Finally they herded us to the starting line and asked us to wait. And wait and wait. The starting time came and passed. They sang the national anthem. People sat on the ground crosslegged and waited.
Many rumors spread about the delay, none scurrilous enough to be worth reprinting here.
I'm not sure what qualified them as elite, though they enjoyed an earlier race start and shared a few grand in prizes. The rumor spread that the elites would be allowed to finish before we started, and this may have been the case. Ten kilometers is not a great distance. Runners do this in well under an hour and Rollerbladers move a lot faster than runners do. Despite a clogged start that kept TN and I shuffling for the first kilometer, I finished in 22 minutes with her right behind me.