Goodwood Roller Marathon is a charity race around the historic Goodwood Motor Circuit. Organised by the Camberley Skaters, it is now the largest roller marathon in the UK. Which ever race you choose to enter you do not have to complete all the laps so why not set yourself a challenge, you may do more than you think! All skaters are welcome no matter what the level or style. It is a great day out and a perfect start if you are new to marathons. There is microchip timing of the laps as well as a medal for you to take home and keep.

The Dual race (a double marathon of 22 laps = 53.24miles/85.68km) was a big hit last year so we are keeping things as they are for 2010. Of course we also have the Full Marathon (11 laps, 26.62 miles, 42.84 km), the Midi (5 laps, 12.10 miles, 19.47 km) and the Mini (2 laps, 4.84 miles, 7.74km).

Registration for the event is currently open and it is cheaper to register before the day! To stay up to date with the latest news please sign up to the mailing list or follow us on your favourite social network.

See you all there!

http://www.goodwoodmarathon.co.uk/

19th – 21st June 2009

Amsterdam; smooth tarmac, generous cycle lanes and the most respectful motorists ever seen. And of course the obvious advantage, not an uphill in sight (the only slopes are bridges).

The Skatefresh tour hooks up with local skaters for their own Friday night skate starting at 8pm which tours the city and ends at about 10.30pm with their own version of the Vic. Amsterdam’s Friday night skate is not as fast as London’s Friday night skate and anyone capable of the Sunday stroll will only need to extend themselves a little to keep up. The lovely surfaces will make that achievable with ease. Instructors will be on hand to help you out if you need it. Some new obstacles (tram lines) may need negotiating, but skating in Amsterdam is easier than in London.

On Friday 19th June, we meet up in the evening before the Friday night street skate, at 7.30pm for the official start of the weekend tour. If you are in Amsterdam earlier than that then we will be organising  a short skate to a local skate shop (great for speed skates), starting at 4.30pm and will include some dinner before the street skate.

Saturday 20th June sees us leaving the city to the east and skating to Marken, (an island community connected to the mainland by a road) along elevated cycle tracks surrounded by fields and water. It isn’t very often that we ge the opportunity to skate in the ountryside, away from traffic, noise, pollution and the urban madness that is London. It is a whole different experience being surrounded by water, big skies and space while you skate. This skate will help you work on your stamina and skate technique while you enjoy the spacious views. Countryside obstacles include low flying herons and geese. We break for lunch in Marken and then skate back on a different route, completing a 44km skate day.

On Saturday evening before dinner a special tour of the red light district is included in your package. Asha will be eating in her favourite Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam’s own china town, where the house speciality is incredible wonton soup, but their prawn toast is also not to be missed (more prawns than toast). You are free to join Asha for dinner or make your own arrangements after the red light district tour.

Sunday 21st we will explore the city in more detail with a route around the central and outlying areas, including Vondelpark. The tour will finish by 4pm on Sunday so as to leave sufficient time for flight connections home.

The package for the weekend is inclusive of all skate tours and tuition over the weekend and also includes the red light district tour. Several opportunities arise for lesson spots where gaps in skills can be filled in and we will use the long, flat, smooth roads and tracks to really polish our speed skating technique and work on stamina.

2.5 days of skating 100 pounds per person (discount of 15 pounds if you have been to Paris with us before). You are responsible for all your meals, snacks and water while skating.

Accommodation:

Accommodation and flights are yours to arrange but Asha and Mark will be staying at the Stay Okay Hostel (Vondelpark branch) where double and quadruple rooms are available.

Aim for hotels in the central area or south and east as this will make it easy for you to get to our meeting points.

Here are some other hotels of various prices for you to look at. Prices at all hotels vary acording to availability so printing them here isn’t very useful as they will change as we get closer to the skate date.

Stay Okay Hostel www.stayokay.com

You need to make your bookings individually at the Vondelpark branch of Stay Okay but if you want to stay with other skaters from our group then you need to book a double or quadruple room all together. Please let Asha know if you want to share a room but don’t know any of the other Amsterdam group members as we can then out you in touch with each other so you can make your room booking together. Quadruple rooms cost approx. 32.50 Euros per person per night with breakfast.

For travel directions to Stay Okay, see last paragraph below;

Hotel Washington Amsterdam (2 star)

Frans van Mierisstraat 10

2 nights double room £190 (approx price from www.hotels.nl website)

Hotel Ibis Amsterdam City Stopera (4 star)

2 nights, double room £232 (approx price from www.hotels.nl website)

Park Hotel www.parkhotel.nl (4-5 star)

info@parkhotel.nl Approx. 150 euros per room per night excluding breakfast.

Flights

Easyjet only announces their flight prices 4months before travel date, but booking direct online is the cheapest way to fly. BMI fly to Amsterdam from City airport. It is possible to travel to Amsterdam by train and ferry. Our travel agent Rebecca will be pleased to help you with travel and accommodation if you need.
Email:rebecca.gray.lon@flightcentre.co.uk Tel: 0207 240 5938
Travel directions to Stay Okay Hostel – Volderpark
Transportation possibilities from Schiphol Airport the hostel:
Train to Central Station, then tram to ‘Leidseplein’ (line 1, 2 or 5)
Interliner Bus 370 from Schiphol to ‘Leidseplein’
A taxi from Schiphol to the hostel should cost around € 35,00.

From Leidseplein you walk towards the Marriott Hotel. In front of the Marriott you turn left. Take the second street right = Zandpad.

19th – 21st June 2009

Amsterdam; smooth tarmac, generous cycle lanes and the most respectful motorists ever seen. And of course the obvious advantage, not an uphill in sight (the only slopes are bridges).

The Skatefresh tour hooks up with local skaters for their own Friday night skate starting at 8pm which tours the city and ends at about 10.30pm with their own version of the Vic. Amsterdam’s Friday night skate is not as fast as London’s Friday night skate and anyone capable of the Sunday stroll will only need to extend themselves a little to keep up. The lovely surfaces will make that achievable with ease. Instructors will be on hand to help you out if you need it. Some new obstacles (tram lines) may need negotiating but skating in Amsterdam is easier than London.

On Friday 19th June, we meet up in the evening before the Friday night street skate, at 7.30pm for the official start of the weekend tour. If you are in Amsterdam earlier than that then we will be organising  a short skate to a local skate shop (great for speed skates), starting at 4.30pm and will include some dinner before the street skate.

Saturday 20th June sees us leaving the city to the east and skating to Marken, (an island community connected to the mainland by a road) along elevated cycle tracks surrounded by fields and water. It isn’t very often that we ge the opportunity to skate in the ountryside, away from traffic, noise, pollution and the urban madness that is London. It is a whole different experience being surrounded by water, big skies and space while you skate. This skate will help you work on your stamina and skate technique while you enjoy the spacious views. Countryside obstacles include low flying herons and geese. We break for lunch in Marken and then skate back on a different route, completing a 44km skate day.

On Saturday evening before dinner a special tour of the red light district is included in your package. Asha will be eating in her favourite Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam’s own china town, where the house speciality is incredible wonton soup, but their prawn toast is also not to be missed (more prawns than toast). You are free to join Asha for dinner or make your own arrangements after the red light district tour.

Sunday 21st June we will explore the city in more detail with a route around the central and outlying areas, including Vondelpark. The tour will finish by 4pm on Sunday so as to leave sufficient time for flight connections home.

The package for the weekend is inclusive of all skate tours and tuition over the weekend and also includes the red light district tour. Several opportunities arise for lesson spots where gaps in skills can be filled in and we will use the long, flat, smooth roads and tracks to really polish our speed skating technique and work on stamina.

2.5 days of skating 100 pounds per person (discount of 15 pounds if you have been to Paris with us before). You are responsible for all your meals, snacks and water while skating.

Accommodation

Accommodation and flights are yours to arrange but Asha and Mark will be staying at the Stay Okay Hostel (Vondelpark branch) where double and quadruple rooms are available.

Aim for hotels in the central area or south and east as this will make it easy for you to get to our meeting points.

Here are some other hotels of various prices for you to look at. Prices at all hotels vary acording to availability so printing them here isn’t very useful as they will change as we get closer to the skate date.

Stay Okay Hostel www.stayokay.com

You need to make your bookings individually at the Vondelpark branch of Stay Okay but if you want to stay with other skaters from our group then you need to book a double or quadruple room all together. Please let Asha know if you want to share a room but don’t know any of the other Amsterdam group members as we can then out you in touch with each other so you can make your room booking together. Quadruple rooms cost approx. 32.50 Euros per person per night with breakfast.

