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2006 ROLLERBLAZE OVERALL STANDINGS Total Points count most, Average Time valued second
Last year was an incredible year for our group; it was filled with achievement. Every single person that skated with Rollerquest, this year, achieved personal bests (PB). New people conquered tons of things and the veterans pushed to a whole new level. I am so proud to be a part of this group of skaters and friends. The chart below covers a few of the '06 PERSONAL BEST achievements. Thanks and congratulations to everyone who participated in making '06 our PB season!!! We expect to see a new chart at the end of '07 with all new reasons to roll :)
How fast did you go ? Check out this speed calculator
HEAT 9 POINT SUMMARY
ROLLERQUEST PRODIGY STORMS NEW YORK Congratulations to Kevin Eassa, the newest and youngest (11) member of Rollerquest, who stormed into New York and completed his first 1/2 marathon with his dad, Jeff Eassa. Here is the complete story as told by Jeff:
This whole thing got started by me looking at the Prospect Park events in New
York City and casually telling Kevin, "You could do this. You could do this
with me." He immediately took the bait and we started talking how he could
prepare.
Kevin's skating up to this point has been limited to Friday nights at Supreme
Sports Club skating rink for an hour or two. So his preparation started on
August 12th with a 5 mile skate at BWI. We started toward the woods and went
past the first big intersection and returned. His next skate took both of us
all the way to the Benson Hammond House and back for a whopping 8 miles.
By August 17th, Kevin made his first full loop around BWI with a time of 1H
22M. This was a fantastic accomplishment and he was very proud of himself but
wanted to improve his time on the next go. And improve his time he did. Five
days later, he did his second full lap with a clock of 1H 18M.
He continued to skate and train on his own when he was at his mother's house.
Kevin and his brothers are with Carol and I every other week. This told me he
had the passion and would be ready for the half marathon event that was only
days away.
Kevin and I traveled to NYC and talked about it the whole way. The strategy
was to be cautious on the first lap to gauge the hills and address them in our
style for the next three laps. We arrived at Prospect Park early Saturday
morning and while completing our registration, we saw and shook hands with
Eddy Matzgar, Joey Webber, Brian Schicoff, Don Oswald and his wife. Everyone
was in spandex except us and maybe two or three others.
Which brings us to realization. There isn't a "Recreation" category anymore.
All ages, including the youngest of children were in spandex and racing
platform skates. So we got to the line and position didn't matter due to the
fact that New York used ankle chips for times.
We headed out after the initial fury of skaters before us and used that
cautious outlook about the downhills. Our first lap was approximately 3.25
miles and our time was around 24 minutes. Once that lap was completed, he
knew he could handle the hills with no problem. We came around to the second
lap with a cumulative time of 40 minutes. So we had shaved off 8
minutes from the first lap!
On lap three, Kevin had become accustomed to getting on his sprint across the
line as his grandfather, grandmother and aunt were cheering him on. The
support of this trio was so great that I could only ask, "Are we in first
place yet?!" We in fact were fighting off and successfully did hold off one "Rec"
girl behind us for the proverbial last place holder. The front pro men and
women were starting to lap us and each time they went by us it sounded like a
thunderous freight train, just off our shoulders and boomed by in unified
stroke fashion. It was a privilege to be on the same track as these folks -
tremendous rush for both Kevin and I.
Kevin had hit the proverbial wall on that third lap with the uphills but found
renewed strength in the downhills like a true Eassa. He pulled energy from
those downhills to carry him strongly into the fourth and final lap. Shortly
within that fourth lap, he went down. You know the sound. I immediately
looked back to see my son laid out on his back and still taking road rash. He
fell square on his back side, slightly on his hip which hurt and also scraped
his elbow which was burning during the last lap.
He regained his composure and got back into his groove and we banged the very
last of the uphills. We picked up the pace as all that was left was downhills
and flats. When we came around to the last flat and then a slight uphill, I
saw he had plenty left. I told Kevin to let it go and sprint to the finish,
look at the clock when we come around. He bolted and there was our support
group cheering us on like we were Eddy or Joey which pumped us beyond belief.
