Marathon, Skaters Line Up in Long Beach

The inline skating people smiled and stuck out their hands and all John Goldman could think was, you know, chaos.

He figured the X Games were about to break out in the middle of his traditional running race, the marathon he wants to make the most prestigious on the West Coast.

Goldman, race director for the Long Beach Marathon, which on Sunday will be up and running again after a three-year hiatus, knew the trend toward variety in such events.

But inline skating? Strange people in headphones and baggy pants leaping parking meters? Sliding down the handrails of the retirement home? That’s not competition, it’s anarchy, and that’s all fine for school yards and ESPN2, but not for his race.

“I didn’t want to attach an event I didn’t feel would enhance our event,” he said. “We weren’t going to allow inline to mix with the runners because of safety issues. I was kind of skeptical because I hadn’t seen the inline work with races.”

Except that three months ago, Dan Joyce, an inline skating person, smiled and stuck out his hand and, somehow, Goldman knew it would work. With only the event itself left, early Sunday morning through the streets of Long Beach, it appears the inliners’ half-marathon will co-exist nicely with the runners’ marathon, much to the delight of Goldman.

“When Dan came in, he really laid it out,” Goldman said. “With a new event, you worry about all the things that could go wrong. But with Dan, I was completely at ease. It is critical for us to have an event that goes off perfectly. He didn’t allow me to feel uncomfortable at all.”

The marriage of inline skating to an event as daunting as an urban marathon appeared to die in Los Angeles two years ago, when L.A. Marathon officials dumped the skaters after one year because they found it logistically unwieldy. It was, in fact, too chaotic.

Joyce, vice president of Pointe West Inc., a sales and marketing agency for Rollerblade, is a veteran organizer of inline races and “rolls.” He simplified the process for Goldman. Long before the course is littered with cups and puddles and worn-out psyches, approximately 400 skaters, some professional but most of them recreational, will cover 13.1 miles. Next month, they’ll cover a full 26.2 miles as part of the Culver City Marathon.

If all goes according to plan, most runners might never suspect the skaters rolled through.

In late August, Joyce telephoned Goldman and was granted 30 minutes to pitch the inline event. Not only was Goldman sold, but Joyce became the marathon’s inline race director.

“Everybody is skeptical at first,” Joyce said.

Goldman’s fears were typical but, contrary to long-held biases, the tongue stud and peroxided hair of the sport’s aggressive set are entirely optional.

“That’s the only thing they’ve been exposed to and that’s the part of the sport that’s gotten major TV coverage,” Joyce said. “Really, what we are targeting are people who have skates who are looking to do events. The purpose is to get the regular person who is sitting on their couch, who has a pair of skates in the closet, to come out and participate in an event.”

Indeed, 64 inner-city children, their entry fees and equipment provided by Rollerblade, were invited to participate.

On the other extreme, professionals will lead the pack through the course at speeds approaching 35 mph. The plan is to add a full inline marathon next year in Long Beach and turn it into one of the final legs of the National Points Circuit, the sport’s professional tour.

Once dubious, Goldman envisions it growing into “the biggest national-caliber inline event in the country.”

The event has drawn the likes of Julie Brandt-Glass, a nine-time world champion whose Team Fila-Verducci is based in Westminster, and Chad Hedrick, whose 36 world titles make him the most decorated inline racer ever.

“The sport has grown at a very steady rate,” Brandt-Glass said. “It is much healthier than it was before. It is finding its niche market.”

Only 20, Brandt-Glass won her first world championship four years ago. She was a gold medalist in the downhill event at the 1998 X Games and only last week won a marathon event in New York City. She said it is critical that new events such as Goldman’s start strong, if only to add skaters at the recreational level.

Nationally, the sport supports only about 100 professional racers.

“If it goes over well, there is potential for growth,” she said.

First, however, the public had to understand that it’s not all ramps, wild wipeouts and boom boxes, that there is a conservative side to an extreme experience.

“We show up in Spandex outfits and totally clean cut,” Brandt-Glass said of the world-class racers. “They might be crazy, and there is talent in both elements, but we’re totally different.”

Goldman might even join the inline set.

“Dan has convinced me to try it out,” said Goldman, a marathoner and the cross-country coach at Orange Coast College. “The only time I did it before, I spent more time on my rear end than I did on the skates. But it could be a nice change of pace in my training.”

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A Roll by the Beach

* What: inline skating event at Long Beach Marathon

* When: Inline half marathon starts at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Wheelchair marathon begins at 6:50 a.m. Running marathon and half marathon begins at 7.

* Where: Start for all events at corner of Long Beach and Ocean boulevards.

* Signing up: Fee is $40 for inline event. Register at Life Expo at Downtown Promenade Saturday from 10 a.m. -- 4 p.m. Limited race day registration starting at 5:30 a.m.

* Information: (562) 590-8686 or https://longbeachmarathon.com

Source: Long Beach Marathon