This is the text of Tish's August email update. The meet schedule has been updated to reflect the dates listed below.

Life of Leisure (What?)

David Downing

We'd like to announce that David Downing has formally retired from the rink business. Yep, he's sold the rink and is thinking about lots of empty hours with his feet up. Fortunately for us, although David has retired from business he can still do what he thinks is fun -- and that's to coach. David's retirement is actually of benefit to the other GT sites, because now he has the time to come and visit you more often, set up your training schedule, and get you moving on the road to a fabulous year. Stay tuned for more information on his 'travel' schedule.

Because the rink in Cumming is gone, David is moving the team to Lilburn GA and we will be merging with the Skate-A-Long team there, but keeping the GT Speed name. David will be the coach, and Derek will be backing him up. Practices in Lilburn will begin after Sept 1. We have tentatively scheduled them for Wednesday 6:30-8:30pm, Saturday 9:00-12:00 and Sunday 9:00-12:00. We will also be skating outdoor as weather permits. Please check the website for these times and for directions to the Lilburn rink. [Ed. - to be added soon.]

USARS Membership -- Amateur Card

All skaters who skate or practice with any branch of GT Speed are required to purchase a USARS membership. This is for the insurance, so that you are covered in the event of an accident while you are practicing or skating in a sanctioned meet. See your coach for an application form. The cost of the card is $35 payable to USARS. In addition, your coach will collect an additional $5 per card to cover the cost of the Club Charters. Until now, David has been paying the entire club charter fees from the rink business, but now that he is retired, he will not have the means to pay this.

Uniforms

The mailing mate for the new uniforms is August 16. With any luck, they should be in Columbus within a week. Hopefully we will be able to get them distributed for the Columbus InMotion race and the US10K. After the 1st of September, we will take orders for jackets from anyone who ordered a uniform. Each person who ordered a uniform is eligible to order one jacket for $18. If you haven't ordered a uniform yet or want an extra jacket, the cost will be $55. A sample jacket will be available in Columbus so that you can see its size and quality.

Columbus InMotionX - August 30, 2003

We are all set for a great weekend of skating. The Columbus In Motion races will be all day on Saturday. We will begin skating in the morning at the Coliseum with the Pro/Jr Pro/Master Pro 20K races. We will have two races, a men's race and a women's race, but we will award Pro/Jr/Master separately. Cross-division drafting is allowed

After the 20K race, we will have the Non Pro Age Division skaters who will skate a 10K. The age divisions are broken down into groups but the ages will run from 8-57yrs old. We will have a mass start of the age division races, but we will award for the age divisions separately. Gender cross drafting is allowed. Then, we will move downtown in the afternoon(3-5pm) and we will have two races, a sprint and a middle distance race. For the Pros there will be cash awards for the nonPro there will be awards, including merchandise. The total purse for the event is $2200 based upon 150 entries.

The entry form for this event is too large to attach (graphics), so if you don't want to register online, email me directly for a copy of the application form.

Hotel Information:

• Wyndham Columbus 800-524-4020
• Howard Johnson Express 706-322-6641
• Sleep Inn 800-627-5337 or 706-653-1330
• Country Inn & Suites 706-660-1880
• Hampton Inn North 706-256-2222
• Econolodge 706-682-3803

NTF Meet Schedule

We will have 5 NTF meets this year. The NTF meet is our version of a "league meet" like they have in Florida. However, our meets are run only on a Sunday morning and for $25 you can skate all the races for which you are eligible. We DO allow skate ups. These meets are geared for our beginners who are unsure what racing is all about, however, we will have competitive races for the more advanced skaters.

OCT         --no NTF--
NOV 16      Lilburn
DEC         ---no NTF--
JAN         ---no NTF--
FEB 15      Tallahassee
MAR 28      Montgomery
APR 25      Atlanta or Florida (location to be announced)
MAY 16      Columbus

Invitational Meets

The following meets are those that GT Speed plans to attend as team. Please put them on your schedules now. These meets are optional for the beginning skaters, but we would like all the advanced skaters to attend.

Biloxi (used to be Landmark)  October 17-19, 2003
Texas Shootout -- Thanksgiving weekend
West Palm Invitational -- MLK Weekend (January)
Tampa Invitational -- Easter weekend (April)
Regionals -- June.

We may choose to attend a couple of other meets (such as Las Vegas) during the year on an optional basis when we have final information on these.

Other Dates of Importance

Duluth Marathon -- Sept 13
Athens to Atlanta -- Sept 28
World Championships (Venezuela) -- Nov 1-10
Disney Marathon -- May 2

Other News

Oktoberfest Cookout -- at the Rowe's house -- tentatively scheduled for October 4th 3pm-8pm, more details to follow.

Keep checking back with us for updates.