Incheon Race Report

The village in Incheon is usually very colorful and buzzing with inline fans. This year when we got off the bus and it felt deserted, like we had been dropped off at the wrong place in the middle of no where. It was pouring with rain, windy, the ground was muddy and the few people that were around were hiding in tents. Slowly people started showing up as time ticked by but nothing like previous years. The weather conditions certainly discouraged people. I don't think the Koreans generally tend to skate if it's raining as quiet a few of the locals were shocked that we were actually going to race.

Photo - Dr Spark

The start was moved forward to 9am because the kids races were cancelled. On the start line the rain eased to a light drizzle and the wind had dropped significantly from earlier on. The fields were small, not a lot of international skaters made the trip and a lot of the local Korean skaters didn't start.

Photo - Dr Spark

The women's race was pretty slow. No one was keen to attempt anything early on so I thought I would test the water. I tried to make a few attacks but with the lack of numbers I was being marked and every time I moved everyone would react straight away. No one wanted to lead into the wind unless chasing so there was a lot of swerving across the road and at times we were nearly at a stand still.

After the men passed us and got a reasonable gap I decided to try an attack. But when I moved just slightly everyone chased. I kept the pace up anyway, I thought if we get close enough to the men it might give the Koreans an incentive to try something. I ended up catching the men's pack and by then dropped quiet a few skaters from our pack. When I pulled over no one was keen to keep up the pace, the Koreans were happy to sit at the back, Cecilia was waiting for the sprint and Giovanna wasn't comfortable in the rain so the pace slowed right down again.

Photo - Dr Spark

The Korean skaters were very reluctant to take the lead, we came to a stand still a couple of times trying to force them towards the front. A young Korean skater took the lead a few times after all the others basically ordered her to. She drifted off the front on a few occasions but not intentionally, just due to no Korean wanting to chase her and the international skaters all watching and waiting for one another to make a move.

With about 3km to go the young Korean skater found herself in the front again. This time she had a larger gap than previous times and not that far to go. She wasn't too bad in the rain but I could tell she was tired. Her pace was very spasmodic, she would have a burst then look behind and slow down again. The gap was reasonable but the pack wasn't going that fast and she wasn't gaining that much so she wasn't a huge threat. A Korean started picking up the pace for a bit and then Nathalie decided to chase her down.

The Koreans always have something up their sleeve and I was just waiting for something to happen. It was hard for me because I was followed and marked for about 95% of the race so I felt I couldn't do anything like what they were about to do.

With about 1.5km to go Seul Lee took off at full speed. Seul Lee has been a multiple Junior World Champion and was Hyo Sook Woo's team mate at last years World Championships, so she's strong and fast. Not sure if the other skaters realized how much of a threat she was. She formed a big gap as no one wanted to chase and risk killing themselves so close to the finish. I knew if I took off everyone would chase me straight away and I wouldn't be able to get a jump on them. I sat patiently waiting for one of the teams with more than one skater to sacrifice someone.

Nathalie started chasing but by then it looked too late, Seul Lee had a big gap and not far to go. I thought I have to move because we aren't going to catch her. Next thing Nana Lee comes up the inside with speed so I jumped out to get on her. Cecilia was in front of me and once she saw me she jumped to the outside and started sprinting. Cecilia passed Nana Lee on the outside and I tried the inside but I had to scramble as the center lines were slippery and seemed to be coming closer towards me. Once I got passed Nana Cecilia was in front of me and she just caught Seul Lee before the line. I was very close to her and a full lunge would have secured second place for me but it was just too risky. The timing mat was wet, slippery, not flat against the ground and the last thing I needed was another bad injury. I stuck my foot out over the mat not knowing exactly were the line was, I ended up finishing second by about half a wheel.


They say fortune favors the brave and Seul Lee was brave enough to have a go and it almost paid off. If I didn't jump when I did which caused Cecilia to move I think she would have held on and won. The real winner of the day was MPC Wheels, nearly all the skaters out there were sporting a pair of MPC Storm Surge.

Womens Results
1st Cecilia Baena
2nd Seul Lee
3rd Nicole Begg
4th Nana Lee
5th Ju Hee
6th Giovanna Turchiarelli

From what I heard the men's race was full of attacks with the Powerslide team trying to shake off Joey before the final sprint. Their pack split up considerably with only about a dozen or less left for the final sprint but Joey was one of them and took the victory.


Mens Results
1st Joey Mantia
2nd Yann Guyader
3rd Scott Arlidge
4th Thomas Boucher
5th Jaemin Jung
6th Kalon Dobbin