21st Athens to Atlanta 2002

Athens to Atlanta Roadskate, October 6, 2002
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Shake, rattle, shiver and roll. Heat and dehydration ruled the day at the 21st annual Athens to Atlanta Roadskate on October 6, 2002, in Georgia, USA. All of our best wishes go out to those like Ken Ogle who are recovering from a hard day of skating in sweltering October heat and humidity.

TWINCAM/Salomon's Eddy Matzger consumed the field like southern-fried chicken on his way to an unprecedented 6th win at the 87 mile grandaddy of all skate races at an average of nearly 20 miles per hour in 4 hours 22 minutes and 56 seconds. The California native ruled the hills on the rolling course over Appalachian ridges, dropping a whole phalanx of challengers one by one with punishing accelerations every time the course climbed. A full police motorcycle escort accompanied the action and moved traffic to the sides to allow skaters full reign of the road.

At Silver Hill, 18 miles from the finish, all but Italy's Mauro Guenci had hit the wall hard. With Guenci in tow, Matzger showed some southern hospitality and played tour guide, indicating the route in advance and pointing such attractions as Stone Mountain and the skyline of Atlanta. Confident and fresh, Eddy led out the sprint and was a only a few turbo strokes away from another clean victory when a desperate Guenci (Verducci-Senechal) grabbed Eddy's skinsuit from behind and then pulled and pushed his way past the thunderstruck Matzger.

Race director	Big Chicken	Road signs
Awesome escort	Collection model	Don't stop
Cruisin'	Over the hump	Streicher's back
Loving tie	Skate buds tie	Provisional tie
Great guide!	Tired but happy	Right side o' tracks

Stunned silence, disbelief, and confusion ensued as the sponsored Italian slunk off and disappeared. At first, Guenci was declared the winner. Then, it was announced that additional review of videotaped footage was necesary before the final top two placements could be determined, and a provisional tie was awarded until an officlal governing body ruling could be made. That ruling came down after organizers and a Master Judge of the USA Roller Sports (USARS), the national governing body for roller sports in the United States, reviewed the video tape and it became clear on the big screen that two fouls of "Non-Incidental Offensive Contact" had been committed, both by Guenci. The Italian was demoted to second place and Matzger given sole possession of the top spot at 6:14 pm EST on Tuesday, October 8, 2002. Bret Whitman (Empire Speed) wrapped up a righteous third place all by his lonesome in 4 hours and 33 minutes. Log on to the A2A contents page and click to view results of the 38 and 87 mile events.

TWINCAM's fiercely determined Kimberley Moore rocked the women's field and racked up her first major victory by narrowly defeating Kendra Hudson in a nail-biting sprint finish after 5 hours and 44 seconds. "I've been dreaming about this moment since the first day I started skating," acknowledged an emotional Moore after the finish in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. "I was so tired towards the end but figured I had to give it everything I had." Past A to A winner Barrie Hartman (Empire Speed) finished third.

Matzger's victory, as did female winner Kimberley Moore's (TWINCAM), came on the industry's newest ball-bearing, the ILQ-9, a non-rated TWINCAM bearing with only 6 balls and subsequently less resistance than any ABEC rated bearing on the market.

Upwards of 500 skaters participated in the road skate, evenly divided between the half-distance (38 miles) and full distance (87miles) events. For most all the motive was pure: challenge themselves, skate with others in a paceline, beat a previous best, meet a skate-mate, or do it for a sponsored patient of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America.

Saturday, Eddy delivered a motivational speech at a pasta party the day before the race to Team in Training skaters. Afterwards, he gave a lively mini-workshop to all the skaters in Atlanta's Piedmont Park. On Sunday, over 75 skaters from the Team in Training program set the standard for altruism and selflessness by skating their hearts out and raising nearly 400,000 dollars in the process.

Read the ruling.
View finish video (10MB animated GIF continuous loop).

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