As part of the Foreign group, we got to start at the very front of the pack, alongside the local champions.

I had a great start, and hung on to the pack. After I got comfortable, I started joining in attacks, and improving my position. At first I was shifting around within the first 20 skaters.

As opposed to my competitions at the Worlds – this time I was in a pack of skaters with similar ability to mine, and was able to hold my ground among the leaders. This being the first time I was truly in a high level pack – every second was a valuable lesson.

I learned a lot about how to join the paceline properly, how to prevent people from cutting in front of me, when to rest, when to attack and how to anticipate attacks. Gavin Pullocks advice of using the momentum of a skater pushing you from behind to initiate an attack was especially useful. During the downhill sections the pack would really compress, and if you chose the right moment – you could slingshot out right in to 5th place or so, on the push offs momentum alone.

15 Kilometers into the race, the pack seemed to accelerate (or I might have lost power) and I began to lose it. I tried to catch a few attacking groups and get back in the game, but only ended up zig-zagging along the track and losing more power.

After a minute or so on my own, I fount a “late train” and joined in, keeping the pace, and sometimes leading until the last kilometer, where we all broke out into a sprint.

 All and all, it was a great race, and I learned a lot. I think I finished 30th or so, clocking about 36 minutes for the 21K (average speed of nearly 35). Official results are not yet in, but I’ll be sure to update when they are.

After the race, we toured the local expo, and saw the Style-Slalom finals – which were amazing. There was also a friendly slide and jump competition – those guys had moves!

Pictures and videos will come soon.

Next we had lunch in a Korean restaurant – they seem to be very fond of “do-it-yourself” type meals. We had raw beef, vegetables, noodles and seasoning served to us on a metal plate, and then cooked on a gas stove installed right in the middle of the table. The food is very odd (acorn jelly – need I say more?), but also very tasty.

After lunch, we toured the “Korean cultural experience” and saw traditional housing, made Hanji (hand made paper), learned about Korean medicine and visited the last emperors grandsons residence.

Finally, we head out to the skating track. Located outdoors, in a large sports center, and alongside a hockey rink – we found a beautiful 200m banked track. After a short skate, we found that it was a bit bumpy, but nevertheless had great grip.

Roi decided not to risk injury on the banked track and decided not to race today. I, on the other hand, raced for 500m, 1,000m and 3,000m Elimination.

500m
I had a bad start, and couldn’t catch up. I spent the entire race (all 2.5 laps of it…) trying to get back in the pack rather unsuccessfully. I burned out during the last lap and finished last and far behind.

1,000m
This time I had a good start, stayed 3rd or fourth for a few laps, and managed to take the lead for the 4th lap. While I led for nearly the whole lap, I didn’t notice the attack brewing behind me, just before we started the 5th and final lap, the whole pack just whooshed by me. By the time I got my act together and accelerated, I was left fighting for 5th place.

3,000m Elimination
By far my best race. I got into the center of the pack right from the start, and kept my position for a long time. at some point I started fading back – but managed to sprint up to 8th place or so. Unfortunately I was unable to cement that achievement, and was quickly pushed back to the rear of the pack. After about 7 laps, the back of the pack began to thin out, and elimination became a real threat. I lasted for three or four more laps, until finally losing an elimination lap sprint to a skater that was behind me.
All in all I had good races. Roi caught everything on Video, and I even recorded my point of view with a helmet camera. I’ll be sure to post the videos soon. It was really great to get some more pack experience – I’m sure it will help me in my upcoming races.

It’s very late, and the half marathon tomorrow is early in the morning, so the rest of the pictures and videos will have to wait… be sure to check back tough!

During the coming days we will compete at 500m, 1000m and 3,000m track races. a 21K road race and will watch the Slalom and Hockey competitions. I’m preparing an extensive video report, wich will probably be prepared a few days after my return to Israel.

Finally, after over 24 hours in transit, we arrived in Jeonju. The local federation greeted us with open hands, treating us to lunch, and hooking us up with the event organizers. We were later chauferred to our hotel – the Jeonju Riviera, wich is quite nice.

Tonight there will be the official dinner and opening ceremony, tomrrow there will be slalom qualifications and track races. Roi and I will probably participate in the track races as well. In two days we will race the Half marathon, the race we travelled so far to participate in.

The event is part of the KIC – Korea Inline Cup, and I am quiet sure this is the first time Israeli speedskaters will be participating. The race is on the 9th of September, so be sure to check back for results and reports!

