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Prois, the event director, is followed by her father, Dave Prois, and Hayward residents Fred Scheer and Dave Bartz. Scheer, owner of the Fred Scheer Lumberjack Shows, is a sponsors of the race. Photos by Darlene Prois Derby debut • First Hayward Inline Marathon set for August 12 by Joel Patenaude Imagine you're a competitive inline skater who spent the previous several summers traveling to races across
the country. And let's say you're also working toward a graduate degree in sports management and you need to choose a final project.
"Like start my own event?" University of Minnesota grad student Heather Prois, 23, asked. Yep, he said. And write a book about the experience while you're at it. Therein lies the genesis of the Hayward Inline Marathon, which will roll out August 12 on the undulating, scenic and well paved roads of Hayward Township in northwest Wisconsin. Prois, with her connections in the Twin Cities and on the national inline racing circuit, said she hopes to attract 300 to 500 inline skaters in her first outing as a race director. She envisions putting on a destination event, especially for racers who wish to stay in the region for the St. Paul Inline Marathon a week later. "I want it to be a real event, not hidden away like so many inline events," Prois said. That's why the Hayward Inline Marathon will be a 13.1 mile loop starting on County Highway B – "one of the busiest in the state during the summer" – just past the Sawyer County Fairgrounds. Prois said she will keep careful notes of all her trials and tribulations and turn it into a book "about how to run an event like this. Hopefully others can learn from my mistakes." But don't think that's when she'll end her involvement. She said she's looking for a job after graduation that keeps her within a day's drive of Hayward. "I do plan to continue the event after this year," Prois said. She credited the idea for the inline marathon to Fred Scheer, a champion lumberjack and inline skater who owns the Hayward-based Fred Scheer Lumberjack Shows. Scheer is serving as a sponsor of the inline event. Prois said Scheer and employees of the New Moon Ski and Bike Shop in Hayward have long raved about the 13-mile loop for both inline skating and roller skiing. "It's a pretty popular route," she said. "And since it is so scenic, it made sense to make it a two-loop marathon." Prois started marketing the event in March after meeting with Hayward area officials and law enforcement. At their request, she agreed to launch the event in mid-August rather than in July. Adam Kocinski, director of the St. Paul Marathon and Prois' former supervisor, said he didn't see the Hayward event as competition. "We're promoting her event to help Heather out," he said."Afterall, the more events there are, the more skaters we'll encourage to get fit and stay with the sport." Kocinski said he expects Prois to attract more advanced and elite racers to Hayward. "She's plugged in. Her presence and personal recruitment should attract many of the upper eschelon skaters," he said. Prois said she is also tryng to interest more casual skaters through the University of Minnesota Recreation Center, where she works as the program assistant, and among regular users of the Rollerdome. Although she has skated for nine years now, Prois started competing at the elite level about three years ago. She is consistently among the top three women at races throughout the Midwest. She skates for Flanders, a Minneapolis bike shop that sponsors an inline skating club. She also trains a lot with her father, Dave Prois, who last year started racing at the pro-veteran level. As of mid-May, Kocinski said total registration for the 2006 St. Paul Inline Marathon was up by 200 entrants compared to the same time a year ago. In 2004, the first year of the event was held, 1,600 skaters showed up. The number of racers dropped by about 100 last year. Entries for the 2006 edition are up again, just under 2,000, Kocinski said. Kocinski said the slight dip in participation last year may be attributable to skaters following up their 2004 St. Paul experience with a try at the 2005 North Shore Inline Marathon, the largest such event in the country with over 5,000 skaters every year. The North Shore course, to be held on September 16, follows the Grandma's Marathon course, from Two Harbors to Duluth along Lake Superior. To motivate new skaters not ready for the marathon distance, the St. Paul organizers are introducing a noncompetitive 10-mile event. MS Sun 75 cancelled A casualty in the inline lineup this season is the MS Sun 75, a skating tour on the Willard Munger Trail from Hinckley to Duluth, Minnesota. Participation in the 14-year-old, 75-mile event was declining, according to Danielle Lietner Baxter, development director for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Minnesota Chapter. "It was a sad thing for us" to end the event despite "a lot of fabulous support over the years," she said. Baxter said past participants in the MS Sun 75 can still raise money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society by signing up to skate the St. Paul Inline Marathon at http://msSun75.com.
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