Overview

Founded in 1999, TeamICB is one of the largest fitness skating and racing teams in the country. Its approximately 65 members range from top Elite and Masters' skaters to people interested in learning better skating technique so that they can begin to use skating as a routine element of their fitness regimen.

TeamICB members at the competitive side of the spectrum participate in many regional and national events, testing their skills and endurance against skaters from other clubs and regions. As adults with day jobs, we are most interested in longer-distance events that we can set our sights on and build up to through the season. In these events, simply to finish is the crowning achievement of a summer's worth of determination. It's often a question of mind over body - age matters less than courage, raw speed less than persistence, technique less than love of the journey. The two key events in this category are Athens-to-Atlanta and the National UltraMarathon Championship 100K.

Athens to Atlanta Road Skate

Established in 1982, the Athens-to-Atlanta 87-mile road-skate ("A2A") is the oldest continuously run outdoor road skating event in the country, and one of the most prestigious. It is a true test of mental and physical toughness, and provides a focal point for a season of training. A2A tends to bring out the best in people - competition is often second fiddle to sportsmanship and team play. To finish the full 87-mile event, it's necessary for skaters to "work together," to share the burden of being at the front of the group, skating into the wind. Scientific studies have shown that the 2nd, 3rd skaters in a "pace line" spend as much as 20-30% less energy than the person in front. We practice this "pack" aspect of fitness skating/racing on our training skates - it's a learned skill that involves keeping one's feet from clanging into the next person's, despite the close quarters. Having to rely on others in this manner is also, interestingly, an underlying reason why TeamICBers are so dedicated to our club and team. We literally can't do it without a little help from our friends.

In 1999, 18 TeamICBers finished the 87-mile event, ten of whom were also participating in the Leukemia Society's Team-in-Training program. We captured two "Age group trophies" with a second place in the men's 50+ and a second in the women's 40-49. Only two other clubs in the country had more than 10 finishers - Empire Skate/Speed of New York with 14, and the Atlanta Peachtree Road Rollers with 12.

In 2000, 16 TeamICBers finished the full 87 miles, and we captured four podium positions: 2nd in the men's 50-59, 3rd in the men's 30-39, 3rd in the women's 30-39, and 3rd in the women's 50-59. We placed 2 men and 2 women in the top 20 overall and our "Rookie of the Year" Thomas Benner tied for 4th overall. It is unusual for top competitors not to sprint at the finish, but this group of 4 that tied for 4th place had endured a mid-race crash that took down the group, and in a show of sportsmanship, they chose to make the rest of the race after their crash a shared experience.

Although it's hard to tally the total finishers for other clubs because names are not always captured with the same spelling, and people can list Team in Training (TNT) as their main affiliation for this event, it seems that ICB in 2000 with its 16 full distance finishers was once again the club with the largest number of 87-mile finishers! Best we could count, Atlanta Peachtree Road Rollers had 15, and Empire Skate/Speed had 10.

In 2001, 13 TeamICBers finished the full 87 miles, and we again placed 2 men and 2 women in the top 20 overall. And, following a scoring approach (we) proposed to the A2A community, TeamICB could be viewed as the "winning team" for 2001. This proposed approach would tally the total places for the top 3 M & top 3 F finishers from each club, and then the lowest total wins. Of course, other possible scoring systems could be followed, and might lead to different results, as can be seen in the .pdf file linked below. In any case, no matter what approach the stakeholders coalesce on for 2002, we support a friendly club competition at A2A, and hereby present our take on the 2001 results.