Article By Kevin Van Lancker

Early morning, September 24. We are walking through the streets of Berlin. Everything is quiet. No cars, no motorbikes, nothing. A weird feeling it is. The whole city of Berlin is closed off for a sport event! One of the few places in the world, where this is possible. Today is time for the 38 th BMW Berlin inline skating marathon. Here and there, I spot a skater, still moving around cars who are still parked in the streets, but now being taken away by police. All skaters are heading towards the Brandenburg Tor, near the start and finish of this event. I approach the Brandenburg Tor, where the smaller version of the inline village is. All major brands and stores are present. Who isn’t in Berlin, is missing out on something. I came here for the 7 th time. First as a skater, now for the work-part. Amazing city, amazing event. All afternoon, people come across the different booths, looking for brand new wheels, a key or bearing. Everything must be perfect. I remember the days I was racing, looking at the sky in the early morning, wondering if we will need to put on some rain-wheels. But today, it isn’t needed. A blue sky in Berlin and the sun is hitting hard. Lovely!! Everyone is happy. Everyone is present on Alexander Uphues’marathon. The man who made Berlin marathon what it is today.

Music is pumping loud trough the speakers and the outfits of the skaters are funnier with the time getting closer to 4.30pm. I make my way to the start line. I get goosebumps! So so many people on skates. I didn’t see this for ages! When I was a pro athlete, we were standing in the first block and we had no idea there were so many passionate skate-lovers behind us who will run the same marathon like we did. It takes me about 15 minutes to pass everyone. Maybe more. I didn’t check my watch, as I was busy looking at all people who gathered for this event. But I am approaching the big white banner that says BMW BERLIN MARATHON START. Finally! And in time! But not much. Just enough time to get a good spot to see the biiiig bunch at the startline. How many people are here? Some said 8500, another one 6500, then 7000. I don’t know. But fact is that the sport is alive! People love to come out on skates for a well organised event such as this one.
A few minutes after my arrival to the start line, we can hear the kick off of the event trough the speakers. 5-4-3-2-1 and off we go. Berlin marathon 2011 is on its way. Alexander Uphues is in China, on a bike tour with his wife. Travelling around the world. We read that he is very nervous. But he knows everything is running well. He managed to bring the right team together to organise this event.

In different blocks, the different skaters start. Usually depending on the speed you can skate the marathon. For another 20 minutes, I just stare in front of me and I almost get tears in my eyes. So good to be in Berlin. So good to see that people ENJOY skating and came from all over the world. USