Montreal, Canada - The Festival de la Sante, when translated from French, means "Festival of Health." What better way to celebrate the occassion than to speedskate in a marathon through the streets of one of the world's most picturesque cities. Approximately 100 other skaters, many pro-elite level, traversed the 42km street course under less than ideal conditions.

An early morning downpour less than 2 hours prior to the 8:30am start was a bit unnerving to some competitors. At the very least, it shaved approximately 5-10 minutes off everyone's time since we all had to be more cautious on even the most harmless looking turns.

The competition started promptly at 8:30am on the majestic Jacques Cartier, a bridge that towers over the St. Lawrence River. The trademark downhill start, which descends approximately 100 feet from the bridge towards sea level via a winding ramp in less than 2km, this sudden drop in elevation is not for the faint of heart.

Skating through the streets of Montreal doesn't exactly feel as smooth as driving on the German Autobahn. At times, it felt more like the streets of ancient Rome. In addition to maintaining a steady cadence on the rain-soaked streets, we had to deal with the countless cracks and "snakes" in the road that required skaters to be alert at all times.

After the downhill start, the course took skaters past the rollercoasters of the Technoparc, the Gilles Villeneuve Grand Prix racetrack, spatious confines of Parc Jean-Drapeau, the BioDome, and around the islands of Notre Dame and St. Helene, all within the first 12km. We exited the island of Notre Dame towards the main island of Montreal, in the process skating past one of the world's most uniquely designed housing complexes, The Habitat. This building offers a garden, skydeck, and ample lighting to every condominium unit using a strange geometric configuration.

Around the 6km mark near the Biodome, Benoit Julien (Roller-Montreal), Gavin Thulien (Ottawa Inline) and I decided to form a mutual alliance to combat the wind and wet conditions together for the remainder of the race. Sharing the workload allowed all three of us to complete the marathon under 2 hours.

Around the 15km mark, rising temperatures dried up most of the course and let the athletes skate with their normal aggressiveness.

Once reaching the main island, skaters headed away from downtown Montreal via St. Patrick Street to the turnaround point at Parc Angrinon before returning towards the city center. Skating through a canyon of tall, elegant bulidings is a very unique experience. How many skating marathons take you through the heart of the city like the Festival de la Sante?

With police blocking off streets, skaters sped through Chinatown to delight of numerous spectators. The last 3km required all remaining strength and stamina to negotiate a steep uphill climb on Berri Street. We cruised towards the homestretch before reaching the final destination at Parc LaFontaine.

At the park, the athletes were greeted by thousands of people, including their friends, family, and scores of volunteers. Clouds gave way to clear blue skies and warm sunshine.
 
 

Roller-Montreal skaters out in full force	Jonathan and Katia relaxed before start	Behind the skaters are wheelchair marathon and running marathon participants
Skaters had to negotiate the wet slope  on the Jacques Cartier bridge	Benoit slowing down before the sharp descent from bridge via off ramp	This would be more fun in dryer conditions
Top of bridge to bottom in 3km.	Eric skates in front of Technoparc rollercoaster	Benoit, Eric, Gavin head toward Montreal
The Habitat housing complex	Benoit drafting Gavin	Gavin, Benoit follow Hugo on St-Jacques
Downhill on St-Laurent into Chinatown	Last 50m @ Parc LaFontaine	Benoit and Dileep displayed great teamwork