[Translated by Rod Willmot]  So here it is 7:30 p.m. Sunday and I've just finished cleaning my bearings, my head still spinning with images of the weekend. Last year you could tell 24hrs Inline Montreal was going to be big, but this year it seems this event is destined for an amazing future. What a magnificent demonstration of how dynamic our club is, not to mention skaters and athletes in general! Eager to do my part by lending a hand with organization, I arrive a little before 8 a.m. Saturday morning, accompanied by my two boys. You can feel the excitement already, with volunteers working hard to get the site ready. Not content with the fact he'll be here for 24 hours anyway, Benoît has spent the night here with his sweetheart Stéphanie, keeping an eye on the equipment and the groundhogs. The sun is heating things up already, and this will be one hot day, too hot even, but we're all just happy to have good weather. It could have been worse, it could have rained... Skaters start showing up in droves, setting themselves up in the spaces that have been assigned to them. There's room for everybody, for the space opened up for us in the paddocks is sufficient to shelter all the skaters in comfort. It's hard to believe registrations have almost doubled over last year. But as for me, a little before the race I discover that I'm an orphan without a team, for it seems communications broke down somewhere. But surely there must be a team that will take us in, me and my little family? What? I have to wear a skirt? Hawaiian? And all these flowers? Geez... But even with only seven skaters in her team, Katia is unforgiving; it's the skirt or the door... So I bow to her demands, and it turns out my bikini-top matches the skirt perfectly! I have to admit, though I did have to shorten the skirt (not once, but twice), those skirts were really effective for recognizing your teammates for the relay. After a warmup lap, at last we're ready to take the start. The course has had a slight last-minute change due to the need for parking-space on the track. This means we have to take a detour through the trees at the end of the rowing basin. At first glance the little hill at the end of the basin looks easier than the one on the regular track. But in the wee hours of the morning and with many kilometers in their bodies, most skaters would wish they had the usual hill with its much nicer surface. Benoît has been looking a lot less stressed-out since he got the music going. Now he gives the countdown to the start... And we're off for 24 hours! Apart from the oppressive heat everything is great, no major falls to report. Yet it's wonderful to see the first day drawing to a close as the sun slowly goes down. With darkness comes dancing, skaters and non-skaters all mingled together, loosening up mentally and physically thanks to the irresistible rhythms of the famous Dr Limbo and DJ Benoît. Then the teams work out their plans for getting through the night, with some skaters taking advantage of the fine weather to bed down under the stars on the roof of the paddocks. 4 a.m. now and I'm getting set to take the relay for my team. Suddenly I see a bunch of skaters who just minutes before had been sleeping soundly up on the roof, coming back into the paddocks. It's raining out there! I scarcely have time to react. I pull on my old Rollerblades and ask someone to look after my sons, who are now the only ones still fast asleep on the roof. Then I'm out on the track skating in the rain... Oh well, it will certainly make the weekend memorable, besides it's good practice, rain-skating. Unfortunately I'm going to have to leave after this lap. My boys leave for summer camp at 10 Sunday morning, and with the lights and activity in the the paddocks they'll never get back to sleep if we stay. The few hours of sleep they got before are definitely not enough. So the only solution is to go back home and get them into bed for as long as possible. It's 10:45 a.m. when I finally get back to the track. I've had it easy, spending the night at home, and I can see by the faces of the skaters that for them it's been a long, wet night. The rain's still falling, but nevertheless everyone is still in a good mood, not just in my team but all up and down the track. I pull on my skates and off I go for the final stretch, with barely two hours left till the end of the race. After taking my relay I realize that Daniel Dubé is drafting me. What an honour, to pull this man for a lap: a man with the tenacity to skate for 24 hours including many in the rain! Half way around we catch up to Stéphanie, who's giving it her all to maintain the position her team has gained against its main rival. To help her out we tell her to skate between us, even if it means slowing down a bit for her. This will be an unforgettable lap for her, and I must say it turns out to be my most beautiful lap too. Stéphanie's joy is as infectious as her smile, especially when she learns at the end that she's managed to close the gap a little further, since the other team's skater has just pulled out of the relay zone. The rain will go on falling all the way to the end of the race, only stopping afterwards when we all go out for a friendship lap. The end of the race is magical. With Benoît at the microphone, everyone is out there cheering on the skaters who are bringing it all home. A very intense very minutes, worthy of a weekend like this one. Again I have to say it's obvious this event has a great future ahead of it. A great future? Hey, it's gonna be FABULOUS! Annie Lafontaine