Competitors in annual Rollin' On the River Inline Marathon come from across the country
Aug. 20—GRAND FORKS — Skaters and bikers from across the country converged in Grand Forks for the annual Rollin' On the River Inline and Cycle Marathon on Saturday morning. One only of six inline skate marathons in the United States, competitors come from as close as within the community to as far as Atlanta and San Francisco to participate.
It was skaters Veronica Luccioni and Brent Leaman's first year competing at Rollin' On the River. The pair, from San Francisco, are experienced skaters.
"The weather was as perfect as it can get, the wind wasn't too bad and the course itself is really good," said Leaman.
The event has three races — a marathon inline skate race, marathon cycling race and half marathon inline skate race. The marathon inline race is split into professional and recreational divisions.
The 13.1-mile half marathon's course snakes in a loop through Grand Forks, while the 26.2-mile full marathon started south of Grand Forks in Buxton, North Dakota. Both races finished near Choice Health and Fitness.
The winners of the half marathon, Gary Davis, Wyzata, Minnesota, and Alison Talley, St. Louis Park, Minnesota, said the conditions of the course were favorable and in the neighborhoods the race went through, community members were cheering skaters on. Talley was back for her fifth year.
"I think it was the best one weather-wise, road-wise and people-wise," said Talley.
This year, 92 people competed between the three races. That number is up from last year's, but still below the turnout of around 130 people in 2019. Rollin' On the River has been held annually since 2010, said organizer Amy Enget, except in 2020, when it was canceled because of COVID-19.
But, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and high travel costs, Enget is happy with this year's turnout.
"We're building back up after COVID," she said.
Ben Hall and Brian Geisel, from Georgia, returned for their third year of racing in Grand Forks.
"It's a small community, so you get to know a lot of people and meet new ones. It's always competitive," said Hall. "We enjoy Grand Forks and now have some spots we like to frequent."
Among their favorites is Half Brothers Brewing Company.
As Hall pointed out, the inline skate racing community is a small one, and many of the racers know each other, even if they live in different parts of the country. The number of competitive inline skaters and races in the United States has dwindled over the years, said Luccioni, while the sport grows more popular overseas. She runs website skatecentral.info, where she compiles race information for skaters to spread the word about the sport.
"I'm so happy they're still running an event like this," she said. "That's why I started the website, so people know that it is so popular elsewhere and hopefully it will jumpstart it into a whole thing."
While many that compete in Rollin' On the River are professionals from across the country, the races are accessible to recreational skaters too, said Nicole Smestad, the race's marketing director.
"We have plenty of rec skaters," she said. "We do have some where this is the first time they've done something like this."
The event also had 31 volunteers, said Enget, who helped with setup, keeping racers on course and backup timing.
Results:
Women's pro inline full marathon: 1. Cassandra Tetrault, 2. Hannah Vanasse, 3. Veronica Luccioni.
Men's pro inline full marathon: 1. Josiah Hendrickson, 2. Peyton Wendt, 3. Elias Hendrickson.
Women's rec inline full marathon: 1. Heather Feldhusen, 2. Christina Wagner, 3. Elizabeth Wek.
Men's rec inline full marathon: 1. Steve Wagner, 2. Tracy White, 3. Drew Negangard.
Women's cycling marathon: 1. Erin Haugen, 2. Adrienne Salentiny, 3. Erin Roesler.
Men's cycling marathon: 1. Luke Winger, 2. Tim Sproul, 3. Scott Jensen.
Women's inline half marathon: 1. Alison Talley, 2. Annie Hendrickson, 3. Jana Davis.
Men's inline half marathon: 1. Gary Davis, 2. Josh Greene, 3. Stefan Vetter.
Full results and times are available on
.
