Posts Tagged ‘skating’

The countdown is definitely on – February 12 is the date for the opening ceremony of the 21st Winter Olympic Games to be held in and around Vancouver, Canada.

As well as some of the iconic winter sports such as downhill skiing, ice hockey, skating in its many different guises, snowboarding and the like the 2010 games will host a new event – namely ski cross.

You may not have heard of ski cross but in essence it is the same as snowboard cross but on skis and according to Wikipedia it is involves a time trial or qualification round, every competitor skis down the course, which is built to encompass both naturally occurring terrain and artificial features like jumps, rollers, banks — whatever the course builder can imagine.

After the time trial, the fastest 16 (in women’s events) or 32 skiers (in men’s events) compete in a knockout (KO)-style series in rounds of four. A group of four skiers start simultaneously and attempt to reach the end of the course. The first two to cross the finish line will advance to the next round. At the end, the final and small final rounds determine 1st to 4th and 5th to 8th places, respectively.

Competitors are not allowed to pull or push each other during the KO finals. Any intentional contact to the other competitors will be penalized by disqualification or exclusion from the next race.

As is often the case pictures are better than words and this video from 20min, although somewhat dated demonstrates the action in this exciting and challenging extreme sport.

The 21st Winter Olympics are fast approaching and with the likes of ski cross our appetite for some serious action is truly whetted – bring them on!

Following on from yesterday’s story of the adaptation of the waveboard to enable use on the ice with the blizice blades we thought it would be useful to talk a little more about how to ride a waveboard.

We have found two good videos on YouTube which talk about the sport, how to get started and what can be done on these boards.

This first video is from sweptawaytv and discusses the basic techniques of getting started on the waveboard. This blend of snowboarding, skating and surfing is claimed to have origins from the martial arts. That may be right – certainly symmetry and balance are required; your vision must be toward the horizon, your feet placed symmetrically on the board, your movement of shoulders, torso and hip to create the propulsion required to move the board.

No doubt about it this street surfing is cool and for less than $100 you can get started, further it is great exercise.

[youtube=http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=rKj0jyEc-aw]

The second video is from awesomescreename and is a good, solid guide on how to start on the board, how to get propulsion, how to turn, and how to stop – most important! Finally one or two tricks are demonstarted.

[youtube=http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=NfE-NM14mE4]

As ever with these extreme sports mishaps do occur so you are advised to wear appropriate protective appendages!

We have noticed that there is an increasing number of those extreme sports enthusiasts who are asking more and more about waveboards and street surfing.

The waveboard was originally invented by a Korean man. This man named it the snakeboard or the S-board. Then an American company asked the Korean man for his idea and the company switched the name from snakeboard to waveboard or the ripstick.

Now there has been a further adaptation which is gaining in popularity in Canada; it combines skating, surfing and snowboarding.

What adapts the board to ice is the blizice system which consists of two small stainless steel blades. The blades can be easily converted for asphalt by inserting wheels, making it a board for all seasons.

Mike Cooke, of the Dog Bowl Board in Brooklin, Ont., said “the sport has become extremely popular, I can’t believe the response we’ve had. A couple of people asked for it and then once I got it in the store it took off. In the last couple months we’ve sold well over 30 boards.”

The first video is from thewavevideos and shows the Street Team stutting their stuff in traditional wave board style..

[youtube=http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=XIxb4Mrqitg]

The second is from ehoob10717 – very instructional for this extreme sport which is getting more and more popular.

[youtube=http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=X3y5tOsJ7J8]

The final video from mpanagis shows what happens and what can be done when you adapt your waveboard with the blizice system. Despite Mr Cooke’s optimism (see above) we are not convinced that this adaptation will have a universal appeal due to the limiting necessity and therefore space, of ice.

Still it might be a good idea to have a pair of blizice in your pocket – you never know when it might freeze over.

[youtube=http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=EYcdyuTzGh8]