LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

JonRBUK · Joined: 26 Jun 2004 Posts: 47 Location: Essex, England

Hello my fellow skaters!

FISS have asked me to post information on a new race concept designed for all you endurance mad people out there!

basically this new race concept will be open to all skaters 18 and over plus Cat 1 and 2.... the race will be either 15, 30 or 45 minutes (probably 15 to start off with) plus 3 laps, some of you may have seen or heard of this type of race in holland!

I would like to know what you lot think? would you be interested in more endurance based races at meetings? have you any suggestions?

Cheers!

Xia · Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 874 Location: Geneva (Suisse)

I like the concept, but that is certainly not endurance....

45 minute is ok, the other time looks short.
A track like lee Valey would be perfect for such a race. I would find a speed track boring.

Alex

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

I'm up for this. Malcolm Chapman ran one in Cambourne last year and it was great. That was a 45min + 3laps and one of my favourite races of last year. It was on a housing estate. I don't like the idea of doing it on a small circuit as there would be too many lappings, but 500m to 800m and it would be fine + 2 laps if it is 1000m or more.

The main question is where can we hold such races. The new housing estate idea that Malcolm used was a good one. Until the houses were all sold, the development company still owned the road so we didn't need council or police cooperation just needed to inform the residents.

Mikey-two-Names · Joined: 24 Feb 2004 Posts: 4108

What about much longer races? 45mins to 2 hours seems quite short after the 8 hours on my bike last Sunday.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

Xia · Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Posts: 874 Location: Geneva (Suisse)

AS per Rick, endurance start at 45+ but really its about 1.5-2h that it start feeling proper endurance.
If we compare skating to cycling, then we should be talking about races of above 4-5 hours. Oh, and to top it up, it should be in a time trial format... No drafting!

Back on the initial subject,
To be successfull the race have to give everyone a feeling of achievement.
On a too short track, too many people will feel bad after beeing lapped zillions of time by cat 1 skaters.
Running the race as an open event (including fitness skaters) will also help promote speed skating. A longer race is more inline to what fitness skaters do.

Beatrice · Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 11:36 am Subject:

I have done my first track races last sunday 800m, 1500 and 3000. i was the most confortable on 3000. i also done 2 marathons and i liked that too. i definitively prefer longer races, i find it easier to find the right pace.

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

I prefer longer ones too, cos that's the only chance I have of beating Little Lewis in cat 5!

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

At track meets like Tatem or Birmingham - a 15 minute race would be fun - any longer and I tyhink it would get boring for participants and spectators.

When it comes to longer races on the road then I think that I prefer distance races, Marathon or 50 miles, to time based races.

roger · Joined: 26 Feb 2004 Posts: 531

It may be of interest to note that my cross-country skiing club (LRNSC) is running a 4 hour time trial event at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit in October for rollerskiers.

The event concept is the same as above; when the bell rings at 4 hours everyone completes their final lap, and the person with the highest number of laps wins. Last year the winner managed 70 laps - about 110km Surprised

If there was sufficient interest then we could ask the organisers if they could include inline-skaters Question

I would think a road circuit like Hillingdon, Eastway or Crystal Palace would be best for this type of event. I would certainly be more interested in participating in this type of event than in short-track racing. For me 60 min+ would be the right sort of time.

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5914

That's like Le Mans only that's 24 hours and is a relay. Also similar to the 24 minute race we are having at Lee Valley on the 18th.

peterc · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Posts: 1284 Location: M3 somewhere

Sounds fun for me, but then again I've only tried the classic type races.

Unlike my team mates I think that anything over 500m isn't a sprint, while I wouldn't call it a marathon I would be pacing myself.

Hans · Posted: Wed May 18, 2005 12:26 pm Subject:

This sounds like fun and i would be looking at anything over 45mins as an endurace event, both from a competitor and spector point of view. I also think that anything over 45min will be boring for spectators.

Gav · Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 11:46 am Subject:

I have split off the 'what is endurance' topic! Back to the race idea....

Jon Fry has suggested this as an event that could be run at the end of the day's race program at Tatem or Birmingham. Obviously we would love to run the longer versions as standalone events at proper locations (such as Cambourne), but this suggestion was specifically to include a race at track days more suited for 'our type of skater'

I think a 15 min version could definitely be fun to try out!