For travel directions to Stay Okay, see last paragraph below;

Hotel Washington Amsterdam (2 star)

Frans van Mierisstraat 10

2 nights double room £190 (approx price from www.hotels.nl website)

Hotel Ibis Amsterdam City Stopera (4 star)

2 nights, double room £232 (approx price from www.hotels.nl website)

Park Hotel www.parkhotel.nl (4-5 star)

info@parkhotel.nl Approx. 150 euros per room per night excluding breakfast.

Flights

Easyjet only announces their flight prices 4months before travel date, but booking direct online is the cheapest way to fly. BMI fly to Amsterdam from City airport. It is possible to travel to Amsterdam by train and ferry. Our travel agent Rebecca will be pleased to help you with travel and accommodation if you need.
Email:rebecca.gray.lon@flightcentre.co.uk Tel: 0207 240 5938
Travel directions to Stay Okay Hostel – Volderpark
Transportation possibilities from Schiphol Airport the hostel:
Train to Central Station, then tram to ‘Leidseplein’ (line 1, 2 or 5)
Interliner Bus 370 from Schiphol to ‘Leidseplein’
A taxi from Schiphol to the hostel should cost around € 35,00.

From Leidseplein you walk towards the Marriott Hotel. In front of the Marriott you turn left. Take the second street right = Zandpad.

Highly competitive team sports in school discourage many children from taking part in extracurricular physical activity and undermine efforts to curb Britain’s record teenage obesity rates, a study suggests.

Under the national curriculum, secondary schools are supposed to use PE lessons to teach children how to lead physically active lives with the aim of promoting lifelong participation in healthy exercise.

The report suggests that non-competitive lifestyle activities, such as aerobics, Pilates, hill walking, stretching and toning routines should be encouraged. Even videos such as Supersize Me, which underlines the dangers of excessive consumption of junk food, are recognised as a valuable part of the PE lesson.

The study of more than 100 secondary schools found that too many PE teachers, particularly men, still emphasised the importance of competitive team sports at the expense of more individual activities.

Read the full article here.

Meeting Mark (of skateinstructor.com), my fellow instructor at Eurostar always means we are off to Paris for two and a half days of great skating and lots of fun.

The trip is very flexible and different clients join us at different times based on their travel arrangements and accommodation, but we always meet for the three skates (Friday night street skate, Saturday all day city tour and Sunday street skate), which totals about 13 hours of skating. Some people don’t do the fast Friday night street skate and as such I found myself without clients to assist for the Paris Roller street skate. The sheer size and numbers is what is most exhilarating. I spend as much time as I can practicing my fast backwards skating, even venturing onto my bad side to test out my new Roces skate composite heel brake, which is a tad longer than I’m used to. Clipping a heel brake on a back crossover at this speed is not a good idea. I also discovered that my newly learned (in Madrid) inverted backwards powerslide is actually extremely user friendly. My execution of this manoeuvre correctly has been about 60%, so using it in real need stopping situations isn’t very pleasant as it’s a tricky position to get out of safely. However I discovered that if the sliding skate doesn’t slide for some reason (wrong angle, too much weight) I an twirl around it to forwards using it as a pivot. This discover of course starts to produce more and good perfect inverted back powerslides as my fear of cocking it up reduces and so my technique becomes more consistently correct. I believe the Paris Friday night street skate offers every skater of every ability level (above UK Sunday stroll level) the opportunity to advance their skills.

Everything is happening faster than normal as you are often skating a lot faster than your normal UK (rough) speed. This means you experience everything in your skating differently; a mistake at higher speed can be much more reactive, the ability to glide can begin to develop more and more, but equally, poor technique at any level will show itself at higher speeds and this is where this street skate holds its value. There are a fair number of French Gumbie skaters on the street skate (as in the UK), with their wobbly, straight legged, down hill Ready position stance which makes me instantly start crossing over to the next lane in order to be as far away from them as possible. I am very aware of my limits when skating so it is other people’s limits which I worry about and the seemingly incredible amount of people who feel ‘comfortable’ in that ‘nearly out of control’ state. I have sometimes asked them in pit stop breaks, “I saw you nearly loosing it on that last big hill, are you ok?”. “Yes, but wow it was horrible, I couldn’t stop and even though I had the stupid brake on it didn’t work, these skates are crap, I just hope there aren’t any more hills”. My summary is always that different people have different comfort zone edges and that mine are firmly rooted in preserving my life and not endangering those around me. When a street skate stops, I always stand still facing sideways to the skate so that I can see any of these  non-stoppers approaching and protect myself as much as possible.

