LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Marathon Points for this one:
Gav 92.91
Ray 91.75
Rick 66.06
Tim 29.47

I am pretty happy with the placings. Ray, you should be ecstatic with 43rd out of 507 finishers in your category. That's top 8.5% nice. Gav, you halved your placing on the last time you did this one - 36th to 18th. Well you are well practiced in wet racing now.

Tim and my pre-existing injuries didn't seem to hinder us too much. We both wanted to skate but neither of us wanted to stop ourselves from healing. I started quite carefully to see how it went which showed in my 3min20sec negative split. Looks like Tim did likewise with a 3min40sec negative split. Hard luck Tim. You definately have a sub 2h in you shame it wasn't today.

Tim learned a lesson that many of us have learned and maybe the rest of you that haven't had the opportunity to learn yet can learn now. Don't skate a wet marathon in brand new wheels unless you want to practice your slides.

It didn't seem all that wet and I was hoping it was going to hold off as it was only spitting with rain at the start and the ground was barely damp. Alas, it was not to be and the going got very damp but not much in the way of puddles as it was only light rain until after three of us had finished. Unfortunately, Tim caught the deluge that happened as I left the changing area to walk back to my hotel. That was nasty. Gav skated back to his hostel in it.

Enjoyed the metre of beer afterward.

Ray · Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 806 Location: Dagenham

That was a great weekend

Highlights included eating out last night in a dramatic lightning and rain storm- well done Rick for choosing a table under the awning.

Visit to Koln Dom - what an amazing building Surprised

And the race was fun - at last I've got below 1 hour 50 and in the wettest conditions I've ever raced in - saw some pretty dramatic stacks but all the LSST skaters stayed on their feet Smile

Well done Gavin for a phenomenal top 20 finish and Rick and Tim congrats for skating despite being on the mend - but all are still in shape for another triumph in Berlin.

Thanks to Gav, Rick, Tim and Helen for making it a fantastic time Very Happy

Hans · Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:39 pm Subject:

Well done guys....

greazer · Joined: 07 Oct 2004 Posts: 330 Location: Haarlem

Congrats guys!
WOW... 18th for Gav! Right up there with the German big boys. Very Happy

Tim · Joined: 26 Jul 2004 Posts: 381 Location: leytonstone E11

yeah it was pretty exciting time all told, thanks to gav/rick/helen and ray for making it a spectacular weekend !! My first race in the rain and yeah racing on new wheel's in the wet...NOT A GOOD IDEA Laughing

i can't wait to do it again next year, but in the dry i hope Wink

Well berlin is just round the corner and then that sub 2hr is mine Twisted Evil

Helen · Joined: 31 Jan 2005 Posts: 90 Location: Dagenham

Yes, it was a good weekend, despite the two torrential downpours.

Raymond and Gavin were impressive. Also impressive is the fact that no one fell. I was standing down the road from a sharp corner at about 20km and saw (and heard, despite the distance) some spectacular falls. Apart from the lead skaters, someone went down from nearly every group.

For those who know her - I saw Kat from Denmark leading a paceline at about 40 km. She was about 10 minutes behind Gavin, which pleased him!

A nice relaxing afternoon on Sunday, after the marathon and the rain, just sitting on the steps on the Cathedral watching the world go by.

Now, less than two weeks to Berlin.