Question:
Give me some ifor about Berlin Half Marathon.
Answer:The racing season here in northern Germany kicked off on Sunday, April 1st
with the Berlin Half-Marathon. A record field of 1262 skaters set off under
abnormally sunny skies for 21 km through the streets of the capital.
Denmark's Steven Madsen won in 34:36, repeating his victory from one year
ago and beating his old course record by nearly two minutes. Nico Wieduwilt
and Marco Kessler of Team Rollerblade Germany completed the podium (full
results at www.berlin-marathon.com).
Berlin kicked off my 2001 inline season as well. It was a successful race
for both my team, SCC XSpeed Team Berlin (www.xspeed.org) and myself
(despite a deceptively mediocre time and place - more about this later). My
preparations had not been particularly good thanks to a long spell of wet
weather after the end of the long track ice season. Weight training, indoor
inline one night a week, and cycling through the rain and snow have been our
only training possibilities for much of March, with rare skating workouts
outdoors on rare dry days. Most of my teammates went south in late March for
the week-long 'Experts in Speed' training camp in Sardinia
(http://www.inlinenews.de/camp_camp2001_eng.htm), returning tanned and fit,
while I suffered through the misery of a prolonged winter in Berlin.
After nervously watching the forecasts through the week, we were surprised
by good weather on the race weekend. Perfect conditions greeted us at the
start: dry roads, clear skies, cool temperatures. As ever, I found myself
packed into the second row at the start, wedged up against other skaters. At
the gun I made my patented non-explosive start, dodged one crash, and went
into the first turn in about fiftieth place. I chased hard for the next two
kilometers down Unter den Linden and by the time we reached the Brandenburg
Gate found myself, as ever, just off the back of the lead pack, perhaps
thirty skaters strong. A few teammates came up behind me and we formed a
small group and skated hard for the next few kilometres through the
Tiergarten. The field split after a series of attacks and a lead group of
twelve formed; the remaining pack slowed slightly and we were able to bridge
across the gap and join up. My four teammates, fresh from training in Italy,
went to the front and helped force the pace. Less fit, I remained at the
back. We crossed the 10 km mark at 18 minutes flat. At half distance we
survived the two 100 m cobblestone stretches without mishap and turned for
home. (Here's the secret to cobbles: skate hard, don't try to coast. Not
only is it faster, it's also safer. I tried to coast last year and found
myself dropped from the lead pack.)
At this point, I was feeling quite pleased with myself. Not among the
leaders, but securely in the second group, a 37 minute time within reach,
and a top twenty placing possible in the unlikely event of my producing a
decent sprint. Not too bad given how little skating I'd managed in our awful
spring weather. Then we blew it. With only a few kilometers remaining,
coming up Friedrichstrasse the group missed the right turn leading towards
the Gendarmenmarkt. There were no course marshals pointing the direction for
us, just Polizei standing glumly and silently on each corner. After two
blocks we realized our mistake, took the next right and skated parallel to
the course until we came to a construction site and a large cobbled square.
At this point the group disintegrated, choosing various routes back to the
finish, crossing the line with times varying from 38 to 40 minutes. "Apart
from navigation, we did quite well," I said to my teammates after the
finish. Although we were pleased with our effort, we weren't rewarded with
much of a result.
Hopefully things will go better in our next races. Next up: Hamburg
Marathon, April 22; German Marathon Championships, Dresden, May 1; Berlin 25
km, 6 May. And a full schedule through the summer.
