Inline skaters from all over the world will get together in Liverpool in the Tenth International Slam Jam event to compete for a prize of more than £5,000.

The event will be organised at the Rampworx Indoor Skatepark in Netherton. It will coincide with Liverpool’s Capital of Culture festivities.

There will be some of the best aggressive inline skaters from different countries such as USA, Brazil, China and parts of Europe. The event will be held from 17th to 19th October.

Rampworx is an excellent venue with all the facilities required for an event of this nature. There will also be a strong participation from local youngsters in the event.

Rampworx has a reputation and capacity not only as a popular skatepark in Liverpool but as a city and the organisers of the event are very confident about its success and expect it to be an excellent one.

The event would have various categories like King and Queen of Slamm, People’s choice award and Best Trick that would make it a fantastic experience.

A spokesperson for Rampworx said that the organisation had grown considerably in the last few years. This also shows that Liverpool has become a world force in areas as diverse as extreme sports.

In Great Britain, industry figures show that approximately 100,000 pairs of inline skates are being sold every year. It was first used by youth and young male adults but in the last five years the sport has caught on with 25 to 50 year olds. This sport has also been adopted by a large number of women. Inline skating is popular with children as well.

Inline skating is a great physical exercise and it is accessible and cheap. You can go for inline skating as and when you want either with your group or alone. Inline skating is a great outing with friends or alone to relax and enjoy. This activity has developed as a hobby in many youngsters.

Experts say that inline skating is a really good workout. Inline skating can provide the same level of aerobic activity as running. Certain experiments conducted by researchers proved that people gain the same level of benefit from inline skating as they get from jogging or cycling as inline skating causes the heart rate to accelerate to the same level as jogging.

Inline skating helps you lose weight. It is an eco friendly activity which does not pollute the environment. You do not need any special place or venue for inline skating. All you need is a good pair of skates and protective gear to get rolling.

So you have decided to try inline skating but are confused with the type of skate you need? Well, it all depends on what type of skating you are interested in:

Recreational skating
If you want to try skating for recreational purpose then you would not need professional inline skates. These basic skates are designed along with a boot to firmly hold your ankle and wheels that provide a large degree of control.

The boot materials are available from one or two piece moulds of engineering plastic and newer soft boot designs that are similar to a hiking or training shoe. All recreational skates have brake attachments.

Fitness skates
They are similar to recreational skates. They are usually light in weight with large wheels and a low cut boot. They also have break attachments.

Speed skates
Racing skates come with 5 wheels and some frames are capable of having even more wheels. They have a longer wheelbase along with ankle support and low cut leather boots. These skates are for experienced skaters only as they have no brakes.

Hockey skates
They are similar to ice hockey skates. They are made up of lace up and stitched leather for a very comfortable and close fit. They are specially designed for quick and better manoeuvring. Some skates even have brake attachments.

Aggressive skates
These are specially designed for performing stunts on ramps and rails. They have grind plates with smaller wheels to withstand rough use. Brakes can interfere while performing stunts and hence they do not have any brake attachments.

Frankly speaking, inline skating is a much safer sport as compared to other sports like football or bicycling. However, the first few steps for a new beginner can be really challenging.

The use of the right protective gear while inline skating can be really helpful in avoiding any injuries or accidents. Most of the injuries while inline skating are small bruises and scrapes which can be easily prevented with good quality protective gear.

The other advantage of wearing protective gear while inline skating is that you would be able to enjoy skating much more without worrying about any injuries. Many skaters have reported that they are able to relax and find inline skating more enjoyable after wearing protective gear.

Full protective gear while inline skating includes knee pads, helmets, wrist guards and elbow pads. It is always advisable to wear all the protective gear together for complete protection.

You can minimise the injuries by learning a few basic tips. While falling down, you must first drop forward to your knees as kneepads would be used as the first point of dispersion for the force of impact. Wrist guards allow the skaters to slide during a fall while elbow pads protect the skater during a sidefall.

You should only use helmets that are EN approved. Helmets can help prevent injuries to your head in case of a fall. You must wear a helmet all the time while inline skating.

By wearing purchasing and wearing the right protective gear, you can enjoy inline skating without any worries.

It was Everett who introduced her daughter to roller-skating at indoor rinks, but now years later, it is her daughter who suggested that she gave inline racing a whirl. Taking laps on her inline skates has made the 51-year-old Cathy Everett experience the thrill and joy of childhood. She states that she feels like a kid again.

Many like her, in their late forties and fifties, gathered at the Cook County Curling Club in Grand Marais, all displaying their youthful exuberance, jostling to stay ahead of other racers to the finish line.

This was the excitement and joy that one witnessed at the annual NorthShore Inline (skates) Marathon to Duluth starting from Two Harbours. It was the first such experience for many like Cathy Everett who took part in this 26.2 mile race. In fact, she did so with her daughter, Haley Hotan.

Everett prepared by skating almost two hours a week for six weeks, in addition to walking and stationary biking.

“We used to skate together all the time but have not been able to do that as the miles between us grew,” Everett stated.

The joy was rediscovered. Inline skaters in any part of the globe including the UK know what it means. Inline skating is challenging but fulfilling as well.

