LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

george · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 611 Location: Les Marais, Paris

the results are here:

http://roll-on.tisj.com/modules/sections/index.php?op=viewarticle&artid=20

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5913

My race report
Rented a car and picked up everyone at 13:40 on sat then drove to Eurotunnel for a 16:24 departure. Got to hotel which was quiet but cheap. No air con. Got three bites that I have noticed so far from sleeping with the window open. Slept pretty well and breakfast was nice so we went off to the course. Got there at 9:40ish and they weren't quite ready for our registration so we went to a supermarket to stock up on supplies.

The emails we sent only preregistered Anna and I, even though I had given George's name as well. The bit that we only needed to pay the early registration price wasn't marked down either but the one the day price is only €15 so there was no point making a fuss. Cheapest race I have ever entered. There was free food and drink available to racers but it's not obvious and soloists have to stop to get it or need pit crew. Anna got some. I went very late and didn't fancy it. George and Glenn made do with what we got at the supermarket.

I broke a wheel doing a couple of warm ups. I didn't have any spares but I managed to buy a whole set and changed them out with 10 minutes to spare before the start. Glenn bought some bearings and spacers so he could ready his Storm Surges for the forecast storm to come, that just turned into a shower. George has a spare set of skates with Storm Surges in them in preparation.

It was a Le Mans start but the track is only about 4m wide. There was no qualification so people started at their change zones. There was a special gazebo for Solos which meant we got to start at the front. We met one of the other solos at the pit area, Jean-Pierre who thought George was 40 Smile

, but the race numbers didn't obviously indicate who the others were so it was a little tricky to work out who you were racing against. The others started with teams so they were going to be getting some help out of the start. From our solo section, George got away the fastest and managed to hook up pretty quickly with Andrew and his team mate. Glenn, Anna and I managed to start quite close together and shared a line for a while, Anna dropped back and I dropped off to skate with her for a while but after a few laps we got on a comfy line and she didn't stick. I decided to stay there as it had another soloist on it and hung with them for a few laps.

I stopped for a banana break after 9 laps (30km) to find Jean-Pierre has stopped early with a thigh strain. George came round and asked me to get a bottle of electrolyte for him. Fortunately for him he had one made up and Jean-Pierre volunteered to hand it to him as my break was over and I was about to continue. Hooked up with Anna again, not sure how long for or if it was that time as we skated together 4 times. I did another 2 laps and noticed I hadn't really recovered. Anna stopped with me and we discuss that we both had the shivers and hydrated some more. Anna rotated her wheels and I skated off. Doing 3 laps at a time and then rehydrating to stop my headache from getting any worse need to be fit enough to drive home straight after the race so adjust goals accordingly.

After 3-4 hours of skating round and round, it did eventually rain. It turned out to be a passing shower but it did wet the course. I caught up with a tired looking Glenn and towed him round for a lap and a half to give him some recovery as I was on a multi-stop strategy. He was feeling a little depressed that he had just lost third place overall in the solos. Turns out he hadn't, but more of that later. He jumped onto another small line and I eased up and took a break when I started to slip a bit too much. George had changed skates and Glenn just adjusted his skates as he was experiencing a toe problem. Once the main track area dried up enough to be very grippy again after 30 mins or so, George came in to change his skate back again and then I went back out. George's feet were in a mess at this point but he bit down and kept himself ahead of Hilde.

Somewhere in here I hooked up briefly with Anna for the last time, when a line with Glenn on it came past. I realised it was going quite slowly and considering Glenn was in with a shout of a podium I kicked onto the line to give him some cover. Anna was well down the field a bit behind me but if there was going to be a split gender podium then she was guaranteed to be on it anyway. After two laps another line came past and Glenn kicked onto that on the offchance the other Soloist on our line was on the same number of laps as him. I didn't have the legs so I stuck with the the other line and decided to stop with 15 minutes to go having completed a double marathon (25 laps, might have miscounted and done 26) so I could cheer the others to a finish and support in any way I could.

George came round with 7:30 left on the clock. I pointed to it and told him it was his last lap unless he could beat that time. I think he got the message or worked it out for himself as he kicked off and came round to cross the line with about 15 secs to spare and I shouted him round for another lap. Shortly after the race organisers stepped out to indicate the race was over for all but a couple more people behind George. Hilde was in that bunch a bout 1 min behind George. He had done it and managed to score an extra lap too. Job done but we didn't know for sure at that time. We didn't know where Glenn was, we still don't know his lap count.

