I don't normally send a rollerski newsletter on a Friday, but thought it
worthwhile doing so today. Normally June's a pretty quiet time for rollerskiing
for us, but for some reason this year it's been one of our busiest months to
date.

For this reason (and not helped by a rib injury, sustained mountain biking) I
have much to do, but I suspect we'll have a quieter July and August to prepare
for a busy autumn - when there's always an upsurge in interest. I've recently
added the Dorney dates for the autumn, put on an additional summer skating
course in Hyde Park, and updated the rollerski racing results. I'm also putting
the finishing touches to a cross-country ski trip plan for next winter, which
will be announced shortly.

Our aim now is to continue to introduce and nurture beginners to rollerskiing,
and increasingly add new challenges for existing skiers.


HYDE PARK SKATING BEGINNERS

I wasn't going to have another skating rollerski course until the autumn, but we
had such a great, enthusiastic group for the last beginners' classic course that
they all wanted to keep going. This skating course is 3 Saturdays from 12th
July, 11.30-12.30 in Hyde Park and there are still a few spaces left. For more
information see http://www.rollerski.co.uk/events8.html


ROLLERSKI BIATHLON ON EUROSPORT

It's not often we see rollerskiing on TV, but tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 5th
July) you can see 'Summer Biathlon' on Eurosport -

16:30–18:00 for Eurosport International (analogue via satellite)
17:15–18:00 for British Eurosport (digital via cable/freeview)

The race is the Grand Prix in Dubendorf Switzerland.

Athletes the watch include Andrea Henkel, Kati Wilhelm, Martina Glagow, Sandrine
Bailly, Helena Jonsson, Michael Greis, Michael Rösch, Vincent Defranse, Björn
Ferry, Lars Berger (all famous on-snow biathletes).

Hopefully more rollerskiing later during the summer, with the City Biathlon
event from Püttlingen. (Thanks to Richard Marston for this information).


DORNEY DATES FOR THE AUTUMN

Autumn dates for Dorney courses are now on the website. We've kept these to
once a month, but rather than add more dates, we plan to add more groups. On
our most popular day last spring we had over 30 skiers, with 5 instructors. In
having a variety of groups, from beginners to racers, we can offer training that
is better suited to individual levels of fitness and technique.

For anyone out of London wanting regular training, these are very good sessions,
and you can come for either the whole day or just the skating or classic
sessions.

It's very useful if you can book in advance for these courses, as it helps us
plan instructors, but we always try to fit in last minute bookings as well. The
next Dorney course is on Sunday 24th August - see
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/events3.html


CLASSIC TRAINING, WEDNESDAY EVENINGS

If you can already classic ski to a certain degree, you might be interested in
joining our classic rollerski group in Hyde Park / Richmond Park on Wednesday
evenings. The idea is for this to become an additional regular club session,
but to get it going, it will focus initially on improving classic technique.
The instructor is Yevgeniy Gorbenko, a former Russian cross-country ski coach.

These sessions are only £15 per week (the same price as our discounted rollerski
classes, and the same price as our first rollerski sessions in 2005), and if
they are as well supported as our rollerski club session on Saturday AM we hope
to bring the price down for club members. We will still keep up classic skiing
once a month on our Sat AM sessions. For more info and to book, go to
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/clubextra.html


ROLLERSKI RACING UPDATE

The last couple of weeks has seen rollerski racing in London, Durham and
Aviemore. The highlight of the London rollerski racing year takes place this
Saturday with the London 1-hour race at Hillingdon Cycle Circuit.

Well done to everyone who has got involved so far, and good luck to racers on
Saturday! To see dates and results, go to http://www.rollerski.co.uk/ns033.html


WINTER TRIP

A few people have asked if we're doing a trip this year - the answer is yes. I
won't reveal all just yet, but the plan is a week's ski holiday with instruction
in Austria towards the end of February, followed by the (optional) Ganghoferlauf
ski marathon.


ROLLERSKIING AT THE LONGFORD MARATHON

I'm always fascinated to hear how rollerskiing is doing in Ireland. I was
speaking recently to someone who rollerskis in Dublin, who came across a picture
of a fellow on rollerskis at the 2007 Longford Marathon. Intrigued, he asked if
it was OK to rollerski in this year's race - the response was 'well, we don't
generally encourage it...' but clearly health and safety hasn't yet completely
outlawed it either!

To see the man himself, go to Picture 184
http://www.longfordmarathon.com/2007Pictures/MaryFenelon/index.htm


BITS AND PIECES

http://www.fasterskier.com/racing5468.html - World Cup rollerski racing begins
http://www.fasterskier.com/racing5467.html - still snow in Sweden!
http://www.masterskier.com/articles.asp - worth reading all the 'Pre-Season
2008' articles


Best regards
Iain




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

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

Rollerskiing in Health & Fitness magazine -
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/nr057.html

Rollerski courses coming up -
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/events.html

Save on rollerski packages -
http://www.rollerski.co.uk/buypackages.html


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The Rollerski Co & Rollerski Instruction 2008
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