National Roller Cup

Event Opens to Variety of Skaters

June 22, 2012

Planet report

This weekend’s Skate of the Union in Washington, D.C., won’t be the largest event of the 2012 National Roller Cup. In fact, due in part to unintended competition from the new North Carolina Inline Marathon on Saturday, it may be one of the smallest.

But what it lacks in numbers, it will make up for in diversity. Along with inline skaters, this year's event will include quad skaters, derby girls, and even skateboarders.

“Our goal this year was to include something for all the skating communities in our area,” said Krista Schreffler, owner of the Skaters Quest school in Arlington, VA, and one of the event organizers.

About the only kind of skating missing from this year's event will be ice skating. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be ice skaters. In fact, the world's top longtrack ice skater, Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis, will be part of the event's Olympic Day celebration on Saturday.

Schreffler doesn't expect to draw a big crowd this year. But she has high hopes for the future. "This is more of a launching event this year," she said. "In the future, our goal is to grow and to make this the biggest skating event in the country."

Here's a quick rundown of the schedule:

Friday

6-10 pm: Family Skate at the Temple Hills Skate Palace in Maryland

7 pm: Friday Night Social Skate with the Washington Area Roadskaters, which starts at the White House

Saturday

9:15-noon: Free public roller skating on a 50-by-100 foot outdoor roller rink with demonstrations by Anacostia Rollers, DC Rollergirls, Pic Skate, and Style Skaters

Noon: Skate/Walk to London, led by Shani Davis

Noon to 2 pm: Free skate Lesson hosted by Washington Area Roadskaters

12:30 pm: Skateboard Grand Prix 100m drag race ($500 purse)

1-5 pm: Roller skating extravaganza at DC's historic Anacostia Pavillion in Anacostia Park

3-5 pm: Skateboarding at Maloof Skate Park

Midnight: Skate of the Union After Party at the Temple Hills Skate Palace

Sunday

8 am: 10K for inline and roller skaters

8:40: 5K

9:30: full and half marathon

(Skate of the Union website)

Live blog coverage of the marathon will start at 9 am Sunday (EDT).

(If you would like to be part of our coverage, post your photos, videos and reports on the Skater Network.)

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