Marathon skating on inline skates
One of the most exciting races on inline skates is the marathon of 42.195 km. Marathon races are organized all over tthe world by Roller World in the context of its championships. Besides that marathons are organized by national and local inline skating clubs. Because the tracks are not comparable it is difficult to compare the results of the different marathons. However there is one marathon for inline skaters which is organized since 1997 in Berlin using every year the same track. Therefore the results of the skaters through time can be compared. Below I have presented the official results for men and women from 2000 till 2021. I included the year 2000 because in that year Chad Hadrick , a famous inline and speed skater won the marathon of Berlin in a remarkable time of 1,01,45. This was the record for some time. This table below shows how the winning time varied throught time due to the weather conditions during the race and ofcourse the quality of the skaters. In 2013 Barrt Swings was the first skater who realized the marathon in less than an hour. This result he repeated 6 times and each time he was the winner of the race.What happened in 2022 has been reported below.
In tthe women race in 2000 also a very good time, 1.08,29, was realized by Angè Vaudan from France. This time was not improved till 2017 when Maira Yaqueline Arias from Argentina realized a ttime of 1:06:35..
Remarkable are the results of Sandrine Tas.. Sofar she won three time the marathon of Belin for women. The first time was in 2015 ,when she was 20 years old. After that she won in 2020 and 2021. She is still young enough and motivated enough to repeat these results. Another female inline skater who won the mrathon three time, Manon Kammingaa, is at the moment not active anymore in this sport on this high level.
Therefore the most important skaters in this marathon are two Belgium skaters. We will provide more attention to them below.
Before doing that I like to mention that it is at least remarkable that hardly any skaters from Colombia won this marathon while Colombia is the country which produces the most inline speed skaters. Maybe one reason is that this race is commercially is not interesting for sponsors from South America and therefore their participation is much lower than from European countries. The same happened with respect to the European participation in the A2A race in tghe USA. In the beginning Europeans went there but with the sponsoring of the speed skaters in Europe the participation of the European skaters in the USA reduced rapidly.
In tthe women race in 2000 also a very good time, 1.08,29, was realized by Angè Vaudan from France. This time was not improved till 2017 when Maira Yaqueline Arias from Argentina realized a ttime of 1:06:35..
Remarkable are the results of Sandrine Tas.. Sofar she won three time the marathon of Belin for women. The first time was in 2015 ,when she was 20 years old. After that she won in 2020 and 2021. She is still young enough and motivated enough to repeat these results. Another female inline skater who won the mrathon three time, Manon Kammingaa, is at the moment not active anymore in this sport on this high level.
Therefore the most important skaters in this marathon are two Belgium skaters. We will provide more attention to them below.
Before doing that I like to mention that it is at least remarkable that hardly any skaters from Colombia won this marathon while Colombia is the country which produces the most inline speed skaters. Maybe one reason is that this race is commercially is not interesting for sponsors from South America and therefore their participation is much lower than from European countries. The same happened with respect to the European participation in the A2A race in tghe USA. In the beginning Europeans went there but with the sponsoring of the speed skaters in Europe the participation of the European skaters in the USA reduced rapidly.
The Berlin Marathon in 2022 with a new record
In 2022 Bart Swing improved his record time of 2015. Swings said after the race:: "I really wanted to set a new course record today,. Before the start it was still very stressful, because with the light drizzle it was not clear whether the roads would be dry or wet"
Relying on a dry surface turned out to be the right decision. In the end he improved his recond with a time 56.45. The difference with the previous record was small but it was a new record. He crossed the finish alone as the picture below shows.
In 2022 Bart Swing improved his record time of 2015. Swings said after the race:: "I really wanted to set a new course record today,. Before the start it was still very stressful, because with the light drizzle it was not clear whether the roads would be dry or wet"
Relying on a dry surface turned out to be the right decision. In the end he improved his recond with a time 56.45. The difference with the previous record was small but it was a new record. He crossed the finish alone as the picture below shows.
Along the way, Bart Swings also benefited from strong support from his teammate Felix Rijhnen from Darmstadt, with whom he rode together at the front for 34 kilometers of the course. Felix comments: "It was definitely one of the toughest marathon races in my entire life. I had to close a 10-second gap to Bart right after the start and then when there were two of us in front, he didn't let up for a second. He is a machine this year. Second place feels like a victory to me,"
Felix Rijhnen was unable to follow Swings' fast pace from kilometer 34. Rijhnen crossed the finish line in 58:37 minutes, an unchallenged second place. In the mass sprint of the chasing pack, Belgian Jason Suttles secured third place in 59:47 minutes.
In the women's race, the French Marie Depuy impressively demonstrated her sprinting skills. She won with a razor-thin margin ahead of Lianne van Loon (NED) and Sara Arregui from Spain. They all finished at the same time in 1:11:19.
I could not find any information about the participation and eventual results of Sandrine Tas..
Felix Rijhnen was unable to follow Swings' fast pace from kilometer 34. Rijhnen crossed the finish line in 58:37 minutes, an unchallenged second place. In the mass sprint of the chasing pack, Belgian Jason Suttles secured third place in 59:47 minutes.
In the women's race, the French Marie Depuy impressively demonstrated her sprinting skills. She won with a razor-thin margin ahead of Lianne van Loon (NED) and Sara Arregui from Spain. They all finished at the same time in 1:11:19.
I could not find any information about the participation and eventual results of Sandrine Tas..