|
Hermantown 21K
2006
By: Danny
Frederick
Hermantown,
MN July 15, 2006
It
could not have been a more beautiful day in northern Minnesota
for the second running of the Hermantown Inline Half Marathon.
All 129 competitors enjoyed the sun and temperatures approaching
70 degrees at start time. It was nice of Mayor McDonald
(Hermantown) to greet the competitors and to have the roads
closed just for this event.
From the Start/Finish line it was about 200m to the first right
hand turn. The race started just after the turn and a
strong steady pace was set by
Team Aloe Up, Adams Inline, and Randy Plett (BONT).
The pack was working into a slight headwind and Randy tested his
legs and that of the pack before the first turn around.
Just after the cone, the attacks began.
The road was a smooth with just a few tar snakes. It was also a
false flat that made any chance of brake away a little harder.
Adams and Flanders repeatedly sent out flyers with only one
staying away for more then a few seconds. Aloe Up covered most
of the brakes with help from Bont and some others. At the next
turn the road got even smoother! A slight up and then a
relatively long decent helped everyone catch their breath.
Again some skaters tried their luck at splitting the pack, but
on the downhill and with our “descending muscles” so well
conditioned no one succeeded.
In usual Minnesota Inline racing fashion, there was an attack
just after the second turn around. However, everyone (even the
attackers) was conserving energy for the two small hills that
lay before us. The pace slowly quickened as we approached the
hills. The hills were long enough to hurt us all, but not long
enough for the real climbers to put any distance on the field.
Not surprisingly a large pack crested the last hill together.
Upon making the left turn to head back the pack almost came to a
stand still with no one wanting to take the lead into the small
head wind. Once we got back organized it was Flanders setting
the pace with Bont. A brake away by
Greg Major (TRU REV) and
another skater stayed out for a moment, but with only two in the
brake and a huge pack on their tail it was destined to fail.
With about 22 skaters in the lead pack we took to the smoothest
pavement ever skated by man and preceded to the final turn
around. No one wanted to be in the front before the turn around
and no one wanted to be in the back after the turn around, which
made for quite a mess for a few hundred meters.
Once organized again,
Jay Jackson from Aloe Up sounded the war
cry and took a strong flyer up the outside. We reached the hill
and a strong pace was set by Flanders, Bont, and SK8HRD. All of
the different team’s sprinters were beginning to come forward as
we rounded the last left turn to set up for the finish. Greg
Major, Dave Bartz, Randy
Plett, and Thong Nguyen were all well
positioned. The pace continued to increase as we approached the
crucial right hand turn that lead to the finish line. Major
made a tactical error and found himself about halfway down the
field.
As we approached the right turn the pack split three ways. An
inside line of
Jeff Terwilliger (Aloe Up), Randy Plett
(Bont)
and Danny Frederick (Aloe Up) – a middle line of mostly Adams
Inline – and an outside line of Jay Jackson (Aloe Up) and some
others. If you were not in the first eight coming around the
last turn it would be highly unlikely that you would make the
podium. Following Jeff Terwilliger on the inside was definitely
the right move to make. Others that kept to the outside of the
last turn were not in an ideal position for the sprint. Adams Inline’s Thong Nguyen hit the last turn hard and opened a little
gap. Jeff Terwilliger, not wanting Adam’s to take home the win
without doing much work at the front during the race chased hard
and took the lead. Randy Plett then passed Jeff at the same
time
Danny Frederick came up the far right side of the road
passing Dave Bartz then Jeff and Randy for the win. “I just got
lucky by being in the right place at the right time,” said Danny
“everyone played nice today.” “If we were to run it ten more
times we could get ten different winners out of this group.”
Again, Craig Frey and his volunteers put on a tremendous event
with everyone walking away with door prizes. Thanks Craig – see
you next year.
Results
Photo's
|