In a noteworthy instance of inline skating being blended with child development, Rollerblade earlier this year agreed to provide skating packages, including skates and protective gear, to each of the Kansas city-based PE4life Academies. An in-line skating curriculum and instructional videos were also offered. The unique experiment is worth emulating in the UK, as well simply because inline skating is extremely beneficial to body and mind, especially in case of growing children.

This is an initiative to counter childhood obesity through fitness oriented inline skating. PE4life is a leading agency for quality health and fitness programmes. PE4life Academies are projected as health and fitness programmes that look to train communities/school districts in their health and wellness based approach towards physical education. Rollerblade had offered the participants good concessions on additional purchases apart from discounts on Rollerblade equipment. The experiment has been successful in keeping with the optimism expressed by the company when the project was first launched.

The idea behind the whole exercise is to: “get children active and well involved in lifelong physical fitness activities, according to Rollerblade. Rollerblade is among the world’s leading companies in the in-line skating product line.

They look very much like a high-tech torture device, so to say, than an eco-friendly and healthy way to get from one place to another. But then someone somewhere must have thought that these turbo-charged inline skates were not such a bad idea. Not agreeing with this, customs officials impounded a consignment of risky petrol powered roller skates amid concerns they could well end up being used on the streets.

These adapted inline roller blades, as the Telegraph’s report revealed, had a 25cc engine attached to a skate in each pair and could travel at speeds of around 20mph. It was feared they might explode in an accident. Detailing the Customs action, the report added:

“Fifty pairs of the skating shoes from China were on their way to an address in Bournemouth, Dorset, when Customs and Excise tipped off Trading Standards in the seaside town.”

These risky roller skates, powered by a hand-held throttle, can only be stopped by a shut-off button that operates like an emergency brake. An official from Bournemouth Council’s trading standards division stated the skates were ‘unsafe to use.’ He added:

“The engine is 25cc. And, when you think a moped has a 50cc engine, it is quite frightening how fast they can go.”

Music lovers and roller skaters are being invited to go out on their roller skates or roller blades and take part in raising money for a good cause.

Today, a roller disco is being held at The Regal in Cowley Road, East Oxford. All the proceeds from the roller skating event will go to the charity for John Watson Special School and a children’s hospice Helen and Douglas house in Wheatley.

The event is the idea of popular East Oxford DJ Tony Nanton. Mr. Nanton, said that it was an opportunity to get people out who keep telling him that nothing exciting ever happens in Oxford and that Oxford was boring.

Someone suggested Mr. Nanton to have a roller skating disco in The Regal and he immediately took up the challenge.

A key concern during the roller skating disco will be safety. The organisers want to ensure that no one consumes too much alcohol during the roller skating disco event. Everyone at the roller skating disco would be provided with a few poker chips at the beginning of the event.  The idea is to control drinking, to prevent any accidents, so that people can enjoy roller skating and the music.

Tickets for the roller skating disco will cost £12.50 if you want to hire roller skates, £10 if you bring along your own skates and £8 if you want to just watch the event.

Team Rok YMCA, the inline speed skate club are in an excellent form, just before the beginning of the British Outdoor Championships.

In their previous competition, Max Rothwell, the club’s leading inline skater had won all of his races in the category 5 event. Max placed a respectable 3rd in the 13 to 15 age group.

Ben Taylor and Nathan East, the British Indoor Champions also finished quite well in their respective age categories.

Jill Rothwell, the coach of Team Rok said that the secret to their success was the undying team spirit. He said that all of them were great friends and supported each other through the ups and downs of racing and training.

Max Rothwell will compete in the Cadet Boy category, Ben Taylor in the junior Men’s category while Ben Evans, Nathan East and Stuart Ochiltree will take part in the Pupil Boys category.

The three man junior boys relay team will consist of East, Evan and Rothwell. Nicole smith will be the only female team member from Team Rok to participate in the Mini Girls race.

Team Rok will also hold an ice skating school on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s during the holidays at 10 am to 12 pm at the Stanley high school in Southport. Children over the age of 5 can learn roller skating through the BRSF Skate smart programme.

There is some good news for people over 55 living in and around Dorchester. They can now take part in an exclusive in-line skating program for people above the age of 55 known as “Fit as a Fiddle”.

This one of its kind event is being staged in Culliford North Road at the Holy Trinity Parish Centre in Dorchester.

The program aims at giving older people, over the age of 55, an opportunity to try new things and activities and see if they enjoy them. Magda Wawrowska, the organiser, of Age Concern Dorchester urges the older people that getting old does not mean you have to sit in the chair and do nothing.

They are inviting people in the area, irrespective of their fitness levels to participate in their program’s taster sessions. The taster sessions will have number of fun-filled activities like inline-skating. People can participate in these taster sessions to get a feel of the program.

Activities like in-line skating may seem a bit unconventional for people over 55, but that is what the organisers aim to achieve. The organisers want people to take part in in-line skating and do some physical activity. This would remove the pre-conceived notions in people’s mind about activities for older generation.

The program would give all those people who always wanted to never got an opportunity to try in-line skating.