Here is a copy of the results, in case the official site goes down:

Yesterday I raced the marathon in Cali, it was the race I was most anticipating to race. Even more so after I was unable to complete the full leanght of any other long distance race during the championships.

The day began with pouring rain, all the skaters, myself included, changed over to rain wheels. The junior ladies skated in the rain. Followed by the junior men who skated in the remaining mud. Senior ladies skated in rather dry condition, and finally, for me in the senior mens division, the road was completely dry, and the sun came out – way out.

After waiting for over four hours for the previous races, we finally lined up on the staring line. There was quiet a crowd lining the street from both sides for as far as the eye could see. Excitement mounted as the motorbikes took their place, and the official judges gave out final instructions.

Without much warning, we were off. Due to the huge amount of skaters and tight quarters, the start of this race was snail paced compared to all the other I participated in during the worlds. I manged to get in the pack, and kept the pace for a few kilometers.

A tight turn with a wet strip at the apex nearly sent me to the ground. A quick jump averted the disaster. As the pack began to shuffle and pick up the pace, I began to fade farther and farther into the back of it. After another kilometer or two, I finally lost the last skater – staying in the pack for what I estimate was no more than 6-8 kilometers.

I skated alone for a kilometer or two, during which a Chinese Taipei skater began catching up with me from behind. I tried to fall in behind him and take advantage of the draft, but he clipped my skate as I was moving in behind him – nearly sending me to the ground again. By the time I recovered, he was long gone.

After that, a pack of Indian skaters, along with one from Hong Kong, caught up with me. I joined them, and together we caught up with a Costa-Rican skater that subsequently joined our pack. After changing leads for a while. All the skaters in the pack faded back but one Indian skater that stayed with me.

We changed leads for 12 kilometers or so, but towards the end my new partner began loosing power, and pulling less and less. I finally decided to take my chances, and pick up the pace at the price of loosing my drafting partner. He held on to me for a few kilometers, staying in my draft, but faded a short while later. If your reading this #71 – Thanks for the pull!

At this point, less than halfway through the race, I found myself alone, in blistering heat, and battling wind that seemed to always blow opposite to my direction of travel, regardless of which way the road was going. In other words – exactly like I was used to training in Israel

Even tough I was slow and alone, the thinner crowd along this section of country road cheered me along waving flags, yelling “go Israel” or “Vamos Israel, Fuerte!”, making me feel great and giving me the energy to keep going.

As I was skating alone, I saw quiet a few pro skaters who had lost the pack and given up. I saw skaters from New-Zealand, Australia and more. These pros, who beat me in every race up to now, were going to lose their placing in the marathon to me – simply because I had the willpower to continue regardless of my final placing, and they didn’t.

When I finally reached the finish line, the crowed cheered me in, even though I arrived over half an hour after the first skater. Crossing the finish line I felt amazing. I had a good race, and probably scored my best placement in the worlds so far.

On the 25th, the “El-Pais” (translates as: The Country) newspaper published a full page article about me in the sports section. This time the main point of interest was the fact that my mother was born in Bogota.

Click the picture to see the full article. You might also notice, that beside the main article, there is a small “spotlight” section on Joey Mantia (upper left). I really got a kick out of seeing my picture plastered on a whole page, while Joey got a passport picture sized square

I just got off the track after the 20K Elimination race. Keeping in mind what I have learned from competing with all these world class skaters the past few days – I started as fast as I could (which still opened a gap between me and the skater in front of me) and dived into the pack full force.

By the time I cleared the first curve, I couldn’t believe it, but I was in the pack. Not tailgating the last two skater, but actually in the pack, with about 10 skaters behind me. Keeping up to race speed was much easier in the pack, but I quickly found out that I have a lot to learn about pack dynamics. Every few seconds the pack would shuffle, and it seemed like everybody knew exactly were to go but me. Every time this happened, a skater or two would pass me, and then I would catch up, sometimes riding in two of my overtaker.

After about two or three laps of this, the pack behind me began getting quiet thin, and I lost my draft during a pack shuffle. On my own now, I took comfort in the fact that I saw at least one Indian skater behind me. I then focused all my energy, both mental and physical on staying ahead of him, and not being lapped out before the next elimination.

“Push, Reach, Push. Keep your hands of you knees, stay low, repeat”. This mantra kept me going for about three more laps against a vicious headwind, until the anticipated elimination got me off the track. When I got off, I counted at least four skaters that were already waiting on the sidelines.

Having improved the amount of laps I actually managed to skate, and maybe even my overall ranking compared to the last race, I’m quiet happy with the results. The official ranking has not yet been posted, I´ll be sure to update when they are.