Standard | Standard Relays | JO | JO Relays | Opens

The aged oak floor was shiny with fresh roll-on, carpets were cleaned, Bob Justice was setting up his sound system and the rink employees were busy hanging green and white streamers to transform the Roswell Roller Rink into the St. Patrick's Day Invitational. It was the Thursday before the meet and definitely the quiet before the storm as 280 skaters representing 23 teams from almost every region and their families were about to descend on Roswell, Georgia. Roswell Roller Rink proprietor Jim Blair prides himself on offering a lot of little extras to the skaters that come to his invitational. From the free green, silver and gold beads thrown to the crowd to the specialty food offered in the snack bar to hiring the best officials in the sport, he gave the skaters a good experience.

Friday night began with a special event, the Natural Ability 100m Dash for Cash. This was a one-lap time trial with the winner taking home the $200 prize. For the men, Joey Mantia, skating for Hyper Racing/Team Florida, set a time of 9.35' about midway through the competition and despite the efforts of the many fast skaters to follow, no one could better it. Brittany Bowe, also from Hyper, topped the women's category with a 10.12' time. The unique feature of this race was that it cost the skaters absolutely nothing!! When was the last time you got to skate a serious race for serious money for free? Why would anyone be crazy enough to let go of $400 without recouping at least some of the cost? Charlie Bennett, co-founder of Natural Ability Sports explains it this way "One of the best ways to help the sport of Inline Speed is to provide opportunities for the skaters to compete without expecting payback. It's my way of recognizing the skaters that work so hard and put in so many hours to better themselves. This race was open to everyone who wanted to run, and it was good experience for many skaters who might never attend a time trial at Outdoor Nationals and gave them the chance to skate with World Class skaters."

To add some interest for the younger ages, Roswell Roller Rink put up $100 to the top girl and boy in the 13 and under age divisions for their own dash for cash--with a catch…the kids had to skate the one lap time trial in quad rental skates! Watching the contestants roll with skates that probably have 1000 miles in them was highly amusing. However, the prize was serious cash. Dallas Hebert, skating for the Mohema Junior Team from GT Speed, took home the first place prize for the boys. Jennalynn Blair, skating on her home turf, came in first for the girls, proving that experience on quads conquers all. Taking the hint from Natural Ability, this race was also free of charge to the contestants, making it a very lucrative, if painful, 11 to 14 seconds on the floor!

After the Dash for Cash, the real racing began with the three person relays. It's always good to start a meet with relays, so that the skaters can test the floor and get the jitters out before they get down to the business of division races. As usual, the Senior races proved to be the most exciting with hot tags where even the smallest mistake could make a six foot difference in your place on the floor. When the dust settled, the team of Joey2 (Mantia & Collazo) and Lazzell won top honors for the 3 Man, with a repeat for Joey2 and Bowe for the Senior 3 mix. When the 3 Lady took the floor, it was a different story, with the team from GT Speed (Foster, Rookard and Rowe) leading the way.

Day Two dawned bright and cold, becoming a warm Southern 65 degrees before the day was over. The Wolverines from Michigan now know why we live in the South!! This is March? Saturday was Individuals Day, when the both Elite and Junior Olympic skaters show their stuff. The skating caliber was impressive, including three of the four 2003 Men's Jr. World Team members. There was no Pro-Elite division, so everyone battled it out in Senior. For the men, this meant skating 5 heats. Money prizes were offered for Sophomore and above in the Elite categories, and quality, leprechaun green & gold plaques were awarded to all age groups. In addition to the obligatory raffle, a new contest was announced. The skater who collects the most leprechaun beads by meet's end would win a set of wheels courtesy of Hyper Racing. Thousands of beads were tossed to the crowd over the weekend, and on Sunday afternoon the lucky winner was Summer Barker from the Wolverines with 415 points. Excitement was generated in almost every division, but special note should be given to the Freshman boys race which was a battle from the start. Greg Gorman and Kevin Quandt had an amazing 300m sprint which was a battle as good as any of the older age groups. In the end, Greg took the gold with his first place in the long race.

The Master's division was also hotly contested in both Ladies and Men, with Jim Larson from Capital City Racing winning for the men and Janine Cobb, Rocky Mtn Racing, for the ladies.

Relay/Open day on Sunday was for two and four person relays and opens in JO and Standard. It was also time to rock the house and this consisted of more than hot racing. The host team, Precision Inline Racing, held a "bead parade on skates" where the crowd had a chance to collect more beads towards the grand prize. Also, each year for the past three years, Justine Simane has entertained the crowd with a new rap song about skating, usually with Pinnacle boots getting the mention. This year, Justin gave us a recap of past songs, and then performed the newest one in a serenade to Amber Yarborough. Everyone in the building had fun with that! One of best races of the day was the Senior 2 Mix with four teams fighting for three spots. With ladies Jessica Smith, Jilleanne Rookard, Kim Foster and Jacqueline Blair battling it out and handing off to Justin Kubicek, Jono Gorman, Stephen Dawson and Dustin Brevard, things were kept hot and heavy to the end. The Wolverines ended up with gold, Precision with silver and GT Speed with bronze.

As always the Senior Men's Open, a grueling 50 lap race, was the highlight of the day. There were 36 men competing for the top five spots. In the final, the racing was furiously fast. The average lap times were 9.8 for the entire race with nine men lasting to end. Passing within the top five spots occurred every lap. In the end, the placements were as follows: Joey Mantia-Hyper, Michael Cheek-Millenium, Jono Gorman-Verducci, Chad Horne, and Chad Rigsby.

The St. Patrick's Day Invitational is unique in that it awards both a High Point trophy and an Average High Point award. Jim Blair believes in awarding an AHP award so that even teams that only bring a few skaters, but perform well, are rewarded for their efforts. The high point awards are shown below:

High Point

1. GT Speed 1378 pts
2. Rolling Warriors 691 pts
3. Wolverines 610 pts
4. Piedmont 390 pts
5. Rocky Mtn Speed 358 pts

Average High Point

1. Team Florida 43.30 pts/skater
2. Rocky Mtn Speed 38.33 pts/skater
3. Stardust 29.12 pts/skater
4. Piedmont 26 pts/skater
5. Wolverines 24.40 pts/skater

Len Henderson from Quick Pix Imaging was on hand to take professional photographs of the placements as well as action shots. His photos are featured in this article and you can see more race photographs at www.BuyQuickPix.com. Equipment manufacturers Mohema, Hyper and Pinnacle set up booths and provided raffle prizes and giveaways for the meet. Thanks to all the people who made this event a memorable one.

Having an announcer that knows speedskating and can provide great music adds so much to the tournament. Bob Justice did his usual superb job, especially in timing the laps when the race was hot and letting everyone know what the national records were for each category. He kept the races running smoothly and on time, which as everybody knows is not easy to do! Memorable experiences abounded at the St. Paddy's Day Invitational, but speaking for the officials in the center, the chocolate chip cookies delivered hot in the afternoons were the best reward of the meet!