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Infos About Cross Skating

Cross-Skating

There were pieces of sports equipment already in the 90’s that provided a possibility for cross-skating aside from hard paths. But cross-skating did not win recognition until 2005. Considering the movement, cross-skating is a mixture between cross-country skiing and skating, but it can be practiced almost all through the year and on almost every surface, even aside from hard paths. Therefore, cross-skating has much more practical flexibility than cross-country skiing.

Cross-skating is carried out with cross-skates (also off-road skates) and poles, mostly off road or on paths through the woods, but can also be done on streets.

Cross-Skates

Until today, cross-skates have been only manufactured in limited-lot productions. For hobby sportsmen they were almost completely prohibited. The inline skates are manufactured by Powerslide and the Austrian Otto Eder manufactures the skikes. They have been fully developed and made particularly affordable to cross-skate pathfinders of the cross-skating movement. The distinctive marks for cross-skates are the enlarged pneumatic tires. For years, cross-skating has been emerging as an independent sport with special demands on the skates. The ideal compromise between stability, safety and manageability is indispensable. Therefore, instable and too heavy constructions cannot be considered. For the benefit of the driving safety, retractable bindings are rarely assembled. An integrated brake actually is compulsory for serious cross-skating, as free braking techniques for e. g. the t-brake are all but impossible to use on lose ground or done by less exercised cross-skaters.

Cross-skating As Sport

The trainings techniques of cross-skating, correspond to a large extend with those of the cross-country skiing. But cross-skating develops more and more a special movement technique that can neither be found in Nordic blading and inline skating nor in roller skiing or cross-country skiing. Replacing cross-country skiing by cross-skating at the biathlon could be interesting. Due to the weather in the last years, almost all winter sports is fated to die. And with the innocuous airsoft guns the biathlon could become a real popular sport. The summer biathlon (running and airgun shooting) could be replaced by this new alternative in the long term. Anyway, cross-skating is particularly suitable for leisure sports because of the extended driving stability and safety of cross-skates with brakes. Safety and ease in learning is much better than for example inline skating. There are considerably less accidents than in inline skating and the injuries are often more minor than in bicycle accidents. Slowly cross-skating is developing into a mass sport. Besides the idea of having competitions and performance-oriented trainings, the characteristics of popular sports arrangements are rather touristy and experience-driven like snowshoeing.

Competitions

There are still no standard distances established for cross-skating competitions. In the meanwhile, preferred distances for competitions are the classical marathon distance of 42.2 kilometers and the half marathon distance especially on easy off-road areas or on the streets. The half-wasa-cross is reckoned as the new plus ultra considering the demands on the cross-skater. It is carried out over a medium difficult off-road distance of 45 km. However, the shorter distances are particularly suitable for beginners – they take about an hour.

The following competition categories are possible:

• Single competition with mass start or single start
• Multiple types of relays
• Skill competitions
• Biathlon-competitions with various target devices or with simplified rules (e. g. modern biathlon)