Let the skating begin. Inline skaters at both elite and recreational levels will line up on Madeline Island on June 15 to speed more than once around an 8.7 mile course for the Apostle Islands Inline Marathon and Half-Marathon, an event the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce has promoted as the nation’s destination vacation inline marathon. Chamber executive director Mary McPhetridge is proud of the race, which is expected to draw some 350 participants, and cautions fans and volunteers alike that once the marathon and half-marathon start, both at 8:30 a.m., it will go by fast.
“This is a cool event,” she said. “Madeline Island is a part of Ashland County, so it was a great fit for us. And the road is like butter … it’s very smooth. You find this nice course and you take it. It’s just perfect. And it’s a quick event. The marathon elites (who cover 26.2 miles) are cruising at about 25 miles per hour. We have a four wheeler leading the pack and the fastest skaters keep right up with them. This is very different from running a marathon like our Whistlestop, which can take runners six hours to complete.”
The skaters are from all over the country, but the majority are from the Twin Cities. This season it is part of the Midwest Series which promotes participation in other races, and has helped make the Apostle Islands event even more compelling. That’s good news and good business for the area. McPhetridge projects at least 1,000 people will be on the island for race day. And none of it could happen without the cooperation of Madeline Island residents, McPhetridge emphasized.
“The Madeline Island residents are very gracious in allowing us to be there,” she said. “They shut down their road for us. Skaters are very appreciative of what goes into coordinating this race as well, and comments are very favorable. I just love this race. When we’re done we clean up, move out, and it looks like we’ve never been there.”
Look for race results and a recap from McPhetridge to be presented in the June 18 issue of the Daily Press
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