LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

merten

Hi folks,
finished the first race of the season today. 15km race around the smaller part of the river/lake Alster in Hamburg. (1,8k loop, 8.25 laps).

Results first: (Full List)
1. Kohls, Simone 1980 w team-der-rollenshop.de 0:31:43,32
2. Wahrenburg, Judith 1969 w Speed-Team Elbe 0:31:53,92
3. de Vries, Mirja 1987 w Halstenbeker TS 0:31:54,87
9. Hilger, Michaela 1982 w LondonSkaters Speed Team 0:36:24,22
17. Schüler, Mareike 1971 w Die Hasenbande 0:42:52,83
total 21

1. Gerhardt, Christian 1970 m Halstenbeker TS 0:25:20,34
2. Harder, Sören 1987 m Halstenbeker TS 0:25:20,80
3. Rehse, Sebastian 1978 m Tri-Sport-Lübeck e.V. 0:25:21,61
16. Schueler, Merten 1980 m Skate-Connection Bremen e.V. 0:31:10,61
total 56

Short race report: It was very very wet yesterday night. Our pre-race preparation was quite a bit different from a usual one - my mom had won a "cooking event" in a 5* Hotel and invited us all along, so we had loads of great food and a lot of wine yesterday, and a short sleep Wink

It was still all moist and slippery this morning. During the race the course was half dry, with a strong wind. I "lost" the start it seems - the first turn in the course was one lane only due to roadworks, I got blocked by some slower skaters so some people were gone ahead. The first nine finishers were composed of two GBC teams, so I had hoped to make the second line, ended up in the third. At least I won the sprint of the 11 people in there Wink

Lessons learned: 1) need to warmup better 2) Improve starting. Apart from that, I feel so-so about the result.

Michi had her first race with her new girls team, and managed quite well. Guess she's going to post something later.
Mareike had her first race ever and did a good job finishing well inside the time limit.

Michi · Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 658 Location: Hamburg

Well, now my impressions from today's race.
I did a short warm-up, but not too good. It was really cold and humid this morning so after warm-up I got cold again.
The race for itself was...ok. I raced with some girls of my team but ~4 km nearing the end I had a fall. The girl behind me tripped and grabbed my skinsuit. Bad luck but no road rash and so far no other visible injuries Wink

But, of course, I lost my paceline and never catched it again. Was really pi..ed. And at some point I forgot to press the red button on my watch and raced one lap to much.
But for the first race this season it was quite alright.

Btw: if you want to see of picture of my team: http://www.ht-skate.de/galerie/2006/alsterrace/picture-0007.jpg.
@Hans: I remember your comment when we talked the last time of these team-photos: the design of the skinsuit is not really favorable for your figure:D

Natasha · Joined: 09 Jul 2004 Posts: 2973 Location: Basingstoke

All great race experience, you can't learn this stuff in skating classes! I think warm-ups and starts are things we can all improve upon. Sounds like the course was badly laid out though - roadworks? How did you both get on with your Junkers?

merten · Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:10 pm Subject:

Guess it was a combination of so-so surfaces (it was all tarmac, but a little patchy in places Wink

) and the water, but no real danger, just a slow course.

Our Junkers were all fine and rocked Smile

Still so glad I got them.

Pictures can be found here

Michi · Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 658 Location: Hamburg

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5913

Nice pictures. Good to see you were out as well. It looks a bit drier than Duisberg but I didn't see any of the start. Michi <20s/km slower than the winner is very quick. Merten <24s/km slower still very good. I am really looking forward to everyone racing together in Le Mans this year we are so going to rock!

Gav · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 8:35 pm Subject:

That's a great one for both of you... nice!

merten · Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 8:43 pm Subject:

More pics here: http://www.ht-skate.de/galerie/2006/alsterrace/index.htm

Thanks for the nice words guys. I hope to make better next weekend anyway.