Brighton Skate Tuesday 3rd May 2011

Sunshine in Brighton. Packed beaches. Hoards of students and holiday makers descend on the city to revel in the unique seaside fun that can only be had in Brighton when the sun shines. The skaters also come out to play…..

Skating in Brighton this year has seen a steady increase with new beginners starting each month and many students continuing in higher level classes. Brighton has a big Roller Derby scene and the Brighton Rockers have over 30 people at their training sessions each month.

This week Brighton’s skating really kicked off with the launch of the Brighton Skate street skate, lead by Kris and the crew. They’ve been working hard prepping the music bike, getting fliers ready and route checked. The first street skate was a luminary extravaganza with all skaters being encouraged to light up to the max. We want to create an inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels welcome and we all get to know each other. Seeing so many faces from last year was great and I enjoyed seeing how certain people’s skating had improved over the winter. In particular Quadster Paul has some impressive 2 wheel quads moves which are so smooth they defy his (very few) months on wheels.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPhbo6uaEMI[/youtube]

I love the reaction that street skates produce in spectators who see it go by. People’s faces light up as we pass by and in Brighton people are even more vocal and enthusiastic than in London. Skating brings out everyone’s inner child (whether you skate already or not) and I think this is a great thing in our over serious modern world of preoccupation with work and money. Let the children in us play, and we like to play on wheels.

It was great to see skaters from Eastbourne coming to support the skate and I had the privilege of seeing Tim’s (from Eastbourne’s Sk8School) decked out skate van. Nice work! There were over 35 skaters gathered for the beginning of the skate, a newly supped up music bike and 3 asboxes (courtesy of Mick, Becca and Robert). The music was great and the smooth calm seafront surfaces from Hove to the Marina made for a fairly quick pace. I was impressed at the Roller Derby quaddies keeping up no probs.

I enjoyed talking about the new Hardcore Evos I’m skating in from Powerslide. Several people noticed I was wearing new skates and I am loving them so much for their smoothness, speed and agility. They are saving my knee joints as you don’t have to exaggerate anything for techniques to work. The sound of them is also a thing of joy, especially at high speeds going down the Mount on the seafront in front of my house!

There is nothing like skating around your home town at sunset with a bunch of nice people and some music. It truly is one of life’s simple pleasures and I look forward to many more such Brighton Skates.

For further details see;

http://www.brightonskate.co.uk/