There was the clock, one last push and we came across the line at 1H 23M
40S!!! When you use the calculator from the Rollerquest site it equates to a
blistering 9.322709163346614 miles per hour!
So within two weeks, he decided, trained and completed a distance of 13 miles
in his first sanctioned event on August 26th. Ladies and gentlemen -
please welcome the newest and youngest member to the Rollerquest family, Kevin
Eassa, age 11.
Jeff Eassa
Proud, proud daddy
How fast did you go ? Check out this speed calculator
HEAT 8 POINT SUMMARY
"Spread a Little Sunshine"
Finally, after three postponements, ROLLERBLAZE Heat 7 was destined to happen!! It was Sunday, 9/17/06, the sun was shining and the weather was perfect. It was a day where everyone skated their hearts out and brought their own form of sunshine to an already great day. Bob and Regina O'Brien skated a quick 10.6 mile loop, and then opted to support the group, and the skaters, by manning the finish line and running the stop watch.
There were several first time ROLLERBLAZE participants: Derek, Bill and Divina. Derek, sidelined since St. Paul with lower back problems, was only five seconds off of the third best time, and only 45 seconds off of the best time of the day. Congratulations and WHAT A WAY TO MAKE A COMEBACK! Divina posted the most improved time between heats, beating her first run by a whole 38 seconds. IMPRESSIVE... and last, but not least, Bill Chies maintained a very steady pace and only allowed seven seconds difference between his best and worst times. (We'll be looking for you at the next one, Bill....)
Jeff Eassa was Mr. Consistency during three runs, pulling an average 16.1 MPH (up from 15.7 last time). All three of Jeff's times were better than his previous three ROLLERBLAZE runs. And he skated his personal best 5K, at 11:11. Sheldon continued to shine, as well, posting his best ROLLERBLAZE 5K time of 10:44 --16.8 MPH, taking first place in Heat 1 and second place overall for ROLLERBLAZE 7. Larry increased his MPH by one tenth, also posting a personal best of 10:30 in Heat number two. Irene, always up to the challenge, skated hard and consistent throughout the day.
Who needs the sun when you have these kinds of skaters to brighten your day????
Thanks to everyone who participated. You are making ROLLERBLAZE a continued success! HERE ARE THE OFFICIAL TIMES HEAT 7 TIME DATA
How fast did you go ? Check out this speed calculator
HEAT 7 POINT SUMMARY
"The Dorsey Road Rally"
Skaters gathered, in the pit stop area, to tune their engines for the second running of the ROLLERBLAZE 5K time trials. Heat 6 officially started when Larry announced, "Skaters start your engines...." Skaters were released in one minute increments as the stop watches started ticking. The course is 1 and 1/2 miles out and 1 and 1/2 miles back, totaling three miles per individual heat. A total of three timed, and individual heats, were run. Pit stops, at the end of each individual heat, were welcomed, as each skater went all out during the three mile run.
Each skater excelled in one way or another throughout the night. Sheldon took the checkered flag in individual heat one by ONE second. I never thought one second would be become an important statistic in our group.... Irene was "Miss Consistency" (and who doesn't know this????) with the smallest time spread, nine seconds, between individual heats. Jeff, still breaking in his new skates, turned in the the biggest time improvement between runs, by knocking off 21 seconds. Mark, skating his first ROLLERBLAZE event, turned in an excellent time and the best technical form of the night, even while skating on the lowest octane set up (lowest performance pair of skates) in the group. And I claimed a spot in the winners circle with the best fueled performance of the evening (quickest time): 17 MPH for three miles.
ROLLERBLAZE time trials was another huge success. Skaters enjoyed the break between individual heats, which gave them time to recoup and to socialize while cheering on those coming in from their own heats. When it was all over, a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction was shared by everyone.
HERE ARE THE OFFICIAL TIMES HEAT 6 TIME DATA
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