Badger State Games Marathon - Photos and Reports

[tdellaringa]

Just got in from the Badger Marathon, turned out to be a great day to race. It was sunny when we arrived for check in, but boy it was looking bad right at start time... but luckily the rain held off long enough. It was looking bad enough that if I had had time, I would have swapped my wheels to the storm surges, so I'm glad I didn't.

I think there was close to 250 or more racers, so a good turnout. Very few rec folks, it was mostly speedskaters. There was no open division, so I was forced to race in Elite/Advanced Masters 35+.

I skated in the first advanced pack, so my perspective is from there. Clean start, got into a fairly long paceline but there was a lot of early fragmenting going on. A few times I had to swing around someone who was getting gapped, but we finally formed a line of some 20 skaters.

Maybe 5 miles in I saw a small group of women in the distance, one of which was Margo Carvell, my teammate. The pace was a bit slow for me and I wanted to go out and reach them but they were pretty far away - didn't want to blow myself up too early doing that. But finally when I got a pull we were close enough that I closed that gap and we sucked them in.

The pace was better then, in fact there was one guy who pulled so hard I thought I would drop each time. At near the halfway point, there's quite a sizeable and long hill and we lost quite a few skaters there (not sure how many) and the line was down to probably 12-15. That group skated together the rest of the way in.

Unfortunately at something like mile 18 or so a skater went down hard after stepping in a rough spot (which were many but Badger did a good job marking spots), and it happend only a couple skaters in front of me. Everyone swung out of the way left and I went right - which left the skater on the ground right in front of me and I had to jump him. Luckily I landed it and didn't hit the poor guy.

The pace was solid (in fact, all I could handle) the whole way. With a quarter mile to go the field broke and sprinted but I had nothing left and just finished as well as I could.

We finished something shy of the distance - my GPS read 25.4, so about a .8 mile short. I ended up 51st overall with a 1:23 time (new pb).

Really fun race, and I was blessed again with a good pack of skaters. Good times.

There were some really good pro teams there, I guess due to NROC so I hear the pro field was tough.

[Birgit]

Originally Posted by tdellaringa

I think there was close to 250 or more racers, so a good turnout. Very few rec folks, it was mostly speedskaters. There was no open division, so I was forced to race in Elite/Advanced Masters 35+.

We finished something shy of the distance - my GPS read 25.4, so about a .8 mile short. I ended up 51st overall with a 1:23 time (new pb).

There were some really good pro teams there, I guess due to NROC so I hear the pro field was tough.

Well done on the PB - that must feel great, ey?!

Is Badger always without a "open division"? If so, why is that? Seems a bit odd to me that a NROC race without an open division - is there something I'm missing there or?!?

[The Major]

The do have age groups but since everyone races together advanced and elite are mixed. As you can see there is a fitness/rec category that has age groups. Then there's the elite/advanced divisions. Due to the size of the race everyone would get an award if you had seperate age groups for all the different categories. Maybe not the best way to do it, but I can see why they do it that way.

Fitness/Recreational:
Age Category:
14 & Under
15-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61 & Over

Elite/Advanced:
Age Category: any age
There are no age categories in Elite/Advanced.

Elite/Advanced Master:
Age Category: 35 & Over
There are no other age categories in Elite/Advanced Master.

Elite/Advanced Veteran:
Age Category: 45 & Over
There are no other age categories in Elite/Advanced Veteran.

Elite/Advanced Grand Veteran:
Age Category: 55 & Over
There are no other age categories in Elite/Advanced Grand Veteran.

[Birgit]

aha so there was a rec. group. Thanks - makes more sense to me now!

[tdellaringa]

Yeah sorry forgot to mention there was rec too.

[tdellaringa]

Hey folks, Jim sent me the link to the results and since it didn't have it broken down by division, I quickly whipped up a spreadsheet sorted by division if you want to see how you fared. You should be able to see it here:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?...rXo-hRibE2wyJA

Tom

[BWI-Sheldon]

Congratulations TD on you great race. If anyone knows how you feel it is me, as I also had my first great race recently. So you got a taste of the Pro skating world, and in such a short amount of time, what a true accomplishment.

Hey Gopherfan don’t be shy, tell us how you did, or I’ll tell. (hehe I'm on his e-mail list)

[tdellaringa]

Thanks Sheldon - I don't know if it's the pro world, per se, but the advanced world at least. And Gopher was there and he didn't say hi? That's a pink belly right there...

[gopherfan]

Originally Posted by tdellaringa

Thanks Sheldon - I don't know if it's the pro world, per se, but the advanced world at least. And Gopher was there and he didn't say hi? That's a pink belly right there...

I was standing right next to you snarfing down bagels. I was wearing the Golden Gopher bike jersey. I was going to say hi, but I'm kind of the passive type. I had to get going as well.

BWI, yeah, my 1:19:19 made me happy. The day before I did Big Granite in 1:29. It was a time trial after about 2 miles (the pros dropped me), but a couple years ago I did the course in 1:19:xx. I KNOW I'm faster today, but sometimes I wonder. I'd have finished higher in placement at Badger if I had known the finish was coming (I didn't know the course wasn't a full 26.2 so the sprint happened well before what I expected).

[tdellaringa]

Dude, 1:19 - spectacular! Now that's a pro number. Now I know what you look like via your myspace page... I'll hunt you down at Chicago (you are coming right?) Congrats on the finish.

[gopherfan]

I wouldn't bet against me making it to Chicago. My Minnesota Twins play Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in Cleveland where I can stop on my way home. There is a Friday afternoon Cubs game as well. I can carbo load in the sunshine!

[tdellaringa]

There ya go! Of course, You ain't catching my White Sox baby