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. Read the rest of this entry »

So there you go then, first a trip to Les Mans, then a revitalisation of personal skating interest, then street skating AND THEN: Marshalling !!!!! Hell yeah!!!!! For many years I’ve wanted to give marshalling on the weekly Street Skates a go; post Les Mans I felt inspired to give it a try. So Wednesday 7^th July saw me heading out in a yellow vest for the first time. I was told to shadow Ed and do as suggested by him and try not to lag behind (he’s quite fast). There were loads of us and the route, for a change, was heading north from the park which meant my baptism of fire was to be part of keeping the unruly masses in one lane as we progressed up Park Lane to Marble Arch and then up Edgeware Road.  Really quickly I felt the limits of my ability: I couldn’t look behind me over my left shoulder only my right. I instantly had Asha’s voice in my ears: “Work on both sides, do more on your bad side.” Street skating shows up flaws really quickly and forces improvements in skating ability where just rolling around the park just doesn’t.

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After a very intense and windy Saturday teaching in Brighton I headed to Eastbourne in the evening to join the skate events at Eastbourne’s Extreme festival, featuring multiple different skating disciplines, competitions, demonstrations, classes and fun. I had missed the slalom competitions on Saturday but came in time for the evening roller disco at the Redout fortress on Eastbourne seafront. I have no photos of that as I was so busy skating non-stop for the duration that it didn’t even enter my mind.

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Friday: Day 1 At 5am on Friday morning, I hauled myself out of bed and directly to the shower and then to my rucksack, my snail style home for the next 4-5days…

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You may have noticed the cyclical nature of many events in my life (Brazil in the winter, Amsterdam in April, Madrid in September….) and July is no exception. Every year in July I go to a large private party of some friends and enjoy a weekend of camping, doing shiatsu, dancing under sunshine and stars, connecting with old friends and making lots of new ones.

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Skatefresh is proud to announce that our instructor Matt is participating in the 24hour skate race Le Mans in France this year. By doing so he joins a list of numerous Skatefresh instructors – Asha being one of them (“Never have I done anything so demanding and I just wished I’d trained more first!”)- who have dared to join the race over the last 11 years of Skatefresh!

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I was lucky enough to be invited by my journalist flatmate Olly to go and watch a show as part of Brighton Fashion Week. The show was entitled ‘The Trashion Show’ and involved an unusual but beautiful collection of garments created out of everyday household items and packaging. The show was fast paced and very theatrical, with dancers working alongside the models and there were even some skaters in the show (although they didn’t look very comfortable on their stops and turns) and I worried about them falling off the runway.

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I was delighted to be asked to accompany the Madrid based skate school (madridpatina.com) on their annual international trip with their clients, this time to Berlin. Working and skating with MadridPatina for me is always great fun as the instructors are my friends and colleagues with whom I can talk about skating, work, teaching techniques and all aspects of running a skate school. It is so valuable to have access to different ideas and resources. I jumped at the chance to join them in Berlin, also allowing me to do my Berlin trip research (look out for details for September this year or spring next). 

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With a volcano erupting and all UK airports still closed the day before departure, it was a miracle that I managed to get out of the UK on her scheduled flight. Unfortunately some clients weren’t as lucky and several chose to stay home for fear of being trapped somewhere as had been the fate of many others.  

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Inline and roller skating is listed as one idea to get fit this summer in the article “Shape up and socialise” which appeared today in the May/June issue of Slimming World, the UK’s most popular slimming magazine. The article suggests that getting fit does not need to come at the cost of socialising and chatting away with a friend. And not to our surprise skating is one of those sports that combine fun and fitness and can get people to enjoy a day with friends while being active…

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