Rollerskies in Czech

In Czech Republic, the rollerskies are only a special training device of skiers during summer months used on asphalt roads. There is nobody specialized in this sport, i.e. there is no sport club or a union of such clubs.
However, several races (they are more „tests" than races )are organized to compare the efficiency of skiers. Participants are obliged to use the identical type of skies with black wheels (trademark „Speed") which are more broad and do not alow for such rapidity as special rollerskies used at the World Cup races. Czech skiers are not used to train on these rollerskies and they take part in the World Cup races very seldom. In the picture Veronika Hrušková, author of this article.

History

In Czechoslovakia, the first attempts are dated in the 40ties. In the 60ties and 70ties the rollerskies were frequently used for training. Special asphalt tracks were build that time ( Jablonec nad Nisou, Nové Mesto na Morave, Strbské Pleso in Slovakia ) and races started to be organized. Training was oriented to develop a special perseverance and strenght. Other cyclic training means (runninng, mountain bikes etc) were gradually replaced by this training. A high mean speed – higher than running speed on the snow -was reached. In the photo, a rollerskis with attire and equipment of epoch, during a break of the Sprint competition to the recent ones FIS Rollerski World Cup 2003 and European Championships to Jablonec nad Nisou (CZ).

Since 1980 rollerskies were produced at Jeseník. In 1991, a factory – owned by E.Drlík – was set up in Jeseník. This factory specialises in production of rollerskies trademark "SPEED". The producer takes care to improve construction, quality etc. and follows the actual trends on this field. The factory supplies the skiers in the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Lithouania with rollerskies. 

Tracks

In Czech Republic only a few asphalt tracks were build. So the opportunity to train on rollerskies is limited. The most used track is the asphalt track at Brízky (Jablonec nad Nisou) which was set up in the 70ties to enable the training.

In mid-90ties a new asphalt surface was prepared. Now, this tracks –because of its profile, lenght of 1.7 km and its surface- is the most modern and most used rollerskies traning place. The next track is the one at Nové Mesto na Morave mostly used by members of a local ski-club. However, most Czech ski-runners train on the Czeck roads all over the territory of our country. They are used to run near the trucks, buses and so on, frequently risking their bare lives. But during the training, who cares?

From left: Petra Paulu, the author of this article Veronika Hrušková, Denisa Heltová

Veronika Hrušková