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Brainerd Online
Inline Marathon
2006
By: Jay Jackson
Brainerd,
MN June 10, 2006
Bont’s Plett
holds on in final meters for 1st place Finish in Brainerd
Minnesota Half Marathon.
Randy Plett of Bont North America repeated his 2005 performance
to power his way to a strong first place finish in the Brainerd
Online Inline Half Marathon.
The weather was strongly
overcast with a brisk easterly wind and temperatures that
hovered around 45 degrees for the 5th annual event.
Bont’s Plett was able to finish in front of roughly 200 other
skaters in a time of 35:52, slightly off the 2005 course record,
but still very respectable considering the heavy winds.
Local teams included Adams
Inline, Flanders, SK8HARD from Duluth, Randy Plett of Bont North
America and a large contingent from Team Aloe Up. Canada was
very well represented with speedsters that included Toronto’s
Herb Gayle along with Thunder Bay’s Hal Lightwood and a large
group from Winnipeg. Long time standout Cale Carvel brought a
competitive group from Chicago.
The race began with a couple
of hard right turns. Early on Team Flanders established their
presence with multiple flyers from Mike Anderson and Todd King
approaching 30 miles an hour that seemed to shred racers off the
back.
After several miles, the pack
began the cat & mouse tactics that appeared would go until the
finish. However, after the half way mark that included a few
180 degree turns, it was Flanders Todd King that established a
very bold flyer straight in the wind that lasted well over 5
miles.
Aloe Up’s Jeff Terwilliger put
a lot of effort into chasing down King, but with little help
from others, King looked like he was destined to stay away.
Many of Team Flanders wisely slowed the pace until Bont’s Plett
made serious chase.
“I thought if I came from the
back of the pack and surprised the guys, I might get away to
catch King”, said Plett, “once I caught him I could see he was
tired as he was leaning on his legs so I just kept going and
tried to power my way to the end.”
With about a mile to go, the
sprinters moved up towards the front of the pack that numbered
about 20. With 800 meters to go, Aloe Up’s Terwilliger led out
Aloe Up’s Jay Jackson and Chad Johnson. They were gaining
ground on Plett rapidly, but it would come down to the wire to
catch him.
Coming into the final corner, Flanders Mike Anderson and Dave
Bartz made their final surge. Anderson had great momentum until
he clicked a skate with another competitor. Bartz quickly went
around them and he and Jackson were clearly gaining on Plett in
the final Meters. Exhausted as he crossed the line, Plett
raised his arms to cheering fans.
“I am really happy for Randy”,
said Jackson, “he had no teammates like we did and he skated
alone for the last few miles and really deserved the win.”
The women’s race was once
again dominated by Kara Peterson to claim her second win in two
weeks with a speedy time of 40:22 The exciting part of the
women’s race was for second place as the winner was not decided
until the final corner when Heather Prois of Flanders edged out
Jodi Foster, Martha Flynn and Lynne Webber all by a few meters.
A sincere thank you to the
many sponsors including Bont and to Vision Marketing’s Tony
Fiorillo and of course to race organizer, Terry Holm, for
another great event.
Results
Photo's
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