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Racing News > 2006 Metrodome Inline Marathon Peterson, Starykowicz Win Again in Metrodome
With the competition hot on his trail, the 20-year-old from Long Grove, Ill., cut short his mandatory water stop and blazed to an eight second victory in the men's pro division. Wonder Woman Adam Inline's Kara Peterson, the only skater in the pro women's division, gave the the men some tough competition. The 36-year-old from St. Paul, Minn., finished third overall, just as she did last year. The Metrodome event is the world's only indoor skate marathon. It is held on the upper concourse at the sports stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings. Skaters must loop the concourse 70.8 times to complete the full marathon. To prevent traffic jams, the race is split into five individual marathons (including a half marathon) held separately throughout the day. The pro and advanced racers are the first on the concourse at 8 a.m. Rather than a mass start, skaters begin one at a time, five seconds apart. But once on the course, they are allowed to draft in pacelines. The floor of the concourse is coated cement. It becomes dangerously slippery when wet. So racers are prohibited from carrying water during the race. However, to guard against dehydration, skaters are required to take one water stop during the race. If they fail to do this, they are docked five minutes. No Water for the Weary Starykowicz, who won last year's inaugural event, put off his water stop until near the end of today's race. Although racers don't know their exact positions until after the results are posted, he could tell that Flander's Jack Wussler was challenging him for the lead. "I knew it was going to be close," he said. Several laps before the end of the race, Starykowicz, who is an architecture student at Iowa State University, decided it was time to make his pit stop. "I dragged my foot and slid right in to the water stop," he said. A race volunteer marked him as having completed the water stop, "And then I got right back out there and started skating again. ... I don't even know if I had any water." Meanwhile, Wussler and his teammates arrived at the water stop. By the time they left it, Starykowicz had a solid lead, which he hung onto until the end of the race. "It was the water stop that won it for me," he said. He finished with a time of 1 hour 20 minutes and 13 seconds. The time was four minutes slower than his winning time last year. He said he had less time to prepare for the race this year and found the going slower because the concourse was more slippery. Peterson, the women's winner, finished a mere 22 seconds behind Starykowicz. She cut 36 seconds off of her time from last year. • Go to Results Go to Darlene Prois photos of the team time trial. • Go to more Racing News. Go to the Beginner's Guide to Outdoor Racing (posted April 22, 2006) | Related reading • Go to Darlene Prois photos of the team time trial. • Go to more Racing News. Go to the Beginner's Guide to Outdoor Racing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
... Copyright © 2006 by Robert Burnson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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