2016 US National Marathon/World Open Marathon Competitor List

The US National Marathon and the new World Open division will kick off on Friday, February 19,2016, 4pm at the Pettit National Ice Center, Mliwaukee,WI. Friday night will feature the 25K, and Saturday, February 20, at 8am will feature the 50K. Registration is open up to Friday. Manual lap counters are the skater's responsibility, especially if you anticipate making a record attempt.
Register at:

http://pettit.frontline-connect.com/program.cfm?facid=1&levelid=0&seasonid=0&dateid=0&programid=16

Download an event flyer from this link:

Click Here

Hope to see you all there.


Olu
superhumanprogram@gmail.com

2015 US National Marathon, Pettit National Ice Center, Milwaukee,WI February 13-14

Colton Barrett, New National 50K record record holder and national champion

National Marathon Records at the Pettit National Ice Center

The 2015 National Marathon Speedskating Championships raced on February 13 and 14 at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee,WI. While it was -10F degrees wind chill outdoors, competitors, volunteers, officials, and spectators were doing their paces inside a comparatively balmy 52 degrees F.

Ice maker and facility manager learned the mylaps software program, and this year the system was instituted to great success. A minor glitch in formatting race completion on the first day still did not stop a successful rendering of the skaters effort this weekend.

Friday afternoon started with the 25K National championships (64laps). 18 skaters from throughout the US lined up for official Brian Kretschmann's pre-race instructions on lap scoring and racing protocol. Chief referee Ernie Kretschmann lined up the skaters and gave the firing shot to commence the race.

Colton Barrett senior men), Theron Sands(masters 50-59), Ethan Cepuran ,Isaiah Janisch(juniors), and Michael Hubbs(master 30-39)formed a fast pack for about 30 laps into the race. Colton began to separate from the others with an effort to break the two year 25K national track record of 2014 Olympian patrick Meek. Barrett won his first national marathon championships with a 15 second personal best(pb), but the track record remains unbroken for yet another year.

Cepuran, Janisch, and James Kahn (juniors) raced fast and furiously in the junior division. Cepuran was about 1 minute off of his division record, but still win a second consecutive national title several minutes ahead of his competitors. Kahn finished just 8 seconds ahead of bronze medalist Janisch.

Results

The three women in the race were all from the 50-59 age group. Kathy Feinberg chased the national 25K record of Katie Zapotecki, but had to settle for the gold while being about a minute off the division record. Karen Verone was the silver medalist, and Patty Barrick skated to bronze while inspiringly joining hands with her husband and 50-59 men's competitor Joe Barrick across the finish line.

Hubbs, Jim White (70-79), and Marshall Lipton (80-89) were uncontested national champions whose inspired racing brought admiration from the spectating crowd.

Sands settled into his rhythm after 30 laps, and after racing in the masters world competition less than a week prior, felt some physical wear. Still , he was able to secure his first national marathon championship. Veteran marathoner Nathan Feinberg was silver, and Nick Sykes used his brand new boots to take the bronze from a hard charging Jeff Brand. It was so close, that Sykes actually thought Brand won until the electronic and manual timing showed otherwise. Barrick and Bob Wills raced to 5^th and 6^th places respectively. Newcomer Michael Schillmoeller could not quite finish the last 5 laps this day. Perhaps when he gets long track skates instead of short track blades, he will feel more efficiency.

Jim Daniska sang a riveting edition of the national anthem before competition. He then went out and secured his very first national marathon title. He was a few minutes ahead of silver medalist Richard Farren and Roger Boswell, bronze.

Saturday's 50K (129 laps) began with Sands, Barrett, and Peter Macky (30-39), off to a blazing start away from the skating field. Early in the race, with only 5-6 laps in, Barrett dropped off the pack. It seemed as though he was having some difficulty. He eventually caught up to a speedy Macky, and they continued the next 120 laps as a two person pack. This time the strategy bought both of the hard working and fast moving athletes national success as they secured not only national titles, but also at least 365 days of being the fastest ever in the US National Marathon. Barrett and Macky both smashed Meek's TR by over two minutes. Macky was 17 minutes under the division record set in 2012.

Kathy Feinberg continued her marathon dominance with another national title this weekend. Verone and Patty Barrick kept churning until they also raced to silver and bronze.

Local firefighter hero Larry Kaufmann (40-49) took his first national marathon title, to add to his break out US Masters Single Distance performance in January. Kaufmann is an in-liner competing in his first year, successfully, on ice.

