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News - 21/11/13 Back in August US-based skier Naomi Jarvis and her son came along to Dorney Lake. Here she reviews it for 'The Pennsylvania Nordic Skier', journal of the Pennsylvania Cross-Country Skiers' Association -
Rollerskiing with Parachutes By Naomi Jarvis During the summer my son and I visited our relatives in the UK. With skiing always on my mind, in a quiet moment I searched online for rollerski shop, and – surprise! – found rollerski.co.uk, offering classes and gear rental, with the nearest course scheduled for the following weekend. Naturally we leapt at this, and registered for a full day course – skate in the morning, classic in the afternoon. It took place at Dorney Lake, near London, the site of the 2012 Olympic rowing events, which has a wide and nicely paved path all around the lake, bordered by neatly mown grass. One of the coaches arrived in the company van (see photo) which was crammed full with rollerski equipment, neatly organized into compartments completely filling the back of the van. The only thing we had to bring with us was gloves.
Once it had been established that we had our own rollerskis at home, we were put into the advanced group. We saw the beginner group getting started with balance exercises on the grass, which we thought was a good idea. There were almost a dozen people in each group; the participants had come from as far away as the South coast, Cambridge and the Midlands… and us, from PA, of course. Most belonged to the London rollerski club, they train on rollerskis all year round, with a busy race calendar, and make trips abroad for real skiing, eg the Engadin marathon. Our instructor was a lively Russian who had grown up on skis, skiing to elementary school in winter. She led us through a variety of balance drills, then some work on strength and technique, first on skate, and later on classic skis. Similar exercises are to be found in DVDs published by our very own CXC, but nothing beats working through them in a group with a coach shouting correction and encouragement. Scooting (one ski on and one ski off) was familiar to us but scooting with a hop, where the wheels have to leave the ground, was more challenging. We also played a game of tag, skied forwards a short distance with our eyes closed, skied backwards with our eyes open, had relay races and chariot races (pulling a partner along with ones ski poles – we won that one) and even parachute races. The parachutes have a strap which fastens around the skier’s waist; the wind was blowing along the path, so we skied downwind with the parachute bundled up under one arm, and then turned around, released the parachute and skied into the wind with the added resistance of the chute slowing us down. The path was flat but towing the parachute felt just like skiing uphill. Towing two parachutes was a real workout, interesting to try for a short time. I didn’t dare to try three parachutes – the wind was brisk and skating backwards into a lake wasn’t on my agenda. We enjoyed the day, the group environment was a welcome change for us, the balance drills were helpful, the coach gave us some good ideas to work on, and it was fun. The next day we could hardly move. Thoroughly recommended - if you visit the UK, or need a parachute, look them up! |
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