Our group on Friday night consisted of Ivor, Annie and Sue from Eastbourne, Hannah from Portsmouth (although she skates in London), Chris, Jeremy and Alison from London plus Mark and myself. Unfortunately one of our group experienced visa issues getting into France and couldn’t join us. The lovely Vish and Christina who timed their own weekend break to coincide so we could all skate together, also came along. Vish’s photographic skills can be seen here, all the good ones are his!

Annie and Sue completed almost half of the street skate and superseded their expectations. Talking to Annie afterwards, this is what she said, “Asha, as I was going down through that tunnel, I have ever gone so fast in all my life but I felt great, I knew I could stop but I just let it roll and I have never in my life felt anything like it, it was such a buzz”.

Congratulations to Ivor who completed his first full Friday night Paris skate (after making it part way through last time. A true sign of improvement on his part.

We all met up in Republique afterwards and had a fabulous beer, kir royal or tea (the first of AMNYteas I would witness being consumed by Sue) and then skated on into the night to St Denis and various other fun adventures which I missed, in favour of sleep – it was 2am already however!

Saturday
Cheap hotel breakfast was as usual replaced by fabulous Breton Crepes at our favourite breakfast place, a lazy downhill skate off Rue de Magenta. Salmon and leek, mushrooms and cheese, or classic lemon and sugar…the perfect wake-up-skate food.

The whole group finally met up at Montparnasse when Mike joined us and we began the Asha tour of Paris (using her previous job experience as a tour guide in Portugal). Single file on the pavements taking it all in, cruising past parisiennes having coffee and cigarettes, skating through parks, food markets, squares, bridges, residential and shopping streets, this really is the way to see Paris.

First stop, Jardin de Luxumbourg in autumn colours followed by the Parthenon where these fadulous statues provided us with the perfect arty background….

We excused our way past a normal looking crowd of students outside the Sorbonne and then chose our lunches in the market off St Germain, just like Freud used to perhaps. Bread, cheese, meats, olives, strawberries…..great anticipation to lunch.

We skated onto the island of Notre Damme and took to the road for a quiet dash along another perfect smooth street and onto the lovely bridge connecting bot islands in the Seine, behind Notre Damme (which is the most beautiful view of it). This bridge is my favourite stop. It seems on Saturdays there is always a jazz bank of some sort with dark suited old gentlemen playing lovely music to a small crown, framed by water and elegance on all sides (this is the posh part of Paris). We stop and begin to learn some easy dance steps, acting also as a rehearsal for Asha and Alison who will be joining the London skaters on 8th November for our appearance in the Lord Mayor’s Show. We twirled, grapevine, new york shuffled and laughed and laughed. Hope the rehearsal in London that day was as much fun!

The ‘Cake break’ came next and the tartlette aux framboise had my name written all over it (and not because its pink)! Lunch stop is in Place des Vogues, the majestic interior park to a king and queens house (he lived at one end and she at the other). Its also the park where you cant wear skates on the gravel and you cant sit on the grass in October (but May is fine). Skates stayed on, benches worked well. Best strawberries I’ve tasted this year.

The tour now heads west and through the tiny back streets of La mare, past the Pompidou centre, town hall and back onto the islands for a quiet, uninterrupted south bank trail all the way to the Louvre. A much needed post-lunch coffee break followed with some outstanding French slalomers to watch (and the odd jumping over a gate).

With the Eiffel tower in sight and our final resting place, we continued onto Invalides for another water break and some slalom and skating ourselves. Asha discovers newly found tap for refills in the area with very few shops!

The house covered in moss is a particular modern favourite of Asha’s and is the final regroup before we hit our destination, the Eiffel tower….which on Friday night looked incredible decked out in blue lights all over with yellow stars.

It is amazing how much of Paris we see in one afternoon on skates. I believe it is the perfect method to see cities and with some planning really creates an experience not to be forgotten. Our night ended with some drinks near our hotel in a lovely (but rather hot) brasserie where they poured potatoes and cheese from a great height onto people’s plates. Why did we not have any of that? Next time…

Sunday morning and Mark was greeted by Asha wearing a red tutu and a lot of fake blood. Poor man, hasn’t been the same since. Luckily the waiters at the crepe place know us and didn’t mind serving a half mad rolling She Devil on a Sunday morning in their rather elegant restaurant. No one else had taken Asha up on the offer of following the French Sunday Stroll’s Haloween dress up skate, so she was alone in her goolish attire until Jeremy accepted the offer of relieving her of her mask (it got in the way of the horns), and it rather suited him even with the helmet!

