Halstenbek and Stuff

(Didn't proof read...)

I owe a Halstenbek report, a Hamburg report, another Hamburg report.... and a report on the German long distance nationals (double marathon)...
And the European championships are being held in Gera (Ger) right now... (I just returned from the track events)

Halstenbek:
I live in Lower Sachsony in Germany, a region with an extreme lack of speed skating tracks... Due to a lack of speed skating tracks and an abundance of smooth skatable roads with little traffic most skaters don't need or want a track (unlike the members of my team, since track rocks)...
Halstenbek was a chance to getting the biggest pro street - anti track racing series on a track... Tracks have great advantages for viewers... They see everything and not just a split second of the race.... Something I really enjoyed...
The racing at the event was pretty clean. I didn't see any foul play at all, not one warning was givent to a skater...
The first problem... After warming up on the track Björn Dieterich (my team) broke his skate... He tried to skate my coach's custom ( :D ), but it didn't work out for him at all, so we were down one man, leaving Sebastian, Marcel, Mario and me to take on the (5?) 2000m team pursuit.
KED Helmsysteme sponsored us with time trial helmets, which we weren't really going to use (egg shells :-P ), but I didn't want it to go to waste, so I forced the team to wear them in Halstenbek for fun :D :D :D (It was hilarious)
The day started out with a 300m time trial. My team mate Marcel won this event. I turned out fourth or fifth and was not one bit surprized (I don't know what went wrong, but I know that a few things went wrong that cost me quite a bit of time). Sebastian placed third and was happy pretty happy about it.
After the time trial we had our first 2000m team pursuit race. Not knowing how things would turn out, we decided start fast untill we got up to cruising speed and then just keep it. We knew that most of the competition wouldn't be a problem for us skate against and all team pursuit races ended with us lapping the competition. The helmets made the difference ;)
The most interesting race (to me) was the 3000m mass start for the men, because Team Speedlager.de skater Thorben Wöhlki (Also a member of the new "Team Promille 3") was going to join the pack on his home track. Marcel, Sebastian and I set up tactics for the race. I was supposed to stick to Thorben and tire him out, whilst Marcel made sure to beat the skater from Berlin, who had placed 2nd in the sprint in order to take the win for the day. Sebastian was supposed to stick to the pack and assist the team.
After the start my team started attacking in turns. I tried to stick to Thorben, but also found myself leading with a gap between myself and the pack in one situation. After I was caught, witha only three or four laps to go, Marcel attacked and built up a small lead. With two laps to go Thorben Wöhlki attacked and passed Marcel, I was tailing him and didn't let go. In the last lap I tried to pass him (after the first turn). I didn't make it past him before the final turn (shit!) and stayed on the outside lane in order to accelerate as possible and maybe pass him on the on straight. I started to slip, but stayed on my feet and kept accelerating. I passed him at the beginning of the final straight and took first. Marcel stayed ahead of the skater from Berlin and took third. This result put Marcel in 1st and me in 2nd in the overall rankings. We also won the team pursuit event and took the maximum of points for the North League.

Skate-Tv Video Preview

Skate-Tv has a preview video for the IBA Hamburg Marathon. A 4 man breakaway managed to stay off the top and win with over a minute on the pack.
The race was ok. I will report on it as soon as I have the time.

Skate-Tv Hella Hamburg Half Marathon Video

Isaak Papadopolous has uploaded his video coverafe for the Hamburg Half Marathon!

Once again it is a great video!

My favorite quote:
"We Killed the pack" -Ferre Spruyt-

Click Here for the Video

A 'to be' Halstenbek Report (Pictures)

Here are a few pictures to look at before I write up my Halstenbek report:

German Track Nationals

I received some interesting pictures and videos from the German track nationals.
Nico Wieduwilt was disqualified in the 20K elim race, but pictures showed up showing Felix apparantly holding Nico. The Zepto home page had an article about it, but it was removed from the homepage. I wasn't there, so I don't know... So I asked one of the ref's from the race:
-> Nico was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct, which is not visible on the pictures. He over worked his elbows and received several warnings for that behavior. It was pretty smart of Felix to pretend that he is being fouled, but he would only have received a warning for holding Nico, because both of them are involved in the foul play in the last turn. Nico already had enough elbow-play for the disqualification, Felix had one warning.
->Barbara saw Nico as the initiator for the rough play during the last round and since his behavior had been more than unsportsmanlike all judges unanimously voted for a disqualification.

After the race the Zepto World Team member had things thrown at him (apparantly) by the skater, who caused the crash seen at 3:15 in the youtube video (apparantly he threw a cool-pack).
Yes there are a lot of apparantly's... I wasn't there and after watching the video, I am happy I wasn't...

Here is the Video of the 20K elim race.
And here are a number of pictures showing the last turn that got Nico disqualified.

