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 | | The 2005 Texas Road Rash Can the Sports Capital of Texas Keep the Road Rash Growing? (page 2 of 2) Littrell serves as a consultant and advisor for the event. But the city does most of the rest; it takes care of the permits, hires "We know how to do this kind of stuff because we put on events all the time," Waggoner says. First Road Rash The city proved its moxie last year with the inaugural Road Rash on March 28th. The race went off smoothly and without any of the mishaps that plague many new events. The racecourse (five laps around Settlers Park in Round Rock) was a little wet. But most of the skaters managed to stay on their feet. Only three or four sustained abrasions worthy of the race's name. (This year, a door prize of bandages and ointment will be awarded to the skater with the worst road rash.) Randy Bowman won the men's race; Kim Perkins, the women's. Turnout But the field was not large. Only 110 skaters raced the full and half marathons combined. By comparison, Round Rock's 100-mile Outlaw Trail draws 800 cyclists a year. But Round Rock officials don't seem too worried about turnout, at least not yet. "We expect the Texas Road Rash to be bigger and better each year," says Round Rock event coordinator Jenene Jeffries. This year's event (on Sunday, March 20th) is expected to draw 150 to 160 skaters, 40 or 50 more than last year. By Tuesday, 122 had registered. To attract more skaters, the city has added a 1 K Youth Skate (12 and under) and a children's play area to the event. In the future, the event may start offering cash prizes to the top finishers, Littrell says. Currently, medallions are handed out to the top finishers, and the top man and woman get a Road Rash winners jacket made by Pyro Apparel. The lack of cash prizes is one reason why relatively few professional skaters have been drawn to the event. First Marathon of Spring Another reason is the early date for the race. March may be springtime in central Texas, but for many inline racers, it's still time for indoor skating, cross-training or no skating at all. Littrell, a member of Hill Country Speed, Austin's inline skating club, says he is pleased with how the Road Rash has developed so far, but would like to see it grow. Of course, in this, he is not alone. The organizers of most inline marathons in North America are looking, some desperately, for ways to increase participation in their events. Most agree that the way to do this is to attract more recreational and fitness skaters. But so far, few events have been able to figure out how. (Exceptions include the Northshore and St. Paul marathons in Minnesota, and to a lesser extent, the Disney marathon in Orlando.) Littrell thinks the answer may be inline marathon training programs, similar to those being proposed by USA Fit. (See USA Fit story.) Participants in the training programs, even those new to skating, would be taught all the skills needed to complete a marathon. Littrell hopes to start a training program in Austin in time to pump up participation in the 2006 Road Rash. Austin has a large pool of potential skaters. It is the hub of a youthful metropolitan area with a population of 1.2 million. Littrell says the city of Round Rock would like the Road Rash to start paying for itself within a few years. So far, the race has only a few sponsors, including the skate maker Bont and uniform maker Pyro Apparel. "But we have the same problem that other marathons have," Littrell says. "We have to get more people to sign up in order to attract more sponsors. Right now we're not huge in numbers, but we're trying."
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... Copyright © 2006 by Robert Burnson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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