2001 National Marathon at Lake Morey, Vermont
January 13-14, 2001
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Marathon Skater's Lament
by Jim Daniska
Speedskaters are a most interesting breed, it takes talent and training and skill to succeed.
There's short track and long track but the best one you see, is marathon skating for me.

And it's way ho, it's 15 below, my lungs are on fire and I can't feel my toes.
My cheekbones went numb a half hour ago, but it's marathon skating for me.

Short trackers think their meets are the best, with those short little races and hour-long rests.
They think a 3000 is a tortuous test, but for us it's a short little warmup at best.

And it's way ho, it's 15 below, my lungs are on fire and I can't feel my toes.
A blizzard just hit and we've got drifting snow, but it's marathon skating for me.

Now metric is graceful, it's skating so pure, no ruts, no cracks and no elbows for sure.
You skate all alone, just the clock as your foe, but there's no packs to jump in and pick up a tow.

And it's way ho, it's 15 below, my lungs are on fire and I can't feel my toes.
My back muscles ache and my legs feel like stone, but it's marathon skating for me.

I think of the Pettit, how I love that place, where there's no wind or snow to mess up your pace.
'Cause I'm trying to skate with a gale in my face, this isn't much fun now you see.

And it's way ho, it's 15 below, my lungs are on fire and I can't feel my toes.
My Gatorade's frozen, there's 10 K to go, maybe this isn't for me.

The finish is near, I can see it ahead, my legs hurt so bad, I wish I was dead.
Before I try this again, someone shoot me in the head, no more marathon skating for me.

And it's way ho, it's 15 below, my lungs are on fire and I can't feel my toes.
I've got blisters and frostbite but It's over you see, no more marathon skating for me.

Now I finished the race a few hours ago, the pain's mostly gone, haven't lost any toes.
And I feel like I could take on the Elfstedentocht, it's marathon skating for me.

And it's way ho, it's 15 below, my lungs are on fire and I can't feel my toes.
I might not win any medals, but who cares about those, it's marathon skating for me.
Copyright © 2001 by Jim Daniska
Race Age Group Name Position Time
      Age Group Overall  
MEN 5K Master 30-39 Andrew Diekema 1 4 15:11
  Master 60-69 Peter Franz 1 1 12:32
    Bill Stone 2 7 17:18
WOMEN 5K Master 30-39 Mary Lavanway 1 5 15:28
  Master 40-49 Anne Donaghy 1 3 14:09
    Kate Smith 2 6 17:06
  Master 50-59 Susan Hardy 1 2 14:07
           
MEN 10K Master 30-39 Andrew Diekema 1 2 26:11
  Master 40-49 Tom Keane 1 1 22:01
    Frank Thum 2 4 29:32
  Master 70-79 Norman Andersen 1 7 41:05
WOMEN 10K Junior Ezy Blake 1 3 29:20
  Master 30-39 Siobhan Fitzpatrick 1 5 31:53
  Master 50-59 Nicole Cherry 1 6 34:00
           