The post breakfast skate down to the start of the Sunday Stroll was a wonderful leisurely, trip led by Ivor. We found a smooth lesson space and killed some time teaching some backwards skills, spin stops and generally on consolidating some of the new experiences learned in all the hours of skating so far on the weekend. Annie and Sue, not from London and unfamiliar with Asha’s methods were more than surprised to realise that her version of ‘bend your knees’ involved rather more than they bargained for. However they both grasped the concept and have improved over the weekend and leave Paris more confident and wisely than when they arrived.

The Sunday Stroll had a disappointing number of people dressed up for Haloween, but they did have some impressive face painting going on, with the marshals making up for their lack of costumes (yellow STAFF T-shirts instead) with sewn up mouths. Mike had impressively intuited to wear red and black in order to match Asha’s outfit and ensure we didn’t get separated! The skate was lovely, it appeared to be mainly flat or downhill with any up being gentle and not very noticeable and only 2 or 3 patches of cobbles. A quick celebratory glass of wine before a mad but fun solo dash up Magenta (still dressed in tutu and blood) to the hotel, change and get Eurostar back home. Into London 10.30pm, iinto my front door in Brighton 1.15am. A very tired, but very happy and skately satisfied Asha returns home.

Next spring’s Paris trip is being replaced by a new Skatefresh trip to Amsterdam in May. Details will be come available after Asha’s prep trip at the end of November where she will be researching routes, tours, windmills, canals and fields of spring flowers for us to skate through!

We will however go to Paris every autumn and the next Paris trip will be 16th-18th October 2009. Join us!

Asha
Skatefresh

….an article that managed to inspire one or the other: 

Check out what Rodford e-mailed Asha after reading it:

Hi Asha,

Thank you so much for your kind words about the site and for getting in touch. Of course, I’m delighted to link to Skatefresh. The link is on the blog now.

This will come as a surprise but you are the reason I took up skating in March 2007. I read that article that you contributed to in The Guardian. I live in West Kirby on the Wirral Peninsula and no one skates here (and still don’t except me). I’d never seen a skater, and although I lived in London for many years, it was mainly before the era of inlines. But I had a gut feeling on reading that article that I should buy some skates. It changed my life. I didn’t take it up to get fit as I’ve been involved in sport and dance all my life but I had no idea how much sheer joy and pleasure it would add to my life. Even dislocating my shoulder on Hypnos did not stop me!

So, a very big thank you.

With best wishes,

Rodford

P.S. Just in case you missed it, you are featured on the blog on Michael Rivers’ video:

http://www.inlinestreetskatersofeurope.com/2008/10/inline-skaters-wedding-in-england.html

“Children love to skate. It doesn’t matter whether they are strapping wheels to their shoes or using the latest recreational inline skates, kids simply love rolling”, says Asha Kirkby, Manager of Skatefresh Inline Skateschool. She has been teaching children and adults to skate for nearly 10 years and now runs the highest certified ICP skate school in the world (based in London and Brighton).

Asha’s mission is to enrich schools’ physical education curriculum by bringing the fun and excitement of students’ passion for inline skating, right into their PE classes and after-school clubs. Skating builds motor skills, self-esteem and cardiovascular fitness while providing a safe, educationally sound introduction to a versatile sport that will have a positive impact on students for the rest of their lives.

Incorporating inline skating into a physical education programme allows for a greater range of students to achieve sporting proficiency, as inline skating is enjoyed by children who may not think of themselves as ‘sporty’. This gives real opportunities for children who do not typically enjoy and participate in sport to start again, often with very positive results.

Phoenix School in London, which caters for children with a variety of special needs including autism and language and communication difficulties, has had skating as part of their PE curriculum for 2 years. Troy Gering, their PE Co-ordinator writes:

“We contacted Asha after realising we had a lot of interest from students and teachers to start a PE skating lesson and an after-school ‘skate club’. Since 2005 she has worked with pupils from eight to sixteen. In order to set this up, we obtained a grant for equipment and spent approximately £60 per head for a set of skates, protective gear and helmets for a group of 12 students and built a compact storage area for the equipment.

“All pupils who have taken part in skating sessions have reported that they have enjoyed themselves. We have seen developments from all students in regards their improved balance, fine and gross motor skills as well as coordination and cognitive skills. The students all learn at their own rate but skating helps them socialise and communicate in different ways.

