Press Release - InStep Icebreaker Indoor Marathon - 1/20/10

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

   Spencer, Schulz Favorites at InStep Icebreaker Indoor Marathon

The 2nd annual InStep Icebreaker Indoor Marathon will be held on  
Sunday at the Pettit National Ice Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   
Julie Spencer of Baraboo and Dana Schulz of Germantown are among the top 
runners in the field.  Spencer was the female winner of the 2009 Fox Cities 
Marathon in 2:45:07 while Schulz was a top 20 finisher in the 2009 Green 
Bay Marathon in 2:46:38.

The inaugural race, held in January 2009, reached its capacity of 100 
runners the day before the race.  This year the capacity was expanded to 
120 runners and filled up in late October.  The 120 spots include 40 which 
were reserved for runners who signed up for the Gold Medal Challenge.  
Those runners will do both the marathon and the half marathon, which will 
be held the day before the marathon.

The Icebreaker is held on the running track around the U.S. Olympic 
Speedskating Oval at the Pettit National Ice Center.  The running track is 
approximately 443 meters, which comes out to 95.4 laps around the track for 
a complete marathon.  The course has been USATF-certified.

The field includes runners from 15 states including California, Florida and 
New York.  In additional to Schulz, last year's second-place finisher, 
Albertus Rohling, and third-place finisher, Matt Sveum, are among the 
favorites on the men's side.

The winners of the Gold Medal Challenge will be the male and female with 
the lowest total combined time in the marathon and half marathon.  

Some of the area's top ultra-marathoners have registered for the Gold 
Medal Challenge.  All finishers of the "double dip" will receive a gold 
medal while finishers of the marathon will get a silver medal and half 
marathon finishers will take home a bronze medal.  The Pettit National Ice 
Center is an official U.S. Olympic Training Center and recently hosted the 
Olympic Speedskating Trials.

The event is organized by InStep Running & Walking Centers, which has four 
locations in the Milwaukee area.  Chris Ponteri is a part-owner of InStep 
and founder of the race. InStep sells a wide variety of running shoes, 
apparel and accessories, and also offers clinical services such as physical 
therapy and massage therapy aimed at runners.

The full marathon and two half marathons are all sold out.  The Marathon 
Relay is near its capacity.  The relay is perhaps the most unique event of 
weekend.  Teams of 2-4 runners will run a full marathon in a "tag team 
format", meaning they can switch runners as often as possible.  The field 
is limited to 100 teams and registration has been very strong for this 
event although there are still spots available.

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