Berlin Marathon 2003 report

by Gary Derwent

Last year I reported on the 2002 Berlin Marathon so I thought I’d better follow up with a summary of this years event, hopefully in time to encourage you all to include some marathons in your skating new years resolutions. Marathons are, for me, the best thing about skating, and the Berlin Marathon is undoubtedly the biggest and best marathon around, so if you haven’t yet given one a go, why not think about doing Berlin in 2004. It’s not until September, so even if you’re new to skating you’ve got time to prepare and practice. Skaters of all abilities can complete a marathon without too much extra training, and if you are a regular street skater, you’ll have no problems at all. If you want to put in a bit of specialised training for a better time, you’ll find it very rewarding in terms of achieving your goals, improving your overall skating ability and increasing general fitness. Although I’ve been skating about three years now, I still consider myself a relative beginner who can’t slalom, has trouble skating backwards very slowly and is still very attached to his heelbrake (yes, even on my five wheelers!), but I have managed to take an hour off my marathon best time, from 2.32 at Goodwood 2002, to 1.32 at Berlin 2003 and if I can do it, anybody can.

I’ll try not to repeat myself too much from last years article which can be found at http://www.londonskaters.com/skate_trips_berlin_marathon_2002.htm, but rather focus on the differences this year. In 2002 the Berlin marathon became the biggest ever skating marathon with over 8,000 competitors and though this year it didn’t reach its target entry of 12,000, it still easily broke the record again with 9,612 starters. Although these participant numbers can be exceeded by one or two of the big European street skates, notably Paris, the non-stop speed of a marathon together with the cerebral element of tactics, strategy and pace-line skating is hard to match.

There were a number of changes in the format of the Marathon this year but none of these had an adverse effect on the event, and overall I think it was much better. The major change was the separation of the running marathon from the skaters, with the skaters going on the Saturday afternoon prior to the usual Sunday morning start for the runners. Starting a marathon at 4pm was a bit odd. Being used to the usual 8.30am starts it was strange hanging about all day feeling too nervous to do anything touristy and wondering what and when to eat. It’s definitely easier to just get up early and get on with it.

Without the runners I had thought that there would probably be only a few spectators cheering the skaters on but a huge amount turned out, lining the course almost all the way round, many people deep. The atmosphere they created was overwhelming and really kept you going when you would have preferred to have collapsed in a heap at the side of the road. 

The route had changed considerably since the previous year too, but was even more spectacular, passing nearly all the same famous Berlin landmarks as last year, from both former East and West, but adding some different views of the Reichstag in the early stages and a fantastic finish up Unter Den Linden crossing the finish line only yards before passing underneath the newly restored Brandenburg Gate to the finishers area. One disappointment was missing out on the Ku’damm, Berlin’s equivalent of London’s Oxford street, which the skaters by-passed to allow Saturday shoppers to continue unhindered.

The course seemed a bit narrower on the whole this year, and with an extra 1600 skaters it certainly seemed more crowded. The start was particularly congested as the two parallel roads for starters last year had been reduced to a single, very packed road. Starting zones, based on best previous times and printed on your race number, were strictly enforced. (Strictly enforced, that is, unless you were a cunning Belotti Dave with a convenient marker pen, for whom group H miraculously became group B!) The last starters didn’t get across the start line until about 10 minutes after the elite skaters had started.

As in my last experience of the Berlin marathon, the tactics of pace-line racing were a very exciting highlight of the whole experience and with a couple more races under my belt since last year I felt like I was becoming a bit more pace-line savvy. Skating only inches behind a long line of skaters with more skaters only inches behind you, while the whole lot are travelling along at high speed does take a lot of getting used to, but it is incredibly exciting and really gets the adrenalin going.

With the increased numbers and my higher position in the field this year, I did notice a lot more elbowing and a few more fallers. Feeling more confident in my skating, I was also a bit more unforgiving when confronted with the usual pace-line pushing and shoving and certainly learned a few new German expletives from my competitors! If this sounds a bit intimidating to any marathon novices out there, don’t worry, you can take it at whatever pace you like and the lower end of the field is a lot more relaxing!