“Skating is also a great form of aerobic exercise and we notice the students who often give up in other activities persevere with skating. The children remain active for the whole lesson as even standing still in skates takes balance and coordination and muscles! They are usually sad to leave the skating class and look forward to their next rotation. Some pupils continue to skate outside of school. We have put on small demonstrations of skating at recent parents/teacher evenings which have been very warmly received.

“We’ve seen that the benefits of skating lessons go beyond the obvious fitness benefits. For example, one autistic child who previously didn’t socialise or participate in any group situation in regular lessons, after just 12 skate classes spontaneously started to join in with the rest of the group. And now she is participating in group activities in regular lessons. Her love of skating motivated her to overcome her fear of being with other people.

“We have a small sports hall in school where the pupils skate, aided by cones, mats, balls and other props to promote fun and learning. During the summer we use our cycle path and playground inside the school grounds to introduce intermediate level students to outdoor skating, different surfaces and practical skills such as slopes.

“The emphasis put on safety creates a fun environment where children know how to put on and use their protective gear and respect and look after the equipment. I would recommend inline skating to any institution that would like to take part in an innovative and fun lifetime leisure activity.”

Inline skating in school can be successfully introduced in any school from the age of 6 or 7 and can adapt for different abilities. It can be easily accommodated in any school – either inside in the main school hall, sports hall or outside on playgrounds or tennis courts. Under normal circumstances, one teacher can safely supervise approximately 20 students. At any level, intermediate and advanced activities may require additional supervision.

Sub-categorisation within the sport allows students to progress to other skating disciplines. Before and after school clubs offer opportunities for skill enhancement, fitness and fun. Introducing skate specific clubs such as inline hockey, freestyle skating or slalom, gives more advanced students a focus in a more unusual sport. Schools can give organised demonstrations/performances during half time during other sports matches, community events and parents evenings. Schools can even organise family “fun night” on skates.

Teaching inline safety skills to students is the primary focus of school teaching programmes. Parents report that the safety consciousness developed at schools leads to safer inline skating after school. Students must never skates without wearing full protective gear and strict procedures of practice ensure fun is had by all.

Integration

Inline skating provides an excellent opportunity to reinforce other subject areas such as maths, science, social studies, visual arts. For example:

Maths and science – designing lessons which focus on:

- Distance = rate x time

- Revolutions per minute

- Acceleration and speed

- Graphic calorific expenditure

- Control of mass

Social studies

- Research inline skating, roller hockey, speed skating and extreme skating (rails, half pipes, jumps, ramps) in different places and communities.

- Develop lessons which focus on methods of transportation to and from work/school

- Communicate with a ‘pen pal’ from another country who participates in inline skating.

English

- Write letters to famous inline skaters asking a variety of interesting questions

- Create poems about inline skating

- Write an ‘emotional diary’ of how you are feeling when you skate.

Visual arts

- Create a “photo shoot” session of students and teachers in action.

www.skatefresh.com

asha@skatefresh.com

+44(0)771 204 5133

I had a distinct feeling of long awaited anticipation and a whiff of elegance and sophistication that is Paris, as I entered the St Pancreas International Eurostar terminal. The only dampener to the high spirits was learning that two members of the group could not come due to family and work commitments. It’s a good job we go twice a year!

The journey to Paris is even faster now. I put it to good use changing my bearings which were so generously provided by Andrew (after comparing my pathetic wheel spin to his) a few days earlier.

Friday evening street skate

The Paris Roller is one of the ‘must do’ skates for all skaters, at some point in their rolling lives. This mass street skate regularly attracts over 10,000 skaters (every week!) and is supported by the local council, police and ambulance service as well as having a committed team of marshals and organisers.

Unlike other locations around the world (including London and the UK) Parisian street skates are given official right of way through a designated city route where police ensure motorists ‘behave themselves’ and do not obstruct the skate. It is this ‘pro skater’ attitude which I respect and enjoy most about skating in Paris and France. It is forward looking and promotes healthy free activities such as street skates within the city for its residents and visitors (who come every week from all over Europe generating skate-tourism income for Paris).

The cross section of skaters is immense, from children to oldies. It always makes me smile when I see evidence in front (and around me) that skating really is a ‘lifestyle sport’ as the UK Government just announced, something you can learn at any age and benefit from health wise.

