Spokane Centennial Marathon and 10K

Reported by Ami Raynor

August 28^th was a good day to race in Spokane, WA.  The day dawned clear and warm, and 111 marathon skaters and 34 10K racers from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Canada showed up, ready to enjoy the clean, smooth and breathtakingly beautiful Centennial Trail. 

Steve Gardner, fresh off his master 2-man relay success at Indoor Nationals, won the marathon in 1:19:30.  Hard on his heels was Josh Fredrickson (Tiffany’s, Puyallup), in 1:19:31, with Jason Korbel of Spokane .02 seconds back.  Patrick Bellows (Tiffany’s) and Chuck Hendrick (Southgate, Seattle) rounded out the top five male finishers. 

14-year-old Misha Averill (Tiffany’s) won the ladies’ top placement in 1:19:49 and came in 6^th overall.  Averill was competing in her second marathon, her first being St. Paul, just one week earlier, where she won overall for advanced ladies.  Canadian sensation Conny Strub (Bont) followed closely at 1:19:58, with Shannon Scharff, last year’s female winner, finishing 3^rd for the ladies, despite a hard fall, at 1:27:08.  Scharff is sponsored by Rudy Project, Fitness Fanatics, and Emde Sports.  Danita Dunlap (Southgate) finished 4^th overall, with Kirsta Lopes (Tiffany’s) rounding out the top 5 ladies.

This year’s course included a new section to lengthen last year’s 23 mile race into a full marathon. According to Averill, “The turn-arounds were kind of sharp and the trail was kind of narrow in some spots, but I liked it overall.” 

“It was a good experience,” Averill said.  “It was a lot easier and a lot more fun to skate with everyone overall and not just in a category.  It was pretty well organized--they did a good job with the prizes and the registration went easy.”

19-year-old Jonathan Schuck of Pattisons North (Spokane) won the 10K in 17:20 for the men, followed by Ralph Bertoni and Tyler Smith.  12-year-old Anna Koval (Tiffany’s) finished 7^th overall, winning the overall top ladies’ placement in 22:03.  Jennifer Miller (Southgate) and Jessica Anderson (Tiffany’s) came in 2^nd and 3^rd behind Koval.

Bont’s Glenn Koshi, Powerslide’s Joe Flesher and Mark and Sarah Quest from Discount Wheel and Skate were on hand with products for the growing NW skating scene.  Nearly every participant took home some kind of raffle prize, from t-shirts to Hooters gift certificates, to Bont, Powerslide and Discount Wheel and Skate goods.  Other sponsors for the second annual event included:  Rudy Project, Oxford Suites, Fitness Fanatics, Centennial Trail, Regal Cinemas, Lin High Performance Socks, Rainbow Racing System, Interlink Advantage, Strub Sports Designs, YMCA of Spokane Valley, Speeed Spray, Hooters, Hammer Nutrition, Ltd, Core Racing, Integral Designs, City Glass, EMDE Sports.com, Core Racing, Precision H₂O, Runners Soul, Mario & Sons, and B&B Physical Therapy.

Ample food and drink, a lively emcee and great hotel accommodations added comfort and fun to this enjoyable event.  Each skater received a red Brook’s Coolmax finisher’s shirt, a welcome change from the usual t-shirt.  Mario Marcella, race founder, not only finished first in his 65-69 age group with an respectable time of 1:27:27, he also hand made every winner’s trophy.  Best of all, the organizers had the results online at SkateNW.com that evening both divided by age group and listed by overall finishing order.

Organizers Marcella, Scharff, Ralph Bertoni, Bill Codd and Marla Emde, enlisted plenty of volunteers to oversee the trail, including bikists to lead and follow, water distributors at the turn around, photographers along the trail, and many well-wishers.

For a complete list of placements, see http://www.skatenw.com