Rollerbladers Gather Speed For The Second Annual National Inline Skating Week

Twelve cities across the UK are set to stage group skate and lesson activities for the second annual National Inline Skating Week, 15-21 May 2006. K2 inline skates up for grabs in National Inline Skating Week prize draw

London, England (PRWEB) May 8, 2006 -- Building on the success of the first National Inline Skating Week last year, Manchester, Nottingham and Oxford have signed up for 2006. Activities are also planned in Birmingham, Brighton, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Southampton, Swansea and Weymouth. In addition to free group lessons, many cities are planning group activities similar to the popular London Friday Night Skate (FNS), Sunday Rollerstroll and Saturday Easy Peasy skate for beginners (all founded by Citiskate, London).

National Inline Skating Week is organised by the UK Inline Skating Association (UKISA), a nationwide association responsible for skate instructor certification and the promotion of safe skating. An up-to-date schedule of lessons and events across the country is available on the website, www.ukisa.org. More than 800 people took part in National Inline Skating Week 2005, which was the first nationally co-ordinated inline skating event in the UK. Over 1,000 are expected to take part in 2006.

We want to encourage everyone to get their skates on, head to a local park or skate centre and give it a try. National Inline Skating Week builds on the success of our London skates and courses, making inline skating activities available throughout the country so that more people can give it a try.

“Inline skating is gaining momentum in the UK as more people realise that the sport offers great fitness benefits, as well as being lots of fun,” said Andreas Kolattek, UKISA director and Citiskate founder. “We want to encourage everyone to get their skates on, head to a local park or skate centre and give it a try. National Inline Skating Week builds on the success of our London skates and courses, making inline skating activities available throughout the country so that more people can give it a try.”

This year National Inline Skating Week has received support from K2, a leading outdoor sports equipment company. K2 is sponsoring the UKISA prize draw competition, where two winners will each receive two pairs of inline fashion skates from K2’s 2006 range. The competition is open to UK residents and entrants can register free on www.ukisa.org.

National Inline Skating Week coincides with the third London Skate Festival (15-21 May 2005), which aims to introduce families and individuals of all ages to rollerblading by focusing on teaching basic skills and safety guidelines in a safe environment. The Festival offers free workshops and lessons run by qualified instructors at venues around the capital, where people of any ability can simply turn up and skate.

To register an activity for National Inline Skating Week, or for more information on organising a local event, please visit www.ukisa.org or contact Andreas Kolattek on 020 7228 2999.

About UK Inline Skating Association (UKISA)

The UKISA was set up in 2002 to promote responsible inline skating and certify inline skaters to instructor level. As well as holding a national qualification UKISA instructors also have top level background checks with Disclosure, the government backed organisation that offers access to Police, Department of Health (DH) and Department for Education and Skills (DfES) records. For more information, visit www.ukisa.org

About Citiskate

Since 2001 Citiskate have organised group courses and private tuition throughout greater London as well as being the founding members of the capital’s three year-round weekly group skates, the Friday night skate, Easy Peasy and Sunday Rollerstroll. They have organised several skating based weekend trips abroad to destinations such as Paris and Barcelona and in 2005 add Amsterdam, Berlin and New York to their plans. They are based in Fulham, London. For more information, visit www.citiskate.co.uk

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