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

Kick-off
Kick-off by Bob Maas
Arnalt
Movie: "Rock the mountain" 0.4 MB

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

 

Warming up

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Uphill by car :-)
Movie: Uphill by car 1.3MB

 

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...
Roos
...and going down.
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Dual combat: Erik & Arnalt
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And breaking for the next turn.


Movie: Group run 1.3 MB

 

Two charmin kids providing drinks. Group uphill by car.
Charming catering. No place to hold on to the car, so I am hanging on to Eugenio's leg.
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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1. Start 1.3 MB
2. First hairpins 1.3 MB
3. Getting wobbly 1.3 MB
4. Gaining speed 1.3 MB
5. Last stretch 1.3 MB
6. Finish 1.3 MB
Down the hill with Adriënne Experience the track. Filmed by myself on skates..

 


The race.

Werner at high speed.
Movie: 80km/h down 0.4 MB

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!



Werner approaching the finish line. Breaking Hitting the cushions.
Maximum speed at the last stretch..
Movie: Very impressive run of Werner Ladurner 1.3MB
Breaking at the finish line And using the cushions if there is not enough road left :-)

 

Bob showing his butt wound.
Movie: Bob's butt after a crash 0.7 MB :-)

 

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!
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

 

And the winner is:

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Movie: Dutch Champs! Hear them sing the national Anthem :-) 1.3MB (please don't get scared ;-)
Roos and Adriënne.
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.


Movie: Overall winners 0.9MB


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Movie: Joost at 80km/h 0.9MB Movie: Joost about his run 1.3MB

 

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.
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Movie: Rollerman approaching 1.0MB

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.

Movie: Rollerman spinning around 1.3MB
Movie: 2nd run of Rollerman  1.3 MB

 

 

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.

 

 

Peter (me) in hs suit. See you on top of the next mountain!

Peter Nikkel.

peter@nikkel.nl

Links:

www.dutchdownhillteam.com
www.skatebond.nl/downhill/
www.lcsolbad.de/skating.htm

More pictures:
www.lcsolbad.de/upfotos.htm
(I am in the first row, 4th picture :-)

inlinedownhill.com

Skatebond Nederland.

Jean-Yves Blondeau (Rollerman): buggyrollin@freesurf.fr