MEN 25K Junior Ryan Bedford 1 14 51:04
    Alex Cook 2 24 52:29
  Intermediate Bobby Lea 1 44 1:07:26
  Master 30-39 Paul O'Blenes - CAN 1 1 45:15
    Mark Kandola 2 2 45:26
    Rob Kramer 3 3 45:27
    Don Gallegos 4 4 45:28
    Barry Publow - CAN 5 7 45:58
    Andy Dahlstrom 6 8 46:57
    Joe Franz 7 10 49:20
    Jeff Tolbert 8 33 58:39
    Matt Vincenti 9 37 1:00:12
    Edward Leibnitz 10 41 1:02:34
    Joe Holland     DNF
    Brian Boudreau     DNF
  Master 40-49 Bob Tysen 1 5 45:28
    Jamie Hess 2 11 50:40
    Mario DeBartolo 3 18 51:27
    Dan Snipes 4 28 57:39
    Brian Remillard 5 30 58:02
    Andrew Strauss 6 34 59:00
    Chip Krueger 7 36 1:00:10
    Peter Doyle 8 40 1:00:54
    Peter Thompson 9 42 1:03:52
    Serge Plamondon - CAN 10 49 1:11:24
    Bill Eisenmenger     DNF
  Master 50-59 Vince Morris 1 12 50:50
    Vinnie Gagliano 2 13 51:04
    Bill Bauer 3 20 52:37
    John Manailovich 4 21 52:38
    Stephen Gunther 5 22 53:06
    Edward Burns 6 25 53:51
    Fred Eder 7 26 56:26
    Jim Daniska 8 27 56:28
    Bob Lohr 9 29 57:45
    Frank Cherry 10 32 58:29
    Gaetan Rochette - CAN 11 35 59:36
    Harry Dingle 12 46 1:07:31
    Rod Willmot 13 48 1:08:45
    Tom Ward 14 53 1:20:25
  Master 60-69 Pierre Gagne - CAN 1 16 51:20
    Dick Ring 2 17 51:27
    Dudley Weider 3 31 58:28
    Jack Mahoney 4 43 1:05:30
    Garry Corwin 5 55 1:24:57
    Bill Stone 6 57 1:27:13
25K WOMEN Junior Kristin Bedford 1 15 51:04
  Senior Carla Langenthal 1 9 47:26
    Kathy Zapotocki 2 50 1:14:54
    Jane Kenyon 3 51 1:13:10
    Sylvie Burlot 4 52 1:16:00
  Master 30-39 Beth Bedford 1 6 45:39
    Anne Diekema 2 38 1:00:17
    Rita Silver 3 56 1:25:05
    Diana Stone 4 57 1:27:13
  Master 40-49 Suzanne Dionne - CAN 1 23 53:11
    Martha Cochran 2 39 1:00:54
    Sue Hassdenteufel 3 45 1:07:28
  Master 50-59 Carole Moore 1 19 51:28
    Kathy Jones 2 47 1:07:56
    Suzanne Ward 3 54 1:22:05
    Hanne Michell 4 58 1:37:46
           
50K MEN Junior Ryan Bedford 1 17 1:43:02
  Intermediate Bobby Lea     DNF
  Senior Dan Weinstein 1 1 1:30:43
    Peter Christopher 2 21 1:44:18
  Master 30-39 Mark Kandola 1 2 1:31:34
    Paul O'Blenes - CAN 2 3 1:32:23
    Rob Kramer 3 4 1:33:17
    Don Gallegos 4 5 1:33:18
    Andy Dahlstrom 5 6 1:33:20
    Brian Boudreau 6 7 1:34:59
    Edward Leibnitz 7 38 1:59:22
    Joe Holland     DNF
  Master 40-49 Bob Tysen 1 9 1:39:39
    Jamie Hess 2 11 1:41:16
    Bill Eisenmenger 3 23 1:47:03
    Michael Hartnett 4 24 1:48:00
    Dan Snipes 5 26 1:49:40
    Rob Belcher 6 31 1:57:02
    Brian Remillard 7 33 1:57:03
    Elliott Fisher 8 34 1:57:10
    Andy Strauss 9 37 1:59:11
    Peter Doyle 10 40 2:01:38
    Peter Thompson 11 44 2:12:17
  Master 50-59 Vince Morris 1 11 1:41:16
    Stephen Gunther 2 13 1:41:16
    Edward Burns 3 15 1:41:17
    Bill Bauer 4 18 1:43:06
    John Manailovich 5 20 1:43:48
    Vinnie Gagliano 6 25 1:48:35
    Bob Lohr 7 28 1:54:57
    Gaetan Rochette - CAN 8 32 1:57:02
    Fred Eder 9 35 1:59:09
    Frank Cherry 10 36 1:59:10
    Jim Daniska 11 42 2:04:42
    Harry Dingle 12 43 2:08:33
    Charlie Coon 13 48 2:24:49
    Rich Caffrey 14 50 2:43:32
  Master 60-69 Dick Ring 1 22 1:45:04
    Pierre Gagne - CAN 2 27 1:49:54
    Dudley Weider 3 29 1:55:01
    Tony Marchese 4 30 1:56:53
    John Mahoney 5 45 2:22:17
50K WOMEN Junior Kristin Bedford 1 16 1:43:02
  Senior Carla Langenthal 1 10 1:41:07
    Aimee Rubin 2 49 2:39:18
  Master 30-39 Beth Bedford 1 8 1:35:20
    Anne Diekema 2 39 1:59:39
  Master 40-49 Suzanne Dionne - CAN 1 14 1:41:17
    Martha Cochran 2 41 2:01:38
    Kathy Zapotocki 3 45 2:22:17
    Jane Kenyon 3 45 2:22:17
  Master 50-59 Carole Moore 1 19 1:43:08

Posted on January 16, 2001 by Jamie Hess