After the nationals the German national team was announced:

European Champs Ger
Track Men
Nico Wieduwilt
Felix Rijhnen
Pascal Ramali
Victor Wilking
Denis Dressel
Matthias Schwierz
Etienne Ramali

Track Women
Sabine Berg
Lisa Kaluzni
Tina Strüver
Jana Gegner
Jakobine Wolf

Men Marathon
Bernhard Krempl
Patrick Räthel
Simon Strobel
Patrick Täubrecht
Boris Hahn
Markus Pape
Stefan Rumpus
Rico Keppeler
Albrecht Döring
Nicolas Kleyling
Benjamin Tippmann

Marathon Women
Franziska Neuling
Katja Ulbrich
Sabrina Rossow

Picture Copyright of Gerhard Schwierz

A lot to report and more to come

The last two weeks have been pretty tough on me, so I haven't been posting much. I had my home race a weekend ago and two races this last weekend...

Right now I'm in a train on my way home from a television interview I had with the GBC boss Karsten Schölermann in Hamburg, but I'll talk about that later.

My home race turned out to be a disaster for my team. ETAP showed up with their best GBC skaters to ruin the fun we were having with their NorthCup skaters :-P . Beedenbostel is a small village by Celle. All they really have is horses, their local fire department and skating (If I put it that way). The Beedenbostel event is one of their highlights for the year.

I had been in specific training for the Beedenbostel event for the past four weeks. My training had it's peak right this weekend, so I was fit as hell and I really, really wanted to win.

The first race of the day was a half marathon. Last year I had crashed out after the first round with a guy from Hannover (who now skates for Lübeck, which is ETAP's club, but he doesn't skate for ETAP), who broke three ribs and punktured his lung. I remember quitting the race to bring him to the ambulance after he almost toppled over gasping for air (about 1K after the crash, while skating).

This year I just wanted to win. I wanted it bad.

Start of the half marathon

The start was normal for a German race → A little fast to seperate the field a bit. After the first few hundred meters ETAP skater Erwin Bergen attacked. I decided to follow in order to make sure one skater from my team was in each breakaway. As soon as I caught up to Erwin he wanted to stop skating, seeing that I passed him, holding my pace and forcing him to chase after me. He caught on and I asked him “are you going to skate with me or just draft off of me?” . “My orders are to draft... I have six skaters back there Andy, it's not worth it.” was all he replied. Great. The lead was good enough to keep, but we slowed down a bit after my pull and let the field swallow us. My recollecting of who attacked when kind of stops there. All I can say is that I was either in every breakaway, or I chased them down.

I wanted to win.

(I think everybody gets the point...)

I'll just report on what I remember. I remember ETAP's tactics being the following:

-Sebastian Rehse (ETAP GBC team) will give Dominik Hassa (ETAP NorthCup team) draft.

-Jörg Wecke wil cover Marcel Eckstein

-Lukas Wannagat will cover me (haha :-P )

-Arnold Makarewis (Skate-Team Lübeck, not on ETAP) will draft (and lead?)

-Alexander Schmitz will draft and lead

-Erwin Bergen will attack

-Dominik Hassa mentioned above draft behind Sebastian and follow Marcel.

-Patrick Pelka will lead a lot

I think thats everbody...

Our team tactics:

-Marcel stick to Dominik

-Tim assist Marcel

-Sebastian assist Marcel

-Mario assist team

-Andy go nuts, tire Lübeck and win the race (JK)

-Björn hold on tight

Shortly after my attack Arnold Makarewis went on a breakaway with Erwin Bergen (?) and Percy Keppler (Celle) (I think). This dude only attacks (this dude as in Percy) when I come back from breakaways... Patrick Pelka chased down the attack and I picked up the chase leading to the entire pack chasing them down. After we had them back the big hill was up ahead.

After the first round (4K) we entered a different part of the race course (the 8K round). There was a big hill coming and I knew it. I got ready and attacked after the roundabout. Some other skaters attacked with me, so I ended up on a (slowing) short breakaway with a der-rollenshop skater (Beulertz) and a few other ETAP skaters... I saw us slowing and decided to do an Italian style attack... (Jump out like you're cornering) . It backfired. A few days before the race I had corrected my frame and hadn't cornered once on it since. It felt wrong and I almost knocked myself off the race course. Shortly after that embarassing moment Erwin Bergen attacked. Lübeck set up a typical road block, but I found a small spot that was open for a split second and jumped in front of the blocking Lukas Wannagat. I chased Erwin down and almost the same thing happened as before. Erwin sees me, slows down. I pass and he jumps on. With Erwin trailing me. I asked the rhetorical question again: “You gonna sit on my ass or pull?” This time I was surprized by his answer: “I'll hold your pace”. And he did for 200m and then got a bit slower, but nothing that had to be on purpose. The pack slowly caught us back.

I remember OSC Leer being on a two man breakaway for a minute and ETAP doing a counter attack with road block. I shouted at the skaters from Leer to stop and let me pass so I could catch them. It worked out in the end and we caught ETAP. I think Dominik Hassa was out on that breakaway and I was getting pissed, because Marcel wasn't there.

