Tyneside Loipers hosted another great day of roller skiing on the Summerhill Track at Hartlepool. The 3rd in this year’s Northern Roll Series with the other events hosted by the Yorkshire Dales and Manchester and Lakeland Clubs. We had a good turnout with 18 competitors (including 6 of us from Loipers) with everyone enjoying the superb track which is a twisty 750 metre circuit, great for participants and spectators alike. There was some excellent racing and we had great weather.
The main race was a one-hour endurance event with everyone skiing as many laps as possible within the hour, using classic technique only (double poling or diagonal stride, or double-pole kick). The overall winner, Ros Brown Grant from Manchester, got to the finish just ahead of Mike Smith of the Lakeland club. They each completed 23 laps in a fraction over the hour. Adam Pinney from the London club was third with 22 laps. It was excellent race with good results from everyone, including Tyneside Loipers – Mike Smith, Alan Mitcham, Neil Waters, and Kate and Vassily Konopalov.
Frustratingly for Carl Brown, he had to drop out after only 8 laps after losing a front wheel from one of his skis! Fortunately he was uninjured.
We are looking forward to seeing Ros (now also a member of Tyneside Loipers) at Hetton Country Park at the end of this month. She has offered to give us some rollerski coaching (classic and skate).
In addition to the one-hour race, we also ran a one lap sprint race, which we organised into 3 heats and a final. Adam Pinney just won the sprint race, skiing 750metres in 2 min 26s and just holding off Mike Smith and Ros in 2nd and 3rd place.
Thanks to everyone who took part and thanks especially to our helpers on the day, Dave Thomas, Sally Hall and Alison Aldred, and photographer Catherine Tolman.