I had a fantastic skate as all my clients weren’t due till the next day’s skating. The route was a large clockwise circle around central Paris, with the longest constant downhill slope ever (about 2km) which leant itself very nicely to some fast back crossovers and back crossunders.

Our group on Friday night was Mark from Skateinstructor, my fellow organiser (or rear marshal), Alison, Jeremy, Ivor, Kate and Pete. We successfully met up in breaks (with the waving of the infallible pink knicker bag) which made my arm ache by the end of the night. We met up near the end of the skate and found ourselves in the liveliest street café/bar in Paris, complete with live band, operatic singing waiter and wonderful champagne (to balance out the adrenalin).

Some of us even skated back to our hotels near Gare du Norde at approx 2.30am when the streets were gloriously empty and the legs felt strangely light in their tiredness.

Saturday 10th May

The morning’s challenge began with calming Mark’s nerves as our breakfast coffees took 40 mins to ‘not’ appear. We learned that our favourite café from dinner last night was only any good when the lovely, helpful, smiling blonde waitress was working (and not when the three grumpy French guys were working instead). Luckily my Virgoan time keeping allows for French delays, such as Pete’s made dash to find us which took him several miles before he turned back and found us 1 block from where he’d started. He likes a good skate to warm up!

We met up with the rest of the group Barbara, Angela and Bernadette and began our day’s tour of Paris. Unless on organised street skates, skaters must stay on pavements in Paris. First stop was the lovely Jar dim du Luxemburg, house of the French senate and a gorgeous park but narrow pathways. The weather was glorious and Parisians were out in style, basking in the sun all over Paris. We saw the Pantheon (and learned about Foucault’s pendulum) and then the Sorbonne and St Germaine district. We skated slowly through a great food market, bellies already thinking about lunch, olives, bread, cheese, sausages, pastries, and cherries – the perfect market!

We usually watch the slalom skaters at Notre Dame but it was devoid of skaters as they were all competing in (or watching) a slalom competition all weekend at Trocadero. Leaving Notre Dame for another island (I love skating bridges) we headed towards the ‘cake break’ at Bastille and lunch in Places des Voges. Jeremy won the prize for his extravagant and very French fayre from the market and my raspberry tart was truly sublime.

Cruising the back streets of Places des Voges gave a window into real Parisian life, sophisticated urban living in gorgeous old buildings and vibrant neighbourhoods. A biased view of Paris perhaps (but very pleasant to experience). Past Pompidou and Hotel de Ville (where I showed off my best mates pad when I was 17 where I had stayed for an unforgettable mass and New Year). We continued to the river and a slow section where the biggest hazard was watching your eye balls on the book sellers stalls (helmets aren’t just to protect your head from the floor). Skating through the archways into the back entrance of the louver is a lovely way to see the magnitude of the place (it’s big to skate around, imagine walking it).
Finally to lesson/chill stop by Palais royal. By now the intense heat and developing dehydration started to have effects on our skating concentration. It’s incredible how much water one should drink under those circumstances (exercising in a lot of sunshine). Ali and Jeremy made use of the wonderful big space to perfect their crossovers and suddenly realised how restrictive Albert Memorial or Serpentine Road are for the learning and developing of crossovers.

We managed to avoid the mayhem of cobbles that is place de la Concorde and cross over the river (again) to then follow the river around until we reached our goal, the Eiffel tower and the ‘official’ end of our tour, but not the day. After relaxing and drinking more water we relocated to Place de la Replublique for dinner (and several well deserved drinks).

We were joined by the husbands of Angela and Bernadette from Cardiff who I met in January when I taught a weekend workshop there. As a birthday ‘treat’ Angela invited her husband to Paris and only once the tickets were bought did the girls admit they would be dumping their husbands and joining the Skatefresh trip for part of their weekend! (Good work Ladies).

At dinner I learned so much about everyone on the trip, that Lata and I both lived in Tanzania, that Barbara recently did an MA, that Angela has a 21 year old daughter (!), that Kate loves London and doesn’t plan to leave….etc. This is what I love about skate trips in general, getting to know other people better (and skating loads of course).

Sunday

Sunday morning was spent eating the best Breton crepes filled with mushrooms, onions and cream (yum, it was the best thing I ate all weekend), while Ali and Mark demolished several litres of freshly squeezed orange juice between them. We skated to meet Kate, Ivor, Pete and Jeremy at another café in Bastille before heading to meet Barbara at the start f the Sunday skate. The day was very hot again, shorts, vest, factor 30+, my kind of weather.

