Relaxing after the race

Relaxing after the race.

St Gallen One-eleven inline skate race 2004 (aug 8th )

Two years ago I skated the St Gallen One-eleven in the rain. I wasted a set of bearings in one day. This year the weather was perfect for skating. The One-Eleven is a 111km race in Switserland. The location is just south of the Bodensee lake. It's hilly environment and very beautiful. It took only three hours and seven minutes for the fastest skater to complete the race. For the majority of the fitness skaters, over four hours is more likely. There is also the possiblity to race just the final 20km uphill, or particpate in the relay.The start of the race is at 7:00 am. The best way to be there on time is to sleep in one of the halls. I stayed in TNS-basecamp, the hall next to the start.

I had been skating a lot with about 60 American friends in and around Zürich together with some local skaters in the days befor the One-eleven, so I wasn't well prepared. I decided to try out my new speed shoes on a long distance too. This costed me a pair of blisters after two hours. The fun of a skate like this is hanging out with friends so I stayed in about the same pack as some TNS skaters and did some video work. The result was reasonable: 4 hours 21 min. Next year I will race it and go for a time well below 4 hours.

If you have a broadband connection you definitely have to wacht the video (it's 71MB). Then you will get an impression about the excellent atmosphere of the race. In all villages people are cheering and supporting you by shouting "hop hop hop" and using the typical swiss cow bells as wel to make a lot of noise. there are plenty of water and food supplies. Some even have skating "waiters" who skate with you and serv you bananas and cookies.

At the finish everybody is glad he made the last hill. At the end of the day we went to a lake on top of a hill in St Gallen to have a swimm, relax and a BBQ. The next day we skated along the Bodensee, but there will be another movie of this skate out soon.

MOVIE: St Gallen 111km inline race 2004, Team Holland and Team TNS, Team USA 10 min.04 (71MB)
MOVIE: St Gallen the day after: Ausroll am Bodensee Germany/Switserland 7 min.42 (54MB