Dutch Inline Downhill Championship
(August 16th 2002) |
(click on thumbnail images for enlargements. The
movies are not so smooth this tim, as to preserv bandwidth)
Dutch mountains
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Kick-off by Bob
Maas |
Say what? Yes there are inline downhill skaters living in the Netherlands!
For those of you who know our country, you might be wondering if we have inflatable hills,
or other tricks for such an event. The Netherlands, or Holland if you prefer, is a very
flat country, with some hills/slopes in the southern province of Limburg near the border
of Germany and Belgium (at 200km/125miles from our capital Amsterdam.) That's the area
where Redbull organizes it's Inline Downhill Road and Obstacle event.
However, for the Dutch Championships we joined efforts with a German
organization. The downhill event took place in Borgholzhausen (near Osnabrück in Germany)
and was open to all international riders. The Dutch riders would compete each other for
the Dutch title. Bob Maas, the teamcaptain of the Dutch Downhill Team (DDT) took care of the
organization of the Dutch part of the event on behalf of the Skatebond Nederland.
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Erik and Bob
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Adriënne, Paul and Eugenio
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Erik, Arnalt, & Bob
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Warming up
Friday evening riders from Italy, Austria, France, Germany, and of course
Holland signed up for the race. Some couldn't resist practising already. At the local
sportsclub we put up our tents next to the soccer field.
The next morning the hill was prepared by puting hay stacks in the curves and at
other dangerous places. The 1.7 km/ 1.1mile track was a dead-end road with excellent
asphalt and beautifull hairpins. It was a 14% slope, so high speeds were garanteed :-)
Cars were towing the skaters uphill between the rides. This was fun by it self
too :-) In the practise runs we learned to "read" the curves. Each time a bit
faster down, looking for the limit in grip.
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Roos concentrating...
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...and going down. |
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Dual combat: Erik & Arnalt
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And breaking for the next turn.
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Charming catering.
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No place to hold
on to the car, so I am hanging on to Eugenio's leg. |
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Burning rubber.
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Very stylish:
Eugenio |
The T-stop and the healbreak were the favourite breaking techniques on
this hill. Using the latter, you are saving yourself a set of wheels of course :-)
The last stretch was straight and good for obtaining speeds of 80km/h towards the finish
line. After which you had to break strongly, or you would hit the break cushion at the end
of the track. During the practise runs and the race itself, officials safeguarded the
track.
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The race.
This was my first official downhill race and it was quite a thrill! I did
have a lot of downhill experience, but that was on roads open to other traffic as well.
This time I could really let it go. Going down into the curves untill you feel you're
loosing grip, or feeling your skates becoming wobbly at the high speeds really boosts the
adrineline kick!
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Uphill fun ;-) Also,
unlike the other Dutch downhillers, I like uphill skating ;-) So I participated in the
uphill race inbetween the two downhill heats. The steep hill and the heat (29 C) made this
a special experience ;-). I came out third in my heat and 4th overall. I won a Reebok
backpack. Next time in the top three :-) The overall uphill race was won by Viktor
Wilking.
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Start of the
second uphill heat. (I am in the back, without helmet, oops)
Movie: Start of the race 1.3MB
(filmed by Adriënne) |
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Uphill winners
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4th place for me!
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Results uphill man:
1 |
Victor, Wilking - GER |
06:28:02 |
2 |
Pape, Markus - GER |
06:28:91 |
3 |
Ringhoff, Erwin - GER |
07:14:60 |
4 |
Nikkel, Peter - NL |
07:16:54 |
I didn't know about the uphill bicycle races, otherwise I could have brought my
racing bike as well. ;-)
See for complete result lists:www.lcsolbad.de/ergebupdown.htm
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And the winner is:
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Movie: Dutch Champs! Hear
them sing the national Anthem :-) 1.3MB (please don't get scared ;-) |
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Female champs:
Roos (silver) and Adriënne (gold). |
Austrian Daniël Ladurner (42), the world champion inline downhill, won
the overall event (1:30:16).German champion Tobi Wörhle was second and Davide Tacchini
(Italy) third. So a true international participation! Joost de Lange was the fastest
Dutchman (1:38:85). For the overall ranking the time of the two runs were added whereas
for the Dutch championship the fastes of the two times was decisive. Adriënne van 't Wout
won the Dutch female title.(1:51:66). The
results are listed at the website of LC Solbad. (a fith place for me in the Dutch
ranking.:-))
Some riders crashed and hit the hay stacks in the curves. Fortunately the
ambulance crew didn't have to act all day.
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The alien has landed
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Jean-Yves Blondeau.
A.K.A. Rollerman |
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Jean-Yves being
interviewed by the MC. |
Jean-Yves Blondeau, the "Rollerman" gave a very cool performance
by going down the hill lying down in his "all-wheel-suit". And because of low
resistance, reaching very high speeds. Cameras rolling, when he presented the
possibilities of his suit, and of course his brillant skills.
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The end.
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Present for Bob: a
typical Dutch inline skate :-) |
This was the hill.
Bye hill ;-(. |
This event was a great experience! Thanks Bob Maas and the Skatebond for
organizing! Thanks to Christina and Andreas Leers for
organizing the overall event!
Thanks to Adriënne, Arnalt Kwakernat, Edwin Wickens and
Robert Maas for camera asssitance during my runs.
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