The first year of the Club Pati Barcelona
The Club Pati Barcelona continued the trainings in the same way as the last year: Monday and Wednesday there were technical trainings at the Plaza Willy Brandt and on Saturday morning or afternoon there were condition trainings for skating long distances along the Besos river or at the Airport area. After nearly every training a groups photo was made and put in Facebook to inform people about our next activities. Typical examples of such photos are presented here.
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These announcements and the mouth on mouth publicity of the activities of the club led to an increase in the number of participants especially at the technical trainings at the plaza Willy Brandt but also a bit if the training took place at the Besos river.
Some participants in APB Roller speed became members of the club to participate in skating championships. There were also new people who wanted to improve their skating skills but were not so much interested in participating in championships. These two groups needed different forms of training which could not be given at the same time by our trainer, Mateu. So I helped him regularly by guiding the slower group. There were more male than female members in the competitive group but there were from the very beginning a number of strong female skaters in the club.
The most remarkable characteristic of this club was that most members were more than 30 years old who are called "masters" in the skating world. This composition of the club is remarkable because when I came to Barcelona I could hardly find skaters that were older than 30 years. It showed that speed skating was only an activity for young people. On the other hand I was wondering if this bias in the direction of the higher age was also a mistake. It is a lot of fun to have also young kids in the club. You have only once to go to a training in one of the other clubs to see how much fun that is. Below you see the younsters of the Club.Pati Barcelona.
Some participants in APB Roller speed became members of the club to participate in skating championships. There were also new people who wanted to improve their skating skills but were not so much interested in participating in championships. These two groups needed different forms of training which could not be given at the same time by our trainer, Mateu. So I helped him regularly by guiding the slower group. There were more male than female members in the competitive group but there were from the very beginning a number of strong female skaters in the club.
The most remarkable characteristic of this club was that most members were more than 30 years old who are called "masters" in the skating world. This composition of the club is remarkable because when I came to Barcelona I could hardly find skaters that were older than 30 years. It showed that speed skating was only an activity for young people. On the other hand I was wondering if this bias in the direction of the higher age was also a mistake. It is a lot of fun to have also young kids in the club. You have only once to go to a training in one of the other clubs to see how much fun that is. Below you see the younsters of the Club.Pati Barcelona.
Accidents during the trainings
So far the development of the club went well, but there were also negative experiences. One event concerned myself. One day I went with Oliver and Gloria in my car to a training at the Airport. We were a bit earlier than the others but we were so eager to skate that we started immediately. At some moment Oliver skated in the front, then Gloria and then me. Because Oliver and me, as ice skaters, had the same style, I looked more at his movements than the movements of Gloria. At one moment I hit her skate with my skate and I fell very badly. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I became unconscious and they had to call for an ambulance. I became conscious again in the hospital. There the nurses where so surprised to see a 70 years old person who fell while skating that they told it to others. At one moment there were 6 or 7 nurses around my bed. So much attention I had never had in my life of the female sex. Maybe it helped to recover because by the end of the day I could go home again even though it was quite a bad fall. However I learned to be a bit more careful while skating. For similar events click here.
The second accident occurred to Elias. Occasionally skating was not possible at the plaza Willy Brandt. So we went to the public space of the Forum close by. There no clear track was made like at the plaza Willy Brandt. Several groups were formed with respect to speed and they followed approximately the same route but sufficiently different that two groups hit upon each other and Elias broke his hand and could not participate for many weeks. This event indicates again how important it is to have a dedicated track for speed skating. Without such a track this sport is not without risk.
So far the development of the club went well, but there were also negative experiences. One event concerned myself. One day I went with Oliver and Gloria in my car to a training at the Airport. We were a bit earlier than the others but we were so eager to skate that we started immediately. At some moment Oliver skated in the front, then Gloria and then me. Because Oliver and me, as ice skaters, had the same style, I looked more at his movements than the movements of Gloria. At one moment I hit her skate with my skate and I fell very badly. Even though I was wearing a helmet, I became unconscious and they had to call for an ambulance. I became conscious again in the hospital. There the nurses where so surprised to see a 70 years old person who fell while skating that they told it to others. At one moment there were 6 or 7 nurses around my bed. So much attention I had never had in my life of the female sex. Maybe it helped to recover because by the end of the day I could go home again even though it was quite a bad fall. However I learned to be a bit more careful while skating. For similar events click here.
The second accident occurred to Elias. Occasionally skating was not possible at the plaza Willy Brandt. So we went to the public space of the Forum close by. There no clear track was made like at the plaza Willy Brandt. Several groups were formed with respect to speed and they followed approximately the same route but sufficiently different that two groups hit upon each other and Elias broke his hand and could not participate for many weeks. This event indicates again how important it is to have a dedicated track for speed skating. Without such a track this sport is not without risk.
Participating in championships
A second big difference with the previous year was that several members of the club could now participate in championships and that has been done with a lot of enthusiasm as we can see below. The club members participated in in 8 different races. By glding the curser over the pictures you will see the name of the race.
A second big difference with the previous year was that several members of the club could now participate in championships and that has been done with a lot of enthusiasm as we can see below. The club members participated in in 8 different races. By glding the curser over the pictures you will see the name of the race.
The skating season starts with the race at Motorland in January with for Spanish people freezing temperature and downhill speeds upto 60 km/hour. The second race was the Catalan circuit championship that took place in Sant Boi close to Barcelona. At this small cycle park the temperaments were so overheated that the so far friendly relationships between our club and the PC Nicky´s was for a long time disturbed. The third race was the Marathon of Valencia in the rain but with nice successes for the club. The fourth race was held in Tarragona were the club members staying together tried to realize a good result together. The same was done in the fifth race in Montmemlo where the club was strongly represented and won many prizes. The sixth was the Spanish championship for masters in Gijon were only two club members participated but with success. The next two are local races one in Raval and one in Prat the Llobregat. The seventh is the endurance test for teams in the 24 hours of Calafat. The club Pati Barcelona participated in this race with success with two teams one of 4 and one of 6 skaters. The last one was the World Marathon championship for masters in Palermo where Antonello could skate in the first group of the 50+ masters till he became so sick just before the end that he could not continue anymore.
This was quite a program for the first year of the club. Most participants enjoined the participation a lot and looked forward to do it again in the next year. For the results obtained by the club I refer to its web site.
This was quite a program for the first year of the club. Most participants enjoined the participation a lot and looked forward to do it again in the next year. For the results obtained by the club I refer to its web site.