RTS #8: Eindhoven - The place to be for a rollerblader in february…?

The past two weeks were interesting in terms of my rollerblading live. We had great and unforgettable moments at the rollTogether-session in Eindhoven, one week later we had an unexpected and big fire-disaster (not only rollerblading-wise), and then - as if by a miracle - great moments in Eindhoven again. But in times of crisis we need great and professional working people. Luckily we had a bunch of them and they exposed their dedication to this sport to the fullest. To bring a contest within 12 hours from Sint Niklaas’ own Ground Zero to Eindhoven’s Area 51 is a masterstroke that I have never seen before. On behalf of every rollerblader I need to thank Jojo Jacobi and all his personal helpers, I need to thank Ralf van der Kerkhof and his whole team of volunteers who set up all the extra obstacles in the skatepark in just some hours and of course the Area51 skatepark-crew for their openness and outstanding commitment! Thanks for this great last-Minute Winterclash! (There are probably more helpers and contributors worth mentioning here – thank you to those who I forgot!)

One week before Winterclash the rollTogether-Team already had the pleasure to meet all the aforementioned helpers: Jojo, Ralf and the coolest skatepark owners (Simon etc.) ever. Starting with Ralf van der Kerkhof: He worked hard (in cooperation with Jeroen) to set up a really fun rollerblading obstacle for the rollTogether session. RollTogether is not only famous for bringing rollerbladers together, but also to make skateparks more attractive for rollerbladers. Talking about this we need to thank Simon (crew-member of the Area51) making all this possible! He said to me that “running a skatepark is the best job in the world” and I truly believe him seeing all the work he has done! Fortunately, Jojo came to the session to roll with us and to hand out the Wildcards for the Winterclash. Thank you for joining us, good skating and for providing the Wildcards. Coming back to the session: It was so fun to watch. We had a great mixture of skaters coming together: younger guys, older guys, professionals and amateurs accompanied by filmers and photographers from Germany, Holland and Belgium. Talking about “older” guys I have to name Sven Boekhorst who definitely owns this park. He used it to full capacity and showed full power and high-speed transfers like no one else. His massive 360 disaster-soul on the huge box was landed with so much ease and received the biggest applause in the park. He pointed out why he belongs to the world’s best rollerbladers. Later on we all had the pleasure to see another “old-school-legend”, Jeremy Suarez Jimenez from Belgium. I am happy that this guy took his skates back to the road. He definitely doesn’t fear any speed and height. I haven’t seen a guy skating with so much speed on every obstacle!

For Giorgio Oehlers, Max van Hooren, Dick Heerkens, Edwin Wieringh and Tyron Ballantine (“the dutch wall”) it was like a home match. Those guys skated the park so damn hard. Edwin Wieringh and Giorgio Oehlers - both laced the biggest 900’s over the huge funbox – spinning so quick that they could generate electricity! Max van Hooren showed his outrageous skills on the rail: 540 truespin topside pornstar is just one trick to name at this point. Tyron fought hard on the rail and on the up-down ledge – amazing spinning tricks! Dick Heerkens – no more to say about this guy… He didn’t show spin to win tricks but flawless and constant hard skating throughout the day. One thing which is fascinating about him: He can slam hard and then even harder, but won’t stop before landing his trick! Not only Netherland’s finest rollerbladers but also Belgium’s heroes made their way to the Area. Jeremy Kessler had a nice training session at the park because one week later he was one of the best Belgium riders at the Winterclash! Great performance! For the first time ever, the omnipresent Adrien Anne (Grindhouse latest french team-rider) showed up at the RTS to roll with us. As usual he performed switch-ups which are not only hard to copy but also hard to remember.

A lot of people from Germany came to the session and that made us very happy: They don’t mind travelling longer distances to roll and have fun. At this point I need to name Daniel Gourski who is one of the younger guys supporting rollTogether since Day One! This kid improved so much and every time he skates he seems to get even better! Landing a 450 back-royale on the ledge after a long day of trying put a big smile on his face we won’t forget. Talking about german rollers it is definitely the right time to speak about Roland Wander. Roland was well known in the german rollerblading scene back in the year 2000. He was one of the first Grindhouse Team-Riders next to Daniel Prell. For some reasons he disappeared from the media and the bigger contest in Germany. But since 2008 you can see him more often on events and especially at the rollTogether-sessions. If you guys ever have the pleasure to meet him and to watch his skating, you are lucky. He just started his comeback for 2009, got on the Arkon-Team and is in the shape of his life! Be prepared. Beside that, we have to mention: Thomas Fratczak, the guy behind Arkon, contributed exclusively a high quality edit of the session. The best thing about the park is the fact that it is so big. People were not only concentrated on the street court, but also skated hard in the bowl and in the mini. At 8pm we all came together at the bar to announce the Wildcard-Winners (congratulations to Dick Heerkens and Giorgio Oehlers at this point) and to start the video-premieres of “Vibralux – On Top” and the latest german DVD-Production “Never Ending”. After that we ended up skating again, some of us until 2am in the morning!

On a personal note: All in all it was one of the best indoor sessions I had for a long time! And that’s because of you guys! Thank you to everybody who joined the session. I have to thank the RTS-Team for all their work. You should know that they put their heart and soul into every single piece of rollTogether! We all can’t wait for the next session to meet all our friends again – from the Netherlands, Belgium, France and of course Germany! Let us keep that thing going, let us make the community stronger and let us motivate younger guys…let’s rollTogether! rollTogether 8 Film from Rene Pressing on Vimeo. RKN @ Rolltogether 8 from Tom Fratczak on Vimeo.