Sands raced hard to his 50K championship, even leading the other lead pack at times when his training partner Mack and Barrett came around. Mack and Sands both presently train with coach Bob Fenn. Barrett also trained under Fenn before becoming a champion pro road,track, and criterium cyclist during the last 4 years. Bruce Anderson came from the windy John Rose Oval in Minnesota to get silver under the indoor PNIC. Nathan Feinberg added a bronze to his collection for his always tenacious racing. Sykes was 4th with Brand right along side him the entire 50K for 5th place. Joe Barrick skated to 6^th , while inspiringly crossing the finish line with Patty Barrick's hand on this Valentine's Day.

Bob Dvorak (60-69), the US Masters 3000M champion added a 50K gold to his 2015 collection.Meanwhile Farren worked hard to earn another silver today.

White raced uncontested at 70+ years, and with his 129^th lap concluded the 2015 National Marathon Championships.

Many thanks to Silvia Acevedo for announcing. Special thanks to our lap counters Corrina, Armando, Antonia,Julianna, Kathleen (who brought the food!), Peter, and the parents (who also counted laps)of the skaters that were on hand to witness great racing they could be proud of.

See MyLaps results at http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/3374913

Isaiah Janisch

Jim White

Peter Macky

Nathan Feinberg, Theron Sands

Theron Sands,Colton Barrett, Peter Macky

Patty Barrick,Kathy Feinberg, Karen Verone

Isaiah Janisch,Ethan Cepuran, James Kahn

Michael Hubbs

Barrick,Feinberg,Verone

Richard Farren

2015 US National Marathon Speedskating Competitors, Pettit National Ice Center

Here are your 2015 US National Marathon competitors for the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee,WI, February 13 and 14.

2015 US National Marathon Championships Register

The Pettit National Ice Center will again host the US National Marathon Championships on February 13 and 14,2015. This event will be a Friday afternoon (25K) and a Saturday morning (50K).

All skaters will have to supply their own human lap counters, but electronic transponders will be employed at this meet. We will supply the lap sheets for each day for your counters.

You can register at the link on the forms provided, and email Olu through couragetraining@gmail.com with your completed form or your category registration.

Thanks,
Hope to see you all in February.

Olu

2015 US National Marathon registration

2014 US Speedskating National 25K & 50K Championships,Milwaukee,WI

Bridie Farrell

Melissa Koenig, Janet Naess

Kathleen Feinberg

Ethan Cepuran, Jan Erik Naess

Chase Reichmann, KC Bouttiee

Michael Hubbs

Nathan Feinberg

Vince Morris, Ed Burns

This year the US Speedskating 25K &50K Marathon were hosted again by the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee,WI. This weekend was also home of the Ice Breaker indoor running marathon-the largest in the world. The energy was electric with so many endurance athletes going the the limit.

After guidance from Chief Referees Brian and Ernie Kretschmann, Mark Whitmore fired the gun, and several age groups began 64.5 laps to the national marathon title.

Many of the seasoned,pro-timers/lap counter were on hand to handle the lap cards for the skaters while the flawless Butch Pearson counted down the 64.5 laps to the skaters testing their heart and mettle.

The field ,31 skaters-the largest yet at this venue, featured experienced marathoners, Olympic trialists, the ASE Long Track program, and multi-time Olympian and inline to ice pioneer KC Boutiette. KC came to race, bringing along his great family for support. KC has been active in racing world cup and Olympic trials-but he found some fiery competition from Liam Ortega and Chase Reichmann. Pro-cyclist and former Cat 1 speed skater Colton Barrett was also on hand to stoke the fires. The rest of the field, Luke Tweddale and Nick Turro (sprinters) contributed some lap leading along the 25K way. After cruising at about 37 seconds per lap, the hammer started to drop with 6 laps to go. Liam and Chase lit up the final laps with 29-30 second breakouts (30+mph). Liam seemed to be spacing himself ahead of the other senior division rivals at the bell lap. Then Chase produced an extraordinarily superhuman surge in the back stretch to take the senior national title. KC was able to edge out Liam for silver.
Ethan Cepuran took the junior division, and spent a lot time leading laps with the lead pack, including being part of the final series of surge laps. Jan Erick and Joel took silver and bronze in their first ultra endurance event. Ethan's finish also established a track record for his division.
Silvia Acevedo emerged as the national 25k champion, skating in a tight pack with rival Janet Naess. However, it took a furious sprint to the finish for Silvia to hold off a hard charging Janet. Melissa took the bronze in this F40 division.
The women seniors featured Illinois based skaters Jacky Rowe, fresh from the Olympic trials, and up and coming Carolyn Chapp. Jacky raced to gold,establishing a track record with her performance. Carolyn was rock steady with her silver winning effort.
Vince Morris was the golden standard in the M60 division. He also broke his own track record by 16 seconds. Ed Burns turned in a silver performance, and reported that he is actually 70, but appreciated being to skate alongside Vince's record breaking speed. This division was also stacked with a number competitors. Ken Huss drove in from Minnesota, former home of the national marathon, along with Chuck Hansell, and Roger Boswell. Ken and Chuck seemed to skate in a tight pack, but began to challenge each other toward the final laps. Their standings are still to be determined between these two as timing errors precluded a conclusive result.
Tony Marchese, M70 skated to a victory, despite his lap counter losing track. He was several minutes off his own track record, but still enough for gold. Veteran referee and in-liner Jim White picked up silver during his performance.
Dick Klein secured gold and a track record at M80. The always gracious and inspiring Marshall Lipton raced to silver, and continues to give hope to the elder athletes.
Michael Hubbs,Nathan Feinberg,Bridie Farrell,Kathleen Feinberg, all secured uncontested gold medals in their division. However, in a pack marathon event you always find motivation to race along side and against someone to the line. Bridie, for example, smashed her own previous track record by 4 minutes this time out.

