Meet our Skaters!
Skaters of Note
Mathieu Leblanc
Click the image to the left to watch a local television interview
with our very own Mathiew Leblanc.
Sergio Almeralla
One of my first races in Mexico was a 100km ultra marathon I
was under 15 and I did it on quads. Although I finished near i
the back of the pack, I fell in love with the sport right
there and then.
I was a top skater in Mexico for many years, where my favourite races are the 20km elimination (on track) and the 42km road marathon. I came to Ottawa in 2002, and in May of that year I finished 2nd at the NCM. Eddy Matzger and I broke from the pack in the 2nd km and skated together the next 40km. Even though we were skating on 80mm wheels, we did an incredible 1:13 which I think is still the fastest time for this course. Although I am now in the masters category, I would still like to go to the World Championships in Colombia in 2007 one more time for the 42km.
I founded Silver Sports in 2004 to bring professional skating products to my former community in Mexico, and this year I started a partnership in Canada with Stephane Tremblay, another elite skater. Our company, Il Peloton, sources professional sports products from around the world. We are both really committed to contributing to inline speedskating and have a lot of ideas about how to introduce new elements to the sport look out for us in the future!
Stephane Tremblay
Even though I started inline skating in 1996, I began to train
more seriously for competition in 2000. At my first year on
recreational skates, at the Long Beach (CA) marathon, I finished
first of my age category with a time of 1h20m. In 2001, I broke
the record of the 500m for the category Classic and I am still
today the record holder. In 2004, I won my first major marathon
in New-York at Prospect Park (NY). In 2006, I qualified for the
third time in four years for the Senior World Class National
Team. In the same year, I finished second overall of the Senior
World Class at the provincial championships. I also won in August
(2006) the North of the 49th marathon (Winnipeg) and broke the
record of the course.
My involvement with inline skating has always been very active. I initiated the first time trial program for the club. I managed and trained a racing team for 4 years between 2001 and 2004. In the same time period I also orginized and managed the popular X-Endurance weekend, a training event for the Fall ultra marathons. It was eventually replaced by the Inline Festival in 2005. In 2003 and 2004, I organized and managed with the help of three other skaters from the club the Canada Inline Cup, a series that aimed to promote our sport across the country by monitoring performances of Canadian skaters. I am continuously looking for new places to practice inline skating. For example, in 2004 in collaboration with the club I was able to organize 10 training sessions at a go-kart track in Stittsville and in 2005, I secured an indoor facility in Gatineau to skate during the winter. In addition to the indoor inline skating during the winter, last winter I skated on ice, both long track and short track.
This year (2006) I started a company called Il Peloton in partnership with Sergio Almarella, a top Canadian skater, and Ursula Hendel, another skater from the club. Our company sources professional sports products from around the world. We are all really committed to contributing to inline speedskating and have a lot of ideas about how to promote and introduce new elements to the sport - look out for us in the future!
Club Members
Melissa & Tom
Tom and Melissa have always loved to skate; both have enjoyed hockey and figure skating separately but inline skating brought them together. Tom spent many years dedicated to coaching and playing tackle football; achieving a Vanier Cup and Second Team All-Canadian status as a center for Queens in 1992. After a summer of inline hockey Tom started inlining on a pair of Bauer inline hockey skates. Melissa came from a figure skating background and played many years of soccer and track and field.
Melissa did her first 10K skate at the Run for Reach in April 2005 in her 14 year old moulded Bauer inline skates and completed it in 29 min 29 seconds. This on the first attempt at getting back to skating after 3 knee surgeries in ten years. A month later she joined the club.
Tom completed his first big race at the 2006 National Capital Marathon skating the half (21 km) marathon with an impressive 4th place in his age category and 26/227 in his gender category, skating an average speed of 25 kph. For this race, Tom used recreational inline skates outfitted with 72 mm wheels!! After a solid year of training both in the gym and out on the road, Melissa achieved her personal best at last year's NCM finishing an impressive 1:33.34 placing 2nd in her age category and 14/96 in her gender category, skating an average speed of 27 kph.
Both Tom and Melissa have dedicated many hours training and skating for fun and have skated long distances at the P'Tit Train linear park this past season. They are looking forward to skating a lot more and achieving additional goals this year such as participating as team mates in Montreal ¢s 24-hour marathon in July.
Michael Garvin
How did I end up speed skating? Not entirely sure! I started off with some lessons after work, just to learn how use a heel break and be able to skate safely on city paths. My ulterior motives were to lose some weight and meet some girls! It wasn't long though before the siren like call of speed lured me into training for performance. At the end of that summer I bought some low end Bont speed skates and never looked back. The following year I tried some marathons on for size and broke into the 1:30 finishing time club. Following that season, last year I rocked the mileage club with over 4,000 Km skated during the summer season, skated in the provincial championships and completed my first ultra marathon (Athens to Atlanta a 140Km event). Having just squeezed under the 1:25 finishing mark this past season, I'm now gunning for something closer to 1:20 this coming season.
When I don't have my head down training, I try to help out at the club level. I'm currently the web team leader and original designer of the inlineottawa.com PHP fueled version of our web site. I also serve on the board of directors as the head coach (2007). Outside of the club I work with LaRoccaXC and Creative Wheel as the web master, and in 2007 will be coaching the Creative Wheel women's racing team.
Favorite things: Chasing cyclists on my skates, Squidbillies, My faithful Telecastor, and chocolate milk. Oh yeah, I'll do anything for McDonalds fries...anything.
