“Vacancy on LSST2 (London Skaters Speed Team 2) Le Mans Team” said the posting on the SerpRd skaters Forum ( www.serpentineroad.co.uk )I’m not sure what on earth made me reply, but reply I did and, in a whirlwind, I was in training for this tortuous inline skating event.I was very encouraged when I later found out that my fellow skater, and Skatefresh instructor, Nina, was also signed up, for the LSST1 Ladies team.

“Les 24 Heure Rollers” (to give it its correct title) takes place at the Le Mans motor racing circuit in France. The principle is simple, 500 teams (from 22 countries) of 2-10 skaters per team, start racing at 1600hr Saturday, finishing 24 Hours later at 1600hr Sunday. The course used is the 4.5 km Bugatti circuit. Each team can have only one skating member on the track at any given time, normally changing the ‘baton’ to another member after completing one lap. Winner is team completing most laps in the allotted time. To add some authenticity, just like the motor race of a similar name, where the drivers run across the track at the start to get into their cars; opening skaters are expected to run across and put their skates on! Simple? Well not exactly. For a start, immediately after setting out on a lap you are confronted with a 600m 3.5% incline, not bad the first time you skate it, but after a few hours even the first 100m makes your thighs burn. Then when you make it to the top and pass through the famous Good Year Bridge, you have to traverse the 1km 2% Dunlop downhill with two sweeping curves. Because of the gradient and the fact that your legs are like jelly after the climb, the bends are daunting (especially when you notice the two vehicles sited at each bend are in fact ambulances!) Most competitors tread (or skate!) very carefully after seeing others come to grief!Then there is the fatigue. On average teams skate 140-160 laps, that means each member is expected to skate 15 laps or just short of 70kms! As most teams run a 3 shift system, whereby 3 or 4 members cover a 2 or 3 hour period, each member of the shift is skating a ten minute lap every twenty minutes for their entire shift! Very tiring. But this means there are a few hours between shifts to get some much needed nourishment and sleep (and to take your skates off!). And sleep is the next problem, or more important, how do you get some? There are over 8000 people on site including teams, support crews, event organisers etc. Tannoy announcements and the constant echo of the sound system, as well as team talks and rantings make it very difficult in the pit area. Back on the campsite is not much better. Skates are off but BBQ’s and catering run all night; comings and goings of participants both on foot, in cars and on motorbikes (yes, really. Even in the middle of the night!) Everyone is doing something at different times so there is no ‘quiet’ time.This is also the case when it comes to loo’s and showers, there are permanent queues from start to finish. This is not helped by the fact that the temp was well into the 90’s during the day and high 60’s at night meaning everyone is taking on vast amounts of water and need to wash seemingly all the time. So how did we fare? My first shift began at 1700, one hour into the race. The very first thing I became aware of was how fast some of the professional and semi professional skating teams were travelling. Even up the hill they give you a sense of motionlessness as they fly by; try following them at your peril they skate at speeds in excess of 75kph downhill! My first lap was just over 10 mins which all things considered I was happy with. Not so my second. As I now knew the track I thought I would put some serious effort into it, imagine my surprise when I found it was actually slower than my first! I did manage to shave some time of in my third and final lap of this first session and come in below 10 mins.My team LSST 2 Mens, was almost on a par at this stage with Nina’s LSST 1 Ladies, both hovering about 100^th place in the standings. As Nina and I had similar shift patterns we spent some time in the pit area talking skating tactics and swapping skating experiences. Nina was already confidently breaking the 10 mins mark, in fact she was coming very close to 9mins. As dusk came and went and the night cooled I was really looking forward to my next shift at 2100. The bubble soon burst when after equalling my best lap of the first session I proceded to go back to the 10 mins mark. Nina continued with very competitive times a fact reflected by her team who had now moved up to about 90^th position. LSST 2 Men had dropped to about 105^th During my main night time break from skating between 1100 and 0500 I managed to eat (1145 – 0015), grab a shower (0030 -0045), sleep (0115 – 0345 well actually, I had drunk so much water, had to interupt that sleep!) rise (0400) and get ready to be back at the pits to skate by 0500. After the earlier disappointment of not being able to improve my lap times, I arrived for my early morning shift to see that it had been the same story for my team mates. As a result we had slipped to 136^th place. Nina’s team on the other hand were really flying, moving up to 86th position.With the race well into its second half, Sunday morning and early afternoon, through a combination of tired legs and more intense heat, saw many people having falls resulting in grazed knees, arms and elbows. In one session alone, all three members from our Shift 3 team had falls, fortunately nothing serious. It was also noticeable how quickly the day was going, and before we knew it we were planning for the finish. Through a combination of energy drinks, Mars bars and probably pure adrenalin, I had my best session of the event, putting in my four best lap times around 9 mins. Although some members of our team were exhausted, we still managed to claw our way back and finished in 115th. Nina’s team had a stunning finish climbing to 81^st overall, and 5^th in the Ladies category, almost on the podium – rollerblading nirvana!This is a fantastic event for which I am already signing up for next year. I strongly suggest that if any of you have the opportunity you do to! Other Skatefresh instructors taking part in this event were Maja for LSST 2 Ladies and Jason for Guiness Draft. Both completed the event successfully.

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