What’s so special about the Northshore Inline Marathon? It’s the second largest Inline Skating marathon in the world, and largest North America. Athletes from the Northland and the beyond travel to Minnesota to run, skate, or ski in the Northshore Inline Marathon.

More than 2,500 people are running, skiing or skating in this year’s marathon. Tom Larson from White Bear Lake competed in the half marathon. He’s been skating for the past 15 years and he says it’s a lot harder going up some of the hills in Duluth than skating downhill.

“The first time you do the full marathon, the bus ride is so long, you’re just like, ‘Well, what am I doing? I can’t believe this.’ But it’s it’s very rewarding when you’re done,” Larson said. “I think anyone that runs, that skates should give it a try. Obviously you can start with the 10K. You can start slow, especially if you’re a new rollerblader. You can do the 10K, just get a feel for it, and then you work your way up to the half or the full.”

But the athletes competing in marathon have plenty of help from the cheering support from the fans. Marlene Overby from Beaver Bay and Tom Opfer from Castle Danger have been watching their friends and family skate in the marathon for nearly two decades.

“It’s just fun. It’s fun to see the people. Watch them do it, and they’re struggling to get through. It’s mostly amateurs, and they’re just having a good time doing it,” Opfer said. “It’s a lot easier than running the marathon. Yeah, that’s for sure,” Overby said.

While the Northshore Inline Marathon is the second largest Inline Skating marathon in the world, it’s actually not an Olympic qualifying race. Andrew Weisz with Finden Marketing says the marathon still brings several Olympian athletes to the Northland.

“So unfortunately, we’re not a sanctioned race. We do have multiple Olympians that do our race. Right now we have about 47 states represented in 12 countries. So people are coming from all over the world to do our race,” Weisz said. “But inline skating actually isn’t an Olympic sport. So we don’t have a qualifier. We are recognized as the national championship of inline marathon.”

For more information on how people can help out with volunteering with the Northshore Inline Marathon you can read more here.