LondonSkaters Speed Team - Speed Skating & Rollerblading Club in London

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

Sorry to hear that Barrie, next year maybe?

Hi Alan, that's great news! Welcome to the team! Very Happy

I would like to hand in the paperwork to the organisation soon, so if you could PM me your:
- full name
- adress
- date of birth (day/month/year)
- email adress
- mobile phone number (will not be given to Raps24 org.)

Cheers,
Andy.

Update:
Alan has send me his details and I will send the team details to Raps24 organisation tonight.
For Merten, George, Rick, Dave, Alan and myself there is no way back from now on... Wink

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5888

Excellent, lets get organised.

The location is here

It's about a 4 to 5 hour drive from Dunkirk if we take the Norfolk line but it's expensive for a minibus (£202) Car can be done from £10 in each direction though so a decent sized estate or mini MPV like an SMax or some such and we can get there cheaply with 5 inside. anything 7 seat will have plenty of luggage space. Car rental I haven't looked into.

Thoughts so far?

Flying options are:
EasyJet fly to Schiphol from Luton and Stansted for £65 to £75 return incl tax. Not sure what their check-in policy is for bags. Schiphol to Harderwijk on the train is 1h20 and €12.70 each way. Might get a group ticket for much less. That station about 10km from the track. Don't know if there is a local bus service but it shouldn't be expensive for a taxi or two for all of us. I can get to Luton very cheaply from St Pancrass and Stansted isn't too bad either.

Fly/train advantages are no need to worry about being tired behind a wheel. Disadvantages are it's an estimated twice as expensive per person as 5 crammed in a vehicle and it's less flexible when we are there to go and get provisions. I think I am favouring the car.

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

Agree with Rick, some kind of spacewagon would be the best and cheapest option to get 4 skaters and the camping/skating gear to here. To be honest I don't see any other way of doing it, you can't bring all the stuff you need on a plane and/or train...

Location, as you can see (zoom out on the map Rick linked to) the track is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, the nearest place (Biddinghuizen) is 5km away and only has 6000 people living there, but it's still good for going shopping there and ordering pizza to the track! Very Happy

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

OK guys, just got mail from Raps24KiKa, we are in! Very Happy

george · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 567 Location: Paris

We are in? AWESOME!! - I am in favor of cars as well - it would make the trip even more fun Very Happy

Alan · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 641 Location: Hackney, London

Great work Andy and Rick.
I too favour the car/estate wagon option. I have a licence and could share the driving if it helps.

Anne-Jelmer · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 8:40 am Subject:

Just got the word on Twitter: You're in!
http://twitter.com/RAPS24KIKA

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

Hey Anne-Jelmer!

You gonna be there or not? I read Raps was practically begging you to get a team together.

Cheers,
Andy.

Anne-Jelmer · Posted: Thu Jun 17, 2010 9:13 am Subject:

We're probably skipping this years Raps24. Although the presence of a Londonspeedskatersteam is tempting. Let's just see what happens.
Tamara (from Raps) indeed gave me a call. Wondering if we're going to sign up. I guess we became somewhat of a 'sure thing' on the Raps24. I only missed 1 (out of 6).

george · Joined: 08 Jan 2008 Posts: 567 Location: Paris

ok, we need to start organising this - who is in charge?

Very Happy

Alan · Joined: 19 Sep 2005 Posts: 641 Location: Hackney, London

Michi · Joined: 11 Jun 2005 Posts: 652 Location: Hamburg

Got the day off work.
So pit-crew is safe Smile

Rick · Joined: 25 Feb 2004 Posts: 5888

I'm happy to orgnanise from London. How many in the car? Just 4. Might see if I can sling an extra pit crew in there if we are.

I would anticipate needing Friday and Monday off work. What time do we need to be at the circuit on Sat? Probably drive over leaving Friday late morning, Euro tunnel in the early afternoon on a 3 day return (cheapish) then it's about 5-6 hours the other side plus stops which should get us to site around 7-8pm.

Coming back I would think we would want to have a bit of sleep somewhere, depending on when the race finishes, it would be nice to have a group meal before we all head of in separate directions then we head toward the tunnel and either have a planned stop somewhere en route or just get the shuttle back and snooze all of Monday morning at home. I don't mind doing all the driving.

Dave will probably want to drive down to mine and park on my driveway. We'll take a big estate or MPV to get everything aboard. If people can refrain from bringing hard luggage then it will be easier to pack and multiple smaller items is easier than 1 big one each.

Any special requests?

merten · Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:20 pm Subject:

Rick, Attention: This race starts FRIDAY 4pm!

You will need Thursday to Sunday or a very early Friday morning departure.
Michi and I will be driving, leaving home Friday morning.

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

Yep, it starts Friday guys!!! Laughing