Plenty of training, racing, club and miscellaneous news this month.
Read on...


DULWICH PARK COURSES

Our first 4-week course at Dulwich Park in South London begins next Tuesday
(15th May). We’d encourage anyone interested in learning or improving their
skiing to join this course, on one of the best stretches of tarmac in London.

This will probably be the only course we will do in Dulwich this year (due to
the challenges of getting sufficient people to such an obscure place).

To book, go to http://www.rollerski.co.uk/events2.html


DORNEY 1-DAY COURSES

We’ll be running a Dorney course on 27th May and another one on 10th June.
Alan Eason will now be around until the beginning of June, and so he will be
leading a ‘Level 2’ group again on 27th May.

To book any of these sessions, see http://www.rollerski.co.uk/events3.html


ROLLERSKI RACE THIS SUNDAY

Have a go at rollerski racing this Sunday, at the London RNSC’s 15k / 5k free
technique (ie any rollerskis will do!) rollerski race at Hillingdon Cycle
Circuit, West London (nr J3 of the M4). All are welcome, young and old, novice
or gnarly veteran. See http://www.rollerski.co.uk/ns025.html for more details.


ROLLERSKI CLUB OPEN DAY

We’ve also secured the services of Alan Eason to take our Saturday morning
‘Club Sessions’ in May, while he’s still in the country. Each week we
have a good 2-hour training session, suitable for anyone who can rollerski
pretty well (skating technique). These sessions focus both on skills and
physical training.

We’re inviting skiers along on Saturday 19th or 26th to a free ‘Open Day’
club session, so you can join in with our training activities. You can do a
technique-focused session, or a training group. The session is free, but we
will encourage you to join our year-round programme �" more information on
which can be found at http://www.rollerski.co.uk/club.html


ULTRA-FIT MAGAZINE ARTICLE

I’ve just received a copy of the latest ‘Ultra-Fit’ magazine (Volume 17,
Issue 4), which has an excellent 5-page article on rollerskiing. It should be
on sale now (or very soon) in all good newsagents, and is well worth getting
hold of.


ARMCHAIR BIATHLETES

An article on biathlon’s amazing TV popularity in the UK, and translating this
into British biathlon success - http://www.rollerski.co.uk/ns025.html


BATH-BRISTOL TOUR

The Wessex Biathlon and Nordic Ski Club (England’s only civvy biathlon club),
and the London Nordic Ski Club (England’s largest Nordic ski club), are
running a joint rollerski tour from Bath-Bristol. This will take place on
Saturday 19th May and more information can be found on the club’s website
http://www.londonnordic.org.uk - note that this is only for members of the LRNSC
or the WBNSC.

For pictures of our recent Bristol-Bath tour, see
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/gallery18.html


WESSEX CLUB REGULAR SESSIONS

The Wessex BNSC is going from strength to strength these days. The club has
recently announced the start of regular rollerski training sessions at Castle
Combe motor racing circuit in Wiltshire. More information can be found via the
club’s website,
http://www.wessexbiathlon.org


ETON ROWING ROLLERSKI SESSIONS

This summer we plan to introduce rollerskiing to over 100 teenagers taking part
in Eton College’s summer residential rowing courses. Rollerskiing will be an
evening activity for kids to try, to give them a break from rowing and sculling.

Cross-country skiing has great links with rowing. Not only was it used by
GB’s ‘Oarsome Foursome’ Olympic winning four (Regrave, Pinsent, Cracknell,
Foster) as winter training, but it’s incredibly popular as a cross-training
activity among German rowing clubs. Many of the entrants to races such as the
Engadin ski marathon, are German rowers who finish a XC ski training camp with a
race. It was Juergen Grobler the former East German rowing coach who introduced
cross-country skiing to the GB national team and, although now a popular form of
training among elite sportsmen and women in the UK, it hasn’t yet caught on
among club level athletes.

We hope this will be a good introduction for the kids to the world of
cross-country skiing, and will broaden the appeal of the sport. [group
programme]


BALMORAL ROLLERSKI RACES

Rollerskiing once again appeared as a demonstration event at the Balmoral Road
Races in Scotland this year, with kids from the Scottish clubs (Huntly and
Cairngorm) taking on kids from a Norwegian club.

The Brits put in a good performance, and managed to beat the Norwegians this
year in a team relay. Congrats to all involved. See bottom of
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/ns025.html for a short race report, care of the
Huntly club.


AL DARGIE’S WEBSITE

I recently came across the website of Al Dargie, co founder of the Cairngorm
Biathlon and Nordic Ski Club, and a former national ski racer. It’s full of
opinions on cross-country skiing, and I spotted a particularly interesting
musing on the last international GB rollerski team, which was disbanded just
before the turn of the century �"

http://www.aldargie.co.uk/briko.htm


AUSSIE-NORWEGIAN SUCCESS

And finally, a word of congratulation to Anine Leakey and her Australian pals
John, David, Angela, Sheri and Pip who took part in the famous Skarverennet in
Geilo, Norway last month. Anine, whose mother is Norwegian but who grew up in
Australia, had done some XC skiing as a kid, but the rest of the group didn’t
know what they were letting themselves in for!

A good few classic rollerski sessions in Hyde Park, and a weekend’s training
in Sjusjoen was all the preparation needed, and team members successfully
completed either the full or shorter race. In Anine’s own words,

‘We all made Skarverennet!!! It was hard, but an excellent day. The weather
was amazing and the people were all absolutely amazed none of us had ever done
it before!’

To take part in next year’s race see,
http://www.geiloil.no/comweb.asp?segment=3&ID=23

Get training now!



--
Iain Ballentine
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Roller ski instruction & cross-country skiing
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W: http://www.rollerski.co.uk

E: iain@...
M: 07968 286129
T: 020 8348 2540

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The Rollerski Co Ltd 2007
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