Roanoke-Blue Ridge Challenge

I think everyone has a favorite invitational. To me that's Mary Almonds Roanoke(formally Philly) meet. I always enjoy they way she puts the meet together. I love how she treats everyone. The numbers are always good. And it doesn't hurt that I usually skate well there.

This year proved to be no exception... I have no idea how many people were there, but there was a lot. There was something crazy like 45 sophomore men. There were heats in almost every division and the racing was super entertaining. Almost every vendor had a booth set up, so there was plenty of stuff to look at. Basically the meet lived up to the nickname of "winter nationals". I know it's hard for a lot of west coast people to get all the way to Virginia for a meet, but next year if you can make the trip, you won't regret it.

I prolly forgot like a million things since the meet b/c I've been in Colombia for a little over a week, but here are some things that stick out. I have to give credit to all the people who challenged up. You guys skated SOOO much. I think your crazy, but good for you. Has anyone watched the primary/juvenile divisions lately. They're REALLY good, especially the girls. You see groups of kids out there that could be racing each other for like 10 years, it's really cool to see(and really weird to think I used to race as a juvenile).

Quick little name dropping... Andrew Shatzer and Justin Mannon(whom i've never really spoken to), they both skated Sophomore and Junior division. They both skate pretty technically sound, and both like to lead, hard. So I defiantly expect to see big things from them in the future.

OK, i gotta give credit to guys on my own club which i forget to do a lot. Hank Galbraith, Kimani Griffin, Matthew Miles, and Jake Powers have all been my teammates for like 3+ years. I hardly ever give my guys credit b/c i expect so much from them. But man they've all improved so much in the last year.

Alright time for good bad and ugly

GOOD-MAAAN so much good. The meet was packed. The competition was awesome. There's really nothing else you could ask for. Prize money for all divisions. Well run. All the NIRA races were really cool

BAD-We did spend all day in the rink. Plus everyone had to bail on Monday. I guess that comes with such a big meet, when you have to add an extra day.

UGLY-ummm nothing really.. I crashed on the last corner of the 5 lap when that pesky pylon reached out and grabbed my foot. That was pretty ugly.


OK i'ma put up a lot on my trip to Colombia in the next day or two.. so stay tuned.


PS.... If you noticed i took down the whole pro men review of Roanoke for 2 reasons. The main of which being it was rushed and really poorly written. The other reason being that I jumped to defend myself when i should have just let it go.