton Loop event had a sophisticated timing system which accurately kept track of everyone's laps and times. The lap counter was visible at the start/finish line for all to see how many laps to go. I was happy when I saw 5 laps to go, then I heard announcer Matt giving away my game plan by saying: "I see Herb cruising at the back, just waiting for the big sprint." The other skaters in my pack then realized that I was saving my energy, so they started to pick up the pace. I heard Cale say, "we know you are going to go (sprint), but we don't know when." The pavement was a little rough in some sections and my left skate was starting to hurt my big toe with all the vibrations, but I had to keep focus and block out any pain in the body.

The bell lap for the main pack and only one more lap. We had two pace lines with Elizabeth leading on the left and I was leading the pack line on the right. I could feel the adrenalin build and we made a left turn and pick up the pace on the slight incline section. This is where you have to be patient, but made sure you don't get stuck at the pack before the inevitable field sprint starts. I took off hard with 800 meters to go because I knew Elizabeth and the Rainbo guys: Larry Kaufman, Doug Orman and Cale Carvell were right behind me.

Carl Stewart was looking very strong up to mid point in the race, but he and Larry Kaufman were racing for preem points/prizes and that may have burnt Carl's legs for the sprint at the end of the race.

The top three men (Christian Keesler, Amrit Singh and Gary Blank) had already finished, so the main pack was coming in for 4th to 10th place. I flew around the last turn and hammered down the straight-away to claim 4th place. (See final photo)

The top three women were: 1st Elizabeth White (Asphalt Beach), 2rd Margo Carvell (Team Rainbo) and 3rd Deanne Wiley

I truly enjoyed racing in Indianapolis, Indiana and I encourage more skaters to come out and support all the hard work Tom Stergar and his team have been doing to bring tremendous inline races to Indiana in 2010 and 2011.


Congrats to all the skaters and this was a very safe and accident free race.

Herb Gayle



Link to Herb's photo's
Herb's Lawton Loop Marathon Photo's
 
Race Results:
Lawton Loop Results

RollerDome Marathon March 19th 2011

Here is a short video from the Individual marathon won by Team Hoigaard's Ovid Westin.

Ovid Westin 1st place 

 results from the pro division individual.

2011 Metrodome Inline Marathon
March 19th, 2011

1 1 1040 WESTIN, ovid 50 saint francis 35:56 1:12:47.96 21.60

2 2 1044 DAVID, Swan 51 Minneapolis 35:10 1:13:03.59 21.50

3 3 1032 MEISINGER, steve 28 deerfield 35:34 1:13:07.70 21.50

4 4 1041 TERWILLIGER, Jeff 50 Edina 36:28 1:13:32.39 21.40

5 5 1035 BLANK, Gary 37 Normal 36:31 1:14:04.74 21.20

6 6 1038 WUSSLER, Jack 56 St. Paul 35:34 1:14:15.44 21.20

7 7 1039 KOSTKA, Andy 31 Maple Grove 35:54 1:15:47.35 20.70

8 8 1205 NEAL, Jeffrey 41 Washington DC 37:11 1:15:52.28 20.70

9 9 1042 BRADLEY, adam 47 minneapolis 37:08 1:17:12.05 20.40

10 10 1043 THOMAS, Conrade 44 Chanhassen 36:41 1:18:59.90 19.90

11 11 1031 LANDUCCI, randy 58 stillwater 39:09 1:21:06.03 19.40

12 12 1028 KAUFMAN, Larry 44 Brookfield 40:01 1:21:51.76 19.20

13 13 1029 CARVELL, Cale 61 Northfield 40:06 1:22:14.27 19.10

14 14 1037 JACOBSON, Mark 46 Bloomington 40:32 1:22:36.95 19.00

15 15 1030 JENNIK, Peter 57 Brookfield 40:58 1:24:55.28 18.50

16 16 1034 ANDERSON, Rod 54 Cottage Grove 40:37 1:26:48.65 18.10

17 17 1036 CREEDON, Joe 59 St. Paul 44:34 1:33:30.77 16.80

here is one more.

full results at:

http://www.pttiming.com/page/show/65867-race-results

Inline Skating Jay Jackson Jeff Terwilliger Rio Verde Arizona

Inline Skating Fountain Hills Arizona Jay Jackson Speed

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: