• SK8 M8 Treasure Hunt - September 20th
• Beach BBQ
• WhealsON Review
• Indoor Season
• Berlin Marathon
• Courses confirmed dates
  
• Skaters Survey
• London Events and Courses
  
• Holiday on Ice and other SK8 M8 Trips
  

There are alot of events and deadlines to keep track of over the next few months - keep an eye on the website which will have a complete lists of event countdown timers to make it easy for you! This can be found here. This is already used by the Sk8 M8s as it shows the days to the next Breakfast or Sk8 n Chips. We'll shortly be adding timers for registration cut offs and lesson bookings.

Treasure Hunt Saturday September 20th

A number of the Sk8 M8s have begun the construction of a fantastic treasure hunt for your enjoyment as a competition or just for pleasure!

If you've never done a skaters treasure hunt then this one in Bexhill will get you hooked! We are expecting to run this on Saturday 20th September, starting around 2pm (registration 1:30pm). Check the Sk8school website (events page) for details. The Sk8 M8s TXT service will carry reminders as usual!

You can turn up on your own or be in a team - or even join a team when you get there if you are planning to come on your own. Registration is from 1:30 at the far eastern end of Bexhill seafront (De La Warr Parade - just past Sutton Place). [Map HERE]

The hunt starts at 2pm and closes at 4:30pm. All teams will be provided with detailed question and answer sheets and the judging committee's decision is final!

Teams up to 4 people of any age are welcome.

Skating ability is not much of an issue as there are limited slopes, kerbs or steps and the surface is totally wonderful. In fact its worth taking part just to sample the surface! (As usual though we recommend outdoor skating skills, excellent stopping skills and full protective gear).

Most people don't skate in Bexhill - so this will be a chance to explore! Taking part in the treasure hunt will mean you get to explore very thoroughly!

We are expecting Sk8 M8s from far and wide to turn up to this one, several skaters in Camberley have already shown an interest!

Beach BBQ

We are running out of time for our last opportunity of 2008 to do a Beach BBQ - check your Sk8 M8s' TXT service for the dates! (just send your name and "JOIN" to 07940773295 to get the reminders on your phone). Because of the nature of this event - notice is usually pretty short, we need good weather and low wind speeds.

As you all know, the weather forecast is usually only accurate(ish) for about 48hours ahead! Luckily the TXT service covers a good number of you now, so a fair turn out should be possible.

Keep an eye on the weather and your phones - keep a few burgers in the freezer ready to roll!

WhealsON review

See the reviews on:

Eastbourne Extreme, Goodwood Marathon, Airbourne London trip and the Marina Breakfast Skate and so much more.

While you are at it - you might like to review some of the things that have featured on our RSS feeds recently like:

Eastbourne Skaters Do the Hill

Skate and Lose Weight

Paris Weekend Skate

Gr8 Sk8 M8 Breakfast Sk8 review

Indoor season

October seems so far away... But the indoor season will soon be starting and places at certain events will be limited, so - book your place now! First come first served. This is what we plan to run (all events always on Sundays):

• Weekly Pre-Booked Skate (20 People Only) 10am - £3

• Weekly Private and Shop Lessons 10am - Ticket and Booked Private Lessons only

• Weekly Open Skate 11am
  

• Weekly Kids Club 11am - £3

• Monthly Half-Day Intensive Courses covering various topics - £40 (Afternoons)

Act quickly if you want one of the 20 places for the weekly pre-booked skate. Payment will be for the MONTH and is prepaid 2 weeks in advance. Book by email or phone NOW. Once the first 20 places are filled, people numbered 21 onwards will be offered first refusal for the next month.

The only other people in the hall will be instructors and people taking lessons, so it is designed to be a quiet and limited-numbers weekly event. Attendees are welcome of course to attend the second hour for free! (Though with Kids Club running it will be loud and crowded!).

If we are massively oversubscribed, we will consider further dates and times.

Berlin Marathon

One of several international skate events this month - and this one Rebecca`s going to! Check out http://www.sportstoursinternational.co.uk/running/35th-real-berlin-inline-skaters-marathon-2008

Good Luck to Rebecca on her 2nd skate marathon! (And rather her than me!). You can see what she thought of her first marathon at Goodwood on the WhealsON blog.

Courses

We have the following Half-Day Intensive course dates set. Please register for these ASAP. All courses are fully explained on the website (links conveniently provided here!)

First come first served for bookings - maximum 15 people per course. All places £40 per person. Discount for booking 3 courses at once £100. All courses are 3 hours long - everything covered in one session.

Sk8 Streetwize - September 14th 1pm

Mastering 10 Ways of Stopping - October 19th 1pm

Mastering Turns - November 9th 1pm

Mastering Backwards - December 7th 1pm

There is also a Theory class that will be sometime in December and a Flow Grace and Tricks class, but that is for total experts only! Make sure you can do all the Mastering courses before you try that one! I'll put that one in at the end of March 2009 so there is some chance there will be enough skilled people to make it worth running!

If you'd like private lessons with any of our instructors, we can of course cater for any requirements. We have full skate hire and indoor and outdoor facilities. This includes skate parties too! (See here and here)

Skaters Survey

Out of the blue a lady that once helped me at one of our skate events has contacted us because she's running a skate survey as part of her business degree. Please take a little time to help Marie get some feedback to work out what skaters in the UK are up to. Here's an extract from her letter - and by way of incentive there are going to be prizes issued on a draw basis to a lucky few that fill in the survey! She says:

In a bid to uncover how many of us, skaters, are roving the UK and what types of disciplines are rolling our wheels, one student has gone the extra mile and set up www.skaters-survey.com. A solid bid to settle once and for all, across the realms of skating that yes indeed, our sport is here to stay and the number of participants has outgrown any claims of skating being classified as a ‘minority sport’. Lets face it, anything that is going to promote the sport positively is ok by us. So what’s it all about? Read more....

London Events and Courses

As always Mark at SkateInstructor.com is working on several courses at once! The latest one on his RSS feed is: Beginner / Intermediate Intensive Skate Course

Holiday on Ice and other SK8 M8 trips

There will be an opportunity to ice skate soon in Brighton - but you need to book in advance! Talking of which if you are stuck for a unique Christmas present for someone... We are arranging some discounted tickets to the Holiday on Ice show and this includes a coach trip there and back! Perfect! However, reservations for both of these trips will close in the first week of October and it will be first come, first served! (as we'd like to keep it to one coach!)

If you want to take the Sk8 M8s coach trip to Brighton for the Ice Skating (December/January) or the Sk8 M8s coach trip to Brighton for the Holiday on Ice show (January) register NOW - we will close registration in October and cost will depend on number of people booking (more = cheaper) so feel free to book whole families for either!

We would estimate costs to be something like £10 for the Ice Skating trip and around £25 for the Show. (Obviously we will be taking advantage of group booking discounts where possible and optimal coach sizing! Normally tickets for the show would be that price alone and we hope to offer the coach trip in that price but it all depends on numbers...so get registering!)

The show is an excellent Christmas present for kids, Mums, Dads and grandparents - especially as all the travel is dealt with for you - so book the whole family and save yourself a present headache for those difficult relatives! (and have a nice evening/afternoon out too).