Barbara’s nerves quickly subsided as the skate progressed with a log steady (smooth) uphill at the start leading to a lovely downhill glide of what felt like several km uninterrupted – gorgeous Parisian tree-lined avenues and quiet Sunday streets and pavements. It was a glorious skate at a relaxed and enjoyable speed. Skating past the Eiffel tower in the day time is always a highlight for me. Half time at Trocadero coincided with the chance to see the slalom competition, alas hundreds of other people trying to do the same thing prevented us. Pete said he saw Naomi judging the men’s competition but that’s as close as we got.

The second half of the Paris Sunday ‘Stroll’ was a challenging array of cobbles, over 2km in total with some sections uphill, which might have been one of the organisers ideas of a motivational joke, but it did allow everyone to perfect their hot-footed cobbles technique. As I said to Barbara, “if you can do this, you can do anything”.

We parted the skate less than a mile form the end, in fear of missing our Eurostar back to London. It was a solid 3+hr skate, not bad for finishing off the weekend.

Walking (quickly) to Gare du Norde after a wet wipes ‘shower’, I felt as if the weekend had flown, and yet so much had happened in just 2 ½ days. Everyone was happy with the trip and already looking forward to the next trip. This will be in the autumn (I am just trying to juggle several weddings in the autumn, 2 of which haven’t set their dates), and a trip to Pakistan for ICP which is also awaiting scheduling…. I will keep you posted and hope this motivates you to join us next time.

Asha

London to Brighton on rollerblades! Wow! What an amazing experience. This is without a doubt the best thing I have ever done on skates. We stayed over at a friends Jules’ house in Tooting the night before and after a big breakfast, had planned to take the tube to Clapham Common but as we walked out we saw the bikes passing so we decided to join them. Me Faris and Jules stuck together for a long while and then met up with Dylan and Maria and Amy, fellow inline skaters. Faris set off on his own going a bit faster than the rest of us. We lost Maria and Amy early on and skated at a moderate pace for two hours before our first stop. I had prepared and had a bottle of orange juice/ water 50-50 which was excellent and this fruity malt bread that LS Mike reccomended. As I was wearing all black I felt a bit like a short haired Laura Croft and soon had my own fan-club! :0) The first stop I was desperate for coffee and a pee and I also had a scone with marmalade. We stopped there for about 20 minutes which was too long and as we set off again I noticed that I had lost my rhythm (but quickly got it back). The scone was like a stone in my belly so my advice on endurance events like this is don’t eat. The weather was glorious and the cyclists very very friendly! They were amazed at our efforts. To be honest I didn’t get tired I just really loved it. Didn’t listen to any music
at all, just the birds and talking to my friend Jules and the lovely cyclists – who were absolutely amazed to be overtaken by a tucking girl on skates down the hills, amazed and very impressed! Fun! And my god the hills man!

There were stops all along the way and we stopped again for a quick pee and coffee and refill the water where we caught up with Quentin and LS Mike. The mountain at the end was the most incredible challenge ever (Bitchy Beaken I think its called??) I just kept going, up and up and up and up and up and up, one step at a time, keep going, keep going, up and up and up and up, people were dropping off like flies and I just kept going, it was an incredible challenge and stopping was just not an option. On the top I felt sooo good about myself. I knew it was all mental, and I realised that I hadn’t had one single negative thought during the whole trip from London and that I was ON TOP OF THE WORLD AND THE REST WAS ALL DOWNHILL.

Read it a bit like a metaphor for life I guess.

Bumped into Mike and Quentin again on the top and chilled with them For a while. The down hill down into Brighton I guess really separated the men from the boys and the girls from the … At first it’s really sweet and nothing and then all of a sudden its this massive drop! Aaaaaaaaargh – thank god for heel breaks! :0)

What was really great about the whole day was that all the way I stayed within my limits and made progress at a comfortable and enjoyable pace. We kept pace by being able to have a conversation at the same time (except for up hill of course) and that really made sense and we still completed it in 5 hours 40 minutes!

Compared to what seems to have been an average of 7 hours for most skaters I feel great about my time. And I have the feeling now that if I can skate from London to Brighton I can do anything! My next challenge, if I get permission, is London to Paris for the British Lung Foundation.

Back in early June the Skatefresh team made good on their promise to bring free skate instruction to the customers of Decathlon Surrey Quays!!!