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Today we went to the annual Eastbourne Extreme festival, which hosts 'a variety of attractions across Land, Sea and Air.' Highlights included a roller derby tournament, inline slalom competition, surfing, air bag jumps along side live music and various market stalls. The old converted fortress, now museum was a quirky venue for the evening's roller disco too. So,... Beach Pigeon?! This was a game we came up with while we took a break from the action and headed to the sea front. It wasn't until I got back home I realised most of my footage of the day was of this silly, but somewhat addictive game. Hence why I thought it deserved to get a special post title.
How do you play Beach Pigeon? Think clay pigeon shooting, but on a pebble beach. Firstly make sure no one is swimming in front! One person throws a somewhat larger rock (the "pigeon") ideally going for height rather than distance. Everyone else participating then throws one rock in an attempt to hit the larger rock. So simple yet it kept us entertained for ages and everyone could get involved at the same time. The beach is probably the best and safest place to play this, so I think 'Beach Pigeon,' is probably the most appropriate name for this game as funny as 'Rock Pigeon,' and 'Pebble Pigeon,' might sound. Run Frimley is an annual 2.5k and 10k run. It is a small local event held in Frimley, Surrey. The event is in aid of raising money for Breast Care Appeal, hoping to raise over £70,000. Last year they ran a last minute trial for the roller event with much positivity, so this year it was the first official Roller 10k race. I was still feeling a little achy from the previous weekend's Tough Mudder so thought it may be best to sit this one out despite already paying my entry fee. With a bigger marathon skate in two weeks I thought this was the right decision. However I still made the trip down to support my friends who were also partaking in the skate race. The event had a very nice small community feel and everyone there was filled with positivity. (My only gripe was there weren't quite enough portaloos). Best costume group is without doubt the Wizard of Oz people. Great effort! After the skaters shot off at the start I made my way to the hotdog tent ran by the local Scouts. I then had a little wander around before figuring out the best place for taking photographs. Feedback from my friends with the Roller event was that the surface wasn't particularly smooth but it was sufficient. Sometimes it was easier to go on the roads however the traffic could be too busy at times to do so. There are quite a few hills. Everyone said they'd definitely do it again next year however they would not recommend it to anybody who are not use to street skating. My friends did really well and took quite a few podium positions.
Woman's 10k Roller: 1st Elisabeth. 3rd Chidi. For the Men’s. 2nd Alex. 3rd Alan. 4th Bryan. 5th Muhayman. 9th François. The event was really enjoyable even though for a change I was spectating. Everyone I met that day was really friendly and down to earth. Hopefully the Roller event will gain popularity next year and it would be great to see other running events involve the skating community too. As in terms of logistics for road races, it's only a case of holding the track open for that little bit longer. It'll be great one day to see the London Marathon do the same, just as they do for the equivalent Berlin Marathon. What Frimley is doing is a great thing, so I look forward to taking part in the Run Frimley 10k Roller 2015.. While we always strive to better ourselves, my priority is to have fun. So here I threw a party to introduce my Rough Runner and Tough Mudder teammates to each other, as well our other non-mudder companions.
The bottom right image is of the awesome Scream At My Face raspberry cheesecake made by my friend Natalie. Too much food was bought for our group trip to Le Mans. (You can never have too much food). So we had picnic the following week to help use everything up. Best idea ever.
It was so nice to get everyone together, especially those who couldn't make the trip to France. We had plenty of entertainment that day: - This was my second time on the freeline skates, but still with little progress. - A great skate instructor, Mike Van Erp also gave us a brief introductory on roller hockey before we got stuck into a friendly game. This was my first time playing hockey on skates, it was really fun but I can imagine the likelihood of injuries would be quite high when you start to get more competitive! - I had my second day on speed skates too. Loving the oomph of my new toys. I stretched my legs around Hyde Park. Going up South Carriage Drive was particularly good with noticeably less effort and strides. My friend Richard who is an experienced speed skater gave me a lot of pointers, particularly that my technique is too 'street.' So whilst I can thrash around with bursts of energy, I wasn't exactly efficient for longer sessions. Another skater Gib very kindly let me practice some speed skating drills with him. I think I've underestimated the technicality of the whole speed thing… Overall it was a fantastic day out in the sun with good people and lots of different ways of rolling! I’ve always wanted to watch a roller derby game as I’m curious about this strange game on wheels which has very little publicity over here in the UK. My friend Chris aka Horndog was having his debuting match so this seemed to be a good opportunity, especially then as I had a team to root for. This match was different from normal as men and women play separately. In this bout it was the Men of Southern Discomforts Roller Derby’s newly formed B Team versus the girls of Croydon Roller Derby’s Riot Squad.
You may think the guys would go easy on the girls, but no. It was pretty vicious out there. Both sides hitting back just as hard as each other. I knew the basic rules but at times I did find it hard to follow exactly what was going on. There were some exciting moments like when you see some fancy footwork with the ‘jammer,’ narrowly missing a bump from the opponent. All the more impressive that they’re all using quad skates as I find them so much harder to use than inline skates. It was great to Chris in this game, especially since it was only a year ago he was looking a little unsteady on the Easy Saturday Skate, in Battersea Park. That man is a machine. He asked me if I wanted in on this game too. After seeing a guy get stretchered off during the match the answer is looking negative. His howling pain is still echoing. I can definitely see the appeal with school playground memories of ‘British Bulldog,’ and the whole team entity. However for me I’ve got plenty of other disciplines of skating to keep me occupied for now. Snow has covered London Town. It's not really skate, running or biking weather. It's Snow Miffy weather!
While I'm at work waiting for my computer to finish rendering a video,….
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"Any tips, reviews and advice are my own opinions and are not to be taken as professional view points. The information on this site is what has worked for me and is here for guidance only, but I hope you gain insight into the various activities I partake in." Jonathan Chen Archives
December 2019
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