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Membership Maestro - What is Inline Speed Skating Understanding the Sport of Inline Speed Skating
| "A description of inline speed skating? NASCAR on skates."
| John Monroe, Canadian Inline Speed Skating National Team Coach
1999 Pan American Games; Winnipeg, Canada
| Text Meaghan Buisson
http://www.meaghanbuisson.com/definition.htm
| What's the difference between an inline speed skater and a "Rollerblader"?
Inline speed skating is a sport in which people race while wearing inline speed skates. Rollerblade is a company that manufactures inline skates. Unlike padded recreational skates, inline speed skates are low-cut tight-fitting boots, with either four or five wheels attached to a light-weight metal frame with specialized bearings. The wheels are both larger and harder than recreational wheels.
Top inline speed skaters routinely attain speeds of over 40km/hour. Racing in packs in order to reduce wind resistance, however, inline speed skaters can attain race speeds of over 100km/hour (60 miles/hour) on downhill courses!
"So it's just like ice speed skating, right?"
Despite their mutual attraction of high speeds on skates, inline and ice speed skating are two very different sports. The sport of inline speed skating differs from ice speed skating in several key aspects, including technique, tactics, physical contact, race distances, and worldwide participation levels.
On ice, athletes sit low to reduce wind resistance, pushing long and low to the side. The long strides associated with long track ice don't work on inline, as the increased friction of racing on asphalt negates the benefit of a long glide phase. If an inline skater tried to maintain as long a glide phase as her ice counterpart, the force of friction upon her wheels would actually cause the inline skater to slow down! Due to having to maintain a higher leg tempo, most inline skaters subsequently also "sit" in a basic skating position higher than that of most ice sprinters.
When racing upon ice, long track skaters tend to focus on either sprint (i.e. 1500m or less) or distance (greater than 1500m) events. Inline speed skaters, however, must master skills necessary to race everything from a 200m individual time trial to full marathons of 42.4 km and beyond. When competing in the World Championships, many inline speed skaters race most - if not all - of the following distances: Track: 300m time trial, 500m, 1000m, 10000m points and elimination, 15000m elimination, 5000m relay; Road: 200m time trial, 500m, 5000m points, 20000m elimination, 10000m relay; Marathon: 26.2 miles.
Finally, in long track ice competitions, skaters race either Olympic style - two skaters pitted one against the other - or mass start. Short track ice competitions are all mass start events. With the exception of the individual time trial, all inline skating sprint events (1000m or less) involve heats of six as skaters are eliminated down to the final six racers. In distance races however (5000m or greater), all inline skating races are mass start. To an ice skater, "mass start" means 4 to 8 skaters on the start line. To an inline skater, "mass start" can mean anything from heats of 20-40 skaters on a 200m track with a five meter width, up to several thousand skaters surging off the start line in some of the world's largest inline skating events!
In reality, inline speed skating shares more similarities with track cycling than it does with ice speed skating. Like track cyclists, inline speed skaters become masters of deception, exceptional tacticians, and honed athletes capable of racing long distances at high speeds while incorporating frequent tempo changes, maximum effort surges, and the ability to recover at race pace. These abilities become instinctual for elite inline skaters, as they are generally performed at speeds surpassing 40km/hour in large packs of skaters staying as close to one another as possible to decrease wind resistance.
An inline skater's ability to handle tempo changes while maintaining good position in the pack is best evaluated by the 10000m points and elimination event. In a points race, the first person to cross the line after the last lap may not necessarily be the winner. Instead, points are allotted following set "sprint laps" occurring every 1-2 laps of the track. This race is inevitably a favorite for inline race spectators, as each point lap brings skaters to the line in a full out sprint, with the first and last skater in the field often separated by mere fractions of a second. In a points lap, the first couple of skaters across the line receive points based on their position in the pack. The last skater to cross the line however, gets eliminated from the race. One by one, skaters are pulled from the race until only six remain. These six then battle for the remaining points laps and, ultimately, the overall title.
On ice, speed skaters adhere to a strictly enforced code forbidding any physical contact. In contrast, physical contact frequently occurs in inline speed skating as skaters are permitted to place their hands lightly upon other skaters when necessary to maintain a distance between each other within a pack. Skaters are also often seen using their arms to prevent other skaters from forcing their way into the pack. Staying on one's feet despite the accidental kicks, punches and other inevitable body contact within a tight pack is simply a part of inline racing.
Inline Skating: North America's fastest growing recreational activity
In the past twenty years, inline skating has exploded onto the Canadian fitness scene as one of the Canada's fastest growing recreational activities. According to the 2001 Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association of Canada market research, sales of inline skates from 1996 to 2001 averaged over $447 million per year. Close to 3.2 million Canadians currently participate in inline skating, a figure far surpassing levels of participation in other popular sports such as golf, baseball, tennis, bowling, and downhill skiing. By 2001, 22-25% of all American households owned inline skates, with 62% of participants between the ages of 7 to 17 years old.
Inline Speed Skating: Global popularity
Despite the popularity of recreational inline skating in Canada, inline speed skating is still relatively new. This is in sharp contrast to many other regions of the world where inline speed skating has been a longtime fixture. Currently, inline speed skating occurs in over one hundred countries on six separate continents. In the USA alone, the number of registered inline speed skaters is five times that of registered ice speed skaters!
The first Roller Skating World Championships occurred in 1937, with skaters racing upon traditional "quad" skates. Quad skates continued to be popular up until 1992, the first year that inline skates were accepted for use in international competition. Now, inline speed skates have all but obliterated the use of the much slower quad skates. In addition to the World Championships, inline speed skaters can race in the Pan American, European, Asian or Oceanic Games depending on their National Team designation. Inline Speed Skating also has its own World Cup Circuit. The major World Cup races - held in Berlin, Taipei, and Seoul as well as other cities around the world - routinely draw over 12,000 skaters. With talks occurring between the International Federation of Roller Skating (FIRS) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it is hoped that inline speed skating will become an Olympic sport.
| REFERENCES
# Canadian Government Working Task Force. Trends Research for Youth and the Military Project.
# World Inline Cup. Iguana Think Tank AG; Challenboden 4a; CH-8834; Schindellegi, Switzerland. www.world-inline-cup.com
# Guinness World Records. Steward Newport, Keeper of the Records. www.recordholders.org
# International Federation of Roller Sports. www.rollersports.org
# Speed Skating Canada. www.speedskating.ca
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