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FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
Workshop Caters to Wide Assortment in Long Beach
  
October 20, 1998
Eddy Matzger delivered with gusto an interactive skating workshop to one of his most diverse groups to date, October 16-18, 1998, in Long Beach, CA. In it was something for everybody. Absolute beginners left the workshop empowered and confident, while intermediate, advanced, and elite skaters realized just how much work was yet ahead.
A cross-sectional sampling of the 19 participants revealed an Esquire Magazine writer, a medical doctor, a cartoon animator, a married mommy, a biotech researcher, a financial wizard, and two high school teachers.
The types of skates being used ran the gamut from recreational inlines to suped-up fitness models, and from entry level 5-wheeled skates to fully customized speedskates. Even conventional quad rollerskates were worn.
In addition to an hour social skate on Friday, 16 hours of skate instruction over the weekend, individual videotape analysis on Saturday night, and a personalized report card on Sunday evening, each workshop survivor received a unique t-shirt featuring the skating artwork of Raymond Verdaguer, 20 TWINCAM ABEC-5 bearings from Asia Access Inc., a set of Explore wheels, Tracy Tanaka stickers and a t-shirt from Elasco, Transware sunglasses from Transpack, skating socks from Wigwam Mills, and energy bars and racing gel from PowerBar. In addition, Roces USA, Transpack, and the Eddy Matzger collection contributed over a dozen prizes which were given out to winners of various contests held throughout the the weekend. Race winners and most improved received prizes alike.
Participants enjoyed fair skies and ocean air in the high 70's, as well as smooth asphalt in an expansive parking lot studded by palm trees on one side and masts from sailing vessels docked at the Long Beach marina on the other.
A high-quality copy of the hour's worth of digital video shot by Eddy during the weekend was made by the workhsop host for duplication and distribution to participants and sponsors. It included additional footage of worldwide skating adventures, speed races both domestic and abroad, and instructional workshops such as the one made possible by Roces USA for school kids at the Indian Ridge Elementary school in Aurora, CO (clad in donated protective gear and helmets, and currently coached by workshop standout Sandy Gregory, these kids are among the first in the nation to have inline skating offered as a school sport).
FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
Matzger Resurgent in Wine Country Classic
  
October 14, 1998
TWINCAM's Eddy Matzger found springy legs to surge with en route to a decisive sprint victory over indoor champion Troy Atwell (Mountain Dew) at the Wine Country Classic 15K, October 11, 1998 in Santa Rosa, CA.
Eddy and teammate Dan Burger knew the going was going to be tough."It's the two of us against all of them," was Dan Burger's bleak pre-race assessment.Team Mountain Dew and the Sacramento Skeelers had showed up looking like co-conspirators in uniforms of similar colors.
Dan and Eddy decided to take out the legs of their competitors by treating the race like a regular interval workout, sprinting hard for 30 seconds every two minutes. By "jumping" throughout during the race, Dan and Eddy turned muscles into ground round. Racers began taking longer and longer to bridge up to Eddy's attacks, a sure indicator of fatigue.
Mountain Dew's Brian McKay led especially strongly around the 1.7 kilometer course in the race's latter phases, yet was unable to shake any of his fellow leaders. McKay ramped it up for the finale with Matzger in tow, followed by the Skeelers' Mullin and Prescott.
The final surge for the line occurred within the last 200 meters. Eddy gained the upper hand right off the bat with his initial jump and never had to look back, hawking the line for a straightforward win.
"Normally a sprint that distance is not my strongest suit," admitted Matzger with the flush of victory still in his cheeks. "Today, though, after all those breakaway attempts with increasingly weak bridges by the opposition, I knew my legs were good enough to hold everybody off down the stretch."
As a part of Eddy's ongoing training for an eventual Ironman attempt (swim/skate/run) Eddy began swimming again and even ran a half-marathon in Danville, CA, on Sunday, October 12, posting a time of 1 hour and 22 minutes, or a 6:19 per mile pace, giving him 18th place overall in a field several hundred strong.
FOR IMMEDIATE CONSUMPTION
Matzger Skates Astray at Athens to Atlanta Road Skate
  
October 6, 1998
86 miles was not enough for Eddy Matzger at the 17th annual 86 mile Athens to Atlanta Road Skate, Sunday October 4, 1998. Eddy spilled like milk his chances for a fifth victory in ten years when he went off course in a chase group of three and headed into downtown Atlanta instead of the finish at Piedmont Park.
Matzger, teammate Scott Baldwin, and Colombian Hernan Diaz had taken off in pursuit of a broken-away Chris Keiser, who had just come back into sight mere miles before the finish. With heads down hammering, no police at the turn-off, and following a misguided motorcycle escort, Matzger's chase group sailed by the turn and tacked on an extra 6 miles before finishing back on course, but out of the running.
Eddy's other teammate, Dan Burger, who also briefly went off-course at the same intersection, managed to regain the course sooner and finished in third place behind Finland's Lauri Paalasmaa, nearly two minutes after Keiser's winning time of 4:35:46.
Team Unity/Transpack's Barrie Hartman became only the second female to break the five hour barrier in the history of the event. Her scorching 4:57:52 gave her her second victory in four tries for the full distance.
The women's 38 mile event was won by an Eddy Matzger Workshop alumnus. Casey Beasely won for the second year running with a time of 2:26:12. Norman Walker won the men's side with a blistering 2:08:24.
Intermittent rain prevented course records from being established, however participation records were shattered. With 812 skaters registered, the Athens to Atlanta event nearly doubled last year's total. Out of the total numbers, 140 skaters participated as part of the American Leukemia Society's Team in Training program. Matzger delivered a pre-race speech and gave a mini-workshop as part of the Team in Training benefit.
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