Strong wind blows away the record books.
Skaters were treated to another year of good autumn weather. Although the skies were cloudy, the roads were thankfully dry. There were 167 finishers in the full distance event. Total registration was just over 400 skaters.
A stiff wind from the east provided a tailwind for much of the trip, blowing away the men's and women's records for both distances. This was despite the addition of a mile to the full distance course to route around road construction, just before checkpoint 4. Eddy Matzger set the pace with another of his even-year wins (he has won every even year since 1990) . His time of 4:25:25 beat the old record set by Haico Bouma in 1991 by nearly three minutes. The top women's finisher was Barrie Hartman of the New York Road Skaters Association, with a stunning time of 5:08:57, beating Kelly McCown's record last year of 5:26:42 -- a margin of nearly 18 minutes.
An important goal for Athens-to-Atlanta is to make the event accessible to distance skaters of all abilities. This is reflected not only in increasing numbers of skaters every year but also more skaters with longer finish times. One of the participants remarked this year that this was the most "skater friendly" event she had ever attended. We are very gratified by this.
Also gratifying is increased recognition from local authorities. Gwinnett County police were very helpful in making this year's event run smoothly. We are indebted to them, as our event runs through 40 miles of their jurisdiction. Some officers even suggested we should contact local government officials to secure "bigger roads" for the course.
Thanks again to all skaters, the countless volunteers, and this year's sponsors: Hyper Wheels, Twincam, Riedell, and Bauer and Cooper. Next year's marathon will be Sunday, October 12, 1997. Rain or shine, as always.
--Scott M. Jones
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