There were a few technological glitches with the timing software. As with all marathons, skaters still need to supply a manual counter, especially with the limited volunteers available on any given weekend at the PNIC. Please consider volunteering for the 50K as a counter for January 26th event. (8:30am start)

Congratulations to the 2014 US Speedskating 25K National Champions.

Many thanks to Jeff Brand-announcer, Althea,Antonia,Leah,Samantha,Al, and so many others that helped with lap counting. And thanks to the Pettit National Ice Center for their support in hosting today's event.

Day II of the 2014 US Speedskating Marathon featured determined athletes that braved an early morning Milwaukee,WI snow storm in quest of a national title. They would not be stopped by snow and ice.

Even when the transponders were offline and manual counters were in short supply. However just minutes before the start of the 50K US championships, three members the ASE (Academy of Skating Excellence) skaters entered the track and the games were on.

Co-Chief Referee Ernie Kretschmann fired the gun, and 15 ultra-endurance athletes were off. Speed skating is a marathon event that still requires a LOT of muscle power for the entire event. This can also lead to back and hip crampening and stiffening. It happens in the 5K, and over the course of this weekend, the athletes willpower, body, mind, and soul are tested.

The pack started with the blazing senior division-featuring Liam.KC, and Chase. However M50 Nathan Feinberg would co-lead laps for about 65 of the 129 laps to glory before skating with another pack later in the race. Bridie and Michael Hubbs, M60 Vince Morris took turns in the lead pack for quite an extensive time also. Right around 35-40 remainng laps, KC appeared to lose ground on his rivals in the senior division, falling as much as 70 meters off the back of the pack. This is where you saw the heart of a champion and fortune play,as KC fought hard to sprint back to the pack for several laps before the leaders slowed their own pace as the the cramping back/hip muscular system prompted a relaxed tempo and KC was back in business. However, Liam and Chase were still hungry for the win, and with 10 laps to go, strategic placement intensified as each skater appeared to jockey for the attack postion on each lap until the bell. It took the final 10 meters to see who the US National 50K champion would be...and this time KC edged out Chase, and Liam. It was a very captivating and exciting chess-like marathon performance.

Now, there was a second pack of 40-60 year old athletes that were creating 129 laps of drama of their own. F40 Silvia, M60's Chuck Hansell, Ed Burns.Ken Huss, F50 Kathleen Feinberg, and occassionally Vince, were exchanging leads and setting up a final speed play of their own. In the end, Silvia accelerated at the bell lap and gained a 20 meter gap that no one broached as she secured the US 50K title. Vince won the US 50K, Chuck followed with silver, and that barely over Ken Huss's charge. Ed Burns-who will be racing officially in the M70 group next year took 4th.

M70 Tony Marchese set a track record for his division, lapping his own group several times while also occassionally working with his division rivals. Jum White, a speed skating referee, took silver.

Kathleen Feinberg, F30 Bridie Farrell, M30 Michael Hubbs, M80 Dick Klein, and M50 Nathan Feinberg all left the oval as the 2014 US 50K national champions. Michael,Dick, and Bridie set division track records in their winning form.

Many thanks to the Pettit staff, volunteers, Jeff Brand's authoritive announcing, and Brian and Ernie Kretschmann for their support and expertise.

Olusegun Sijuwade

 

U.S. National Marathon Pettit National Ice Center Track Records