“you’ve got HOW many pairs of skates?”

Email: kate@skatescool.com

I confess, I owned a pair of disco quads when I was 12 (blue ones), used mostly for zooming down the school driveway, and trying not to crash at the bottom. They lived in the bottom of a cupboard for the rest of my schooldays.

My next relationship was with Ice Hockey at College mostly in the middle of the night when the rink was cheap to hire! But what a buzz, and it’s surprising how quickly you forget you’re on skates when you’re concentrating on a puck and your teammates.

Work took me to live in Holland, and more Ice Hockey. Although they strangely melt the rinks in the summer, so I was forced back onto wheels -my first pair of in-lines - and started discovering the joys of skating in parks, on bike tracks, and occasionally streets (whilst avoiding the tricky tramlines). Learning to ski seemed to help too.

My skates all stayed in the cupboard for a few years, until a move to London led me to discover the joys of the LondonSkate and London Friday Night Skate, and of course, an upgrade to inlines better suited to London’s streets.

I joined skate patrol in summer 2004 to give something back to the skate community - giving free clinics in heel-brake stopping. I’m sure there are many lonely & neglected pairs of skates in cupboards, just waiting for their owners to discover that skating can be in control, and stopping doesn’t have to involve a lamppost. I passed my ICP Level One Instructor’s course in 2005 – mostly thanks to all the beginners who let me practice on them at skate patrol.

Hanging around on Serpentine Road (both real and virtual) led me to discover the racing scene. Miles of tarmac, free of cars, bikes and skaters going in the wrong direction. The competitive spirit turned out to be catching, along with lycra and bigger wheels, thanks to our club - London Skaters Speed Team (LSST). So yet another pair of skates joined my collection.

There are a few UK races through the summer (Blenheim, Preston, Goodwood & London), but my favourite ones are when the club goes to European races like Lille, Le Mans and Berlin. It’s great to be at a race with a big group – from first time fun-racers to the serious elite. I particularly enjoy Le Mans – a 24 hour relay race with a 10-man team.

As with everyone, I need to work on my fitness if I want to finish faster, and of course, the perpetual incremental improvements to technique.
In real life, I’m an Engineer, and when it’s too wet to skate I’ll either be found out dancing (Ballroom or Salsa) or doing DIY with my husband.