This year I spent very little time out of pace-lines and managed to avoid leading any lines. As ever, the temptation to leave a line that seems a little too slow and strike out on your own is very strong, but experience has finally taught me not to do it, and by patiently waiting for a faster line to come by on many occasions, I’m sure I gained time and saved energy.

One major set of obstacles, the chip-timing mats, had been limited to only three, at the start, halfway mark and finish, rather than every 5 kilometres the previous year. A mat may seem like a fairly innocuous obstacle for an experienced skater, but I can assure you that at high speeds with tightly packed groups of skaters they can cause havoc! The downside of this was the reduced amount of split times available after the race to help the marathon-nerds amongst us to analyse our times!

Berlin 2003 also marked the inaugural use of my skinsuit in a marathon! Having been a lycra-phobe for several years I have to reluctantly admit that I have now been converted to skinsuits. (When I say this, I feel like I should be standing up in front of a small group of solemn looking people saying ‘my name is Gary and I wear a skinsuit’!) Although undoubtedly ridiculous looking, especially on someone with a beer-gut like mine, there is no doubt that they are pretty comfortable to skate in. After a couple of races in one, I have also finally got over the morbid fear that the whole thing might rip and fly off with a gigantic twanging noise halfway through a race leaving me naked. One problem I hadn’t anticipated was the difficulty of getting the darn thing off quickly. Having put 90 minutes of adrenalin fuelled hard effort into the race, my innards weren’t in terribly good shape and shortly after the finish line I suffered a severe cramp and an urgent call from nature. I don’t think I’ll ever forget a panic stricken few minutes inside a very small portaloo trying to disentangle myself from my skinsuit before an embarrassing disaster struck. I am pleased to report that I was in the nick of time! Although I’ve been converted to skinsuits, they are certainly not obligatory with thousands of people just wearing shorts and t-shirts or other everyday skating gear. The same goes for skates, although many people do wear five wheelers, with the high ankle ‘fitness’ type five wheelers being very popular, there are also many thousands of participants using regular four wheelers. Whatever skating gear you turn up in, you won’t feel out of place.

A major plus for me at this years race, was the much greater numbers of participants from London. There were 18 of us, loosely connected through this website or team e2xn and being able to enjoy Berlin in a group made it all the better, the highlight being a couple of evenings in a traditional German restaurant, guided by Moritz a London Skater who knows Berlin very well. The massive beers that were served probably added a few minutes to all our times, but were well worth it!

A few of the London group skated in pairs, but for the most part it was every skater for him or herself during the race. Everybody achieved respectable times ranging from an amazing 1.17 for Gavin to 2.27 for Moritz who had equipment problems and finished valiantly with only 7 wheels. Five of the group managed sub 1.30 times including Belotti Dave, who with an incredible 1.19, was 6th in the over 55 group. I was delighted with my 1.32 as I had set myself a target of 1.40 or under.

After the race it was time to celebrate. The late start and consequent late finish allowed a funfair-like atmosphere around the finish area, with bands on stage and loads of food stalls and beer tents late into the Saturday night which was great fun. As well as celebrating, it allowed the skaters to gloat smugly to all the runners who were still on hard rations in preparation for their race the next morning. Most of the London group then met up in a restaurant to exchange stories and admire each others medals. Yet more gigantic German beers were consumed!

The Berlin Marathon in 2004 will be on Saturday 25th September with the runners going on the 26th. There are plenty of cheap flights to Berlin, particularly with Ryanair or Air Berlin, both out of Stanstead. It is a great city for a weekend break or longer and there is plenty for non-skating partners, family or friends to do too. I’ll certainly be doing it again and so, I’m sure, will many of this year’s participants from London. Anyone else from London or the UK is very welcome to join us, whether you know us already or not. If you feel like doing a bit more specialised training with a group of us, you could consider joining the LondonSkaters Speed Team (formerly Team e2xn London), although you can certainly train for and complete the marathon independently if you prefer. If you can’t make Berlin there are lots of other European marathons on a slightly smaller scale and many of us will be participating in those too. There will also be a couple of UK marathons notably the London Inline Marathon on 18th September details of which can be found at www.londoninlinemarathon.com

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