We asked the announcer organiser (Lucas?) about the podiums ad said was wanted to stay but had a Eurotunnel to catch. He showed is the results and George had indeed won. We asked if they could do the Solo podium first so we could stay for it. In previous years there has not been a split gender podium for the solo. There may have been this year because there were 3 ladies or maybe because the local heroine, didn't win it for the first time but that elevated Glenn by a place but we still didn't know where. They announced the results and Glenn was second, then we knew we had to stay for a second podium because Anna was going to get a medal too. 3rd in the ladies 4 in the car 3 medals, result! Geoge did 46, Hilde 45, Glenn thinks he did 44. Anna did 25. In think I did the same.

We got in the car and at 174kph managed to catch the last check-in for our booked Eurotunnel by 5 minutes, including a refuelling stop. Another result!

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5913

How could we do better? Seriously this is a race for the taking for our club. We could probably clean sweep the solos and duos if we worked as a unit and perhaps had Tanya with us and a bit of pit crew support. It's really easy to get to, incredibly cheap to enter and unless you work weekends, there's no need to take time off and you don't even need to get up early on Saturday.

Just need a couple of reasonably good skaters, perhaps 4 to make up a pair of duos then some strongish drafters to solo to make a blue paceline. If we can Need to be relatively careful when coming through the change over area because they do it on both sides and it's quite narrow.

Not sure we would be too popular by taking all the podia though Smile

Glenn · Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1109 Location: ST Pauls

Well done George, though looks like Hilde finished slightly ahead of you and the last lap after the 6 hour mark didn't count. Top three finishes seemed to be:

Hilde 45 laps in 5.56.31 average speed 25.52km/h
George 45 laps in 5.59.48 average speed 25.29 km/h
Glenn 43 laps in 5.57.54 average speed 24.29 km/h

There was then a slight drop of with 4th coming in on 39 laps.

All in all an extremely enjoyable trip and well done to Rick in organising such a fantastic weekend.

On a personal note, I was just glad to get through the whole 6 hours. I have new found respect for the guys doing the Solo at Le Mans. That was probably the hardest event I have done on skates, yet was only a quarter the duration of the Le Mans solo race. I was knackered after 1.30 hrs in and contemplated stopping after 3 hours after I jammed my toe into my boot and partially broke my toe nail, but knew I would regret it if I did. Unfortunately, George and I didn't get to skate togeather, only passing each other when the other was on the side lines.

The track was a lot different from what I expected. I guess I had an unrealistic expectation of wide smooth tarmac like Goodwood - rather it was around a neighbourhood, with the occassional speed bumps and variable (but on the whole good) surface.

The atmosphere was fantastic and would definitely recommend we send some teams there next year. Who knows who else will turn up. Apparently. last year Bart Swings and his brother turned up for the duo - so if they did the same next year, I don't think LSST could win that; but most of the categories should be up for grabs and I deinitely think everyone would enjoy it.

matty · Posted: Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:52 am Subject:

it sounds fantastic to me.. LETS GO!!!!!

I'll book it in the sched for next year now...

annabri · Joined: 07 Feb 2011 Posts: 203 Location: London

From my view it was good to see that i can stay through six hours.
And a new experience just to be dehydrated although drinking a lot.
Also i would do it again.

Very Happy

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5913

Rick's Expenses

Car rental £187
Eurotunnel £102
Fuel £36
Total Each £325

George's
Fuel £45 (€50)

Full Total £370

Cost Each £93
George I owe €52 for the room, which eliminates what you owe me minus a few pence that I can't be bothered to work out.

Glenn, you own me £93 + €15. That's £106.50 please. I have your glasses, camera, water bottle and T-shirt that you left in the car.

Anna, you owe me £93 less €5 which is about £88.50

Using a 0.9:1 £/€ ratio in the calculations. I don't want to get funny with exchange rates so if you do then I'm happy to settle up € amounts in € and £ in £. Can PM you bank details or take cash, whatever is easier.

george · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 611 Location: Les Marais, Paris

thanks for providing the details Rick.

Glenn, you also owe me 50 euros, or £45 for the cash I gave you on the race day Very Happy

Glenn · Joined: 05 Feb 2005 Posts: 1109 Location: ST Pauls

Thanks Rick and George, would you please pm me your details tomorrow and will transfer the money.

G

annabri · Joined: 07 Feb 2011 Posts: 203 Location: London

yes i need the bank details as well. then i can do it.
thanks