US Roller Speed Skating Meets

Imagine racing against four to six other people at high speeds of a gym-sized track at around eleven seconds a lap. At Roller Speed Skating meets, it becomes a reality. Meets are like tournaments where people from all over your region, or even country, compete to become the fastest skater in their bracket. 

Here in the United States, I skate in the Midwest region which includes states like Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Every month, not including July, December, and January, we have a competition in this region and race against one another. This February, we are having a second LOL, or Land of Lincoln, meet since we had issues with our original plan to go to a place in Indianapolis. People will be split by their ages and put against people their age. They are also split by their skates, Quads or Inlines, and compete against people with the same type of skate. 

These meets help bring people together and everyone tends to have a great time racing and meeting with people they have not met in a while. The only bracket that is not split by age is the pro division. The pro division skaters are some of the fastest in the region and even skate for the official United States team, Team USA. Team USA are the best Speed Skaters in the country and will go on to other countries and compete with them. 

A new thing that will hopefully be apart of meets this year will be timing bracelets. These bracelets are great for races so it will be easier to see who is in what place and if it comes down to a close tie, the timers will say who was faster. The only issue with these timers is that they are a pain to set up and they are decently expensive. Not something you can buy at the dollar store but not thousands of dollars expensive. We are still dealing with people paying to receive the watches so it will most likely just stay with using the timers for nationals and not regional meets. 

Roller Speed Skating meets are a blast and skating is even becoming more technologically advanced. It’s a place to meet old friends, compete, and all in all have a great time.