Then I have a blank for about 4K, till we enter the next round. My strength started to dwindle and I was starting to feel like shit. ETAP attacked on the hill. Sebastian Rehse pulled Dominik Hassa and Arnold Makarewis out on an attack. I chased, since Marcel was once again not on his man. Why wasn't Marcel with Dominik?

Marcel had to stick to Dominik like shit on Velcro.

And Marcel was no where to be seen.

I switched to “do Marcel's job mode”. I drafted right behind Dominik and did no work to make the attack stop. I needed Marcel up front if something was going to be successful. Then there were a few “positionings”... ETAP was trying to free Dominik from me and he jumped into their line. I tried to follow immediately, but was pushed out. So I jumped into the spot behind the other ETAP skater. I then heard Arnold Makarewis shout, but didn't listen. Would have been a waste of concentration. I had to stick to Dominik and make sure he can't leave. We actually stayed off the top for a while, since the Lübeck skaters in the back weren't doing any work.

The skaters in the fron included Lukas (since I was there), Sebastian with Domink, Arnold and Patrick Pelka. Then the funniest part of the race took place.

Dominik told his team, out loud, with me right behind him, to stop attacking or forcing the pace, because he couldn't follow.

We give me a shot of joy and adrenaline. I immediately attacked. One against 3 or 4 skaters from one team and I go right off the top. I didn't even flinch after hearing it I just skated fast and forced Lübeck to chase and somehow protect Dominik from exhaustion. I pulled for as long as my already completely weakened body would go with the security of finishing the race in the main pack. I hoped this had cost Dominik enough strength for a while. I'm not sure if I attacked again or not... But we slowed down considerably after that. I couldn't lead at all and Lübeck wasn't going to jeopardize their “must win” skater. I went back to my team in the main pack, gasping for air in order to soothe my dying muscles before the race finishes.

This is were we had a communications problem: Marcel had muscle cramps. They had started in the second round. But he only told me this after the race.

Thinking Marcel was fit I tried to weaken ETAP more with attacks, but they had enough men to spare with chasing me down.

It came down to the last stretch. ETAP does a great job of blocking people in sprints (I'll get to this in my Lecthingen report, which will follow soon). In order to stop this from happening I went to the front of the pack and lead out the sprint. Well I lasted about 100m before the ETAP train passed by and completely spread out over the entire road. Marcel did his best to sprint, with Sebastian pulling him, but it was no use. We got smothered.

I need to catch some sleep before I continue with the second half of the Beedenbostel report and start the Lechtingen report.

Beedenbostel Team Time Trial: Björn leads out the time (Björn, me, Marcel, Mario, Sebastian, Tim)

Pictures of the race shot by Sonjy Rumpf (c.), a lot of pictures can be found here.

Things are getting hot.

I am currently preparing for my "home race" in Beedenbostel, which is just a few kilometers away from Celle. I know the course pretty much by heart, but I'll skate over it today and tomorrow to find out when to start an optimal sprint. The race includes a fitness skater event, two races for kids, the state championships in half marathon distance and the state championships in team time trial. ETAP has pulled two of their strongest national skaters to event in order to assist their NorthCup team. Sebastian Rehse (German National Marathon Champion 30+) and Jörg Wecke (German National Marathon and Half Marathon Champion 40+) will make their way to the race. At least this should make it more interesting ;-) But I guess that also depends on the tactics they will be skating. The team time trial will be pretty tough with them assisting, but we are positioned right behind them, so that could help a bit. The half marathon will be tough anyways, but I really want to see how good I am in comparison to Sebastian Rehse... (Jörg was in Cologne)


Apart from my home event, another NorthCup event is in preparation. I think this is the first time the street racing series NorthCup and NorthLeague have added a track race, and I am really looking forward to it!! The Halstenbek Track will take place on the fifth of July (Halstenbek is near Hamburg) and will surely be a lot of fun. The day will start out with a 300m time trial. The results are used to determine the starting positions for the 3000m race in the afternoon. During the day there will be team races... This event should prove to be the toughest. Teams are: Open (men and women of all ages), women and masters (40+). Open teams race against each other (like a team chase/ knock out race). The winner gets two points, the loser loses two... The races also get longer and longer, but don't ask me how they will define which races are long and which races are short (ie. 2-10 * 250m rounds)... As mentioned above, after all the team time trial races there will be a 3000m standard race.
Between some races a skater will race a cyclist on the track (!!) over 300m. They tried the race yesterday and it was supposedly a close call (not like a 100m skater vs. bike race, where the cyclist doesn't pull full throttle in order to make it look interesting).
The organizers announced that there might be a 10.000m point race for the best of the event.... I hope that works out.

There have also been a few changes within the team since the last race... I'd love to elaborate and explain, but the competition reads too... :-P