Update

I'm currently in Holland and staying in a town called Vaassen. I have yet to meet a person outside of the town that knows where it actually is, but maybe I'm just pronouncing it wrong. This weekend I'm racing here in Holland at the Unive Skate Off in Heerde. More information about the event can be found here, skeelerhuss.nl.

Back home in Timaru, New Zealand progress on the new 200 meter bank track is well underway. The builders, Le Roy Construction have already laid the footings and on Monday the block laying begins.

The next World Inline Cup event is on the 15th of May in Rennes, France.

WIC Valencia

Last weekend the first World Inline Cup of the year was held in Valencia, Spain. The race course was absolutely spectacular, 3.2 km lap around the formula one circuit. We skated in amongst the Americas Cup village and alongside the harbor which was scattered with super yachts. The stretch leading to the finish was slightly down hill and really fast, while the opposite side gradually rose and the head wind made it more of a challenge. Valencia turned on the good weather also, clear skies and a mild temperature of around 24 degrees.

There was a fun skate for the masses to start with and it was great to see so many people on skates. There would have been at least 3000 - 4000 people participating in the fun skate alone.

I was sick with the flu leading up to the marathon and still felt under the weather on the day so my tactic was to try breakaway with a few skaters so I could at least secure a reasonable position and salvage what I could with how I was feeling.

I started attacking on the second lap and of course I was being watched very closely. Every time I even looked like attacking Giovanna Turchiarelli was right there on my wheel. I had a few reasonable gaps on a couple of occasions but the pack didn't want to let me get away that easily and kept chasing hard. A group of Spanish skaters had a go early on but weren't strong enough to stay away and Melissa Chouleysko also made a couple of attempts. I just kept attacking and on about my 1oth attempt I finally got away.

Coming around with about 8 laps to go I accelerated around the bend coming off of the bridge and took off down the long, fast straight stretch with Giovanna on my wheel. Sara Bak then quickly bridged the gap across to us. Taking short, sharp leads the pack wasn't able to gain any ground on us and then the gap rapidly grew once we were out of sight.

Once we were down to about 3 laps to go and safely away I tried to attack again as I didn't like my chances in a sprint finish. I wasn't feeling great, my throat was croaky and dry and my nose was blocked along with my ears but I had nothing to loose as I didn't have a sprint in me. At times during the marathon I was unsure of my footing and feeling like the ground was moving from under me. I didn't manage to get away, my body just wasn't able to do what my mind wanted it to.

Giovanna won the sprint, I came in 2nd and Sara Bak 3rd. After the race I was struggling to breathe and my throat was really raspy so I was pretty happy with 2nd. Samantha Michael racing for X-Tech Wheelz came in 6th in the bunch sprint, finishing up 9th overall in her first WIC event.

The men's race was dominated by the strong Swiss Skate Team. They took out the top 4 places after nearly their whole team broke away from the rest of the field.

I've Landed

I have arrived safely in Europe and am currently in Paris awaiting a connecting flight to Valencia, Spain. The World Inline Cup marathon in Valencia around the F1 street circuit will be my first event in Europe this season.

Currently I'm looking forward to arriving at the hotel and hitting the bed as I have currently been travelling for about two days. I thought I was seeing things at the airport in Paris when a mouse ran around my bags, but I'm not delirious just yet it was real and alive unfortunately.

New Skates

My new X-Tech Rollergirl skates arrived a few days ago.
Check them out!

Retro Roller Disco

Timaru Herald Story

Big Plans for New Track

STU PIDDINGTON/The Timaru Herald

ON TRACK: Mark Lowen and Nicole Begg at the South Canterbury Rollerskating Club.

Timaru will soon have another international sporting venue with confirmation the South Canterbury Roller Skating Club will start work on an international 200 metre track at Caroline Bay in April.

The club has raised $312,000 and is confident it will be able to add the further $90,000 needed over the next six months.

Stage one of the project is to demolish the outdated and badly cracked 166-metre track and lay a bitumen banked track.

The new track will cost just under $330,000 and the balance of the money will be used to move the club rooms and brick wall at the western end to make way for the extension of the track.

Development co-ordinator Mark Lowen said it was great to think work would start just over a year from when they started fundraising.

"The state of the track is dangerous for speed skating so it will be great to have a new facility next season."

Major donors to the project are the Community Trust of Mid and South Canterbury ($100,000), Timaru District Council ($50,000), Southern Trust ($50,000), Pub Charities ($20,000) and Trust Aoraki ($11,000), plus donations from service clubs and other supporters.

The club has also raised about $50,000 from such events as raffles, firewood and garage sales, and sausage sizzles.

Lowen said they had launched a raffle which they hoped would raise a further $20,000. He said there had been a lot of enthusiasm for the project.

Inline skating in Timaru has long been synonymous with the Begg family and for years they flew the flag alone.

But the South Canterbury Roller Skating Club has been revitalised over the past two years, with a hardworking committee and a speedskating team that has produced two age-group New Zealand representatives. The club now boasts more than 120 members.

The dramatic change came two years ago after 21-year-old former world champion, Nicole Begg, offered free lessons at the almost forgotten track, along with her mother, Cheryl, who also won world titles.

Since then, new life has been breathed into the facility and the revival is almost complete with up to 100 casual users skating on Sunday afternoons, and Friday night club skating.

A serious speed skating group has also been training hard with the Beggs and some of that group appear to have the potential to represent New Zealand over the next few years.

A Tour of Timaru event has also been re-introduced and has drawn large numbers of competitors, including top skaters from the North Island.

Bill Begg, Nicole's father and a renowned international coach, said it would be superb to see a world-class facility in Timaru.

"It will be the best in Australasia and we will be able to offer all sorts of events, as well as an off-season training facility for those in the northern hemisphere."

Begg is working on his global contacts in the sport in the hope Timaru could host the World Inline Speed Skating Championships in 2015.

He has already had informal talks with International Federation of Roller Sports secretary Roberto Marotta and he believes the time is right to bring the championships back to New Zealand, after Hastings in 1989.

With over 50 countries competing and each country allowed up to eight skaters in each division, there would be real benefits for Timaru, he said.

Timaru's original speed skating track was built alongside the memorial walkway in 1963 but had to be relocated with the construction of the Port Loop Rd.

After much debate a location was finally accepted by the club and the council and in 1974 the bank track facility was built.

New Track

Last week the South Canterbury Roller Skating Club received a $50,000 grant from the Southern Trust to go towards our new track. This has boosted our funding meter and the way things are going in less than a year I could be skating on a brand new 200m bank track in my home town. This would replace a small 166m bank track that's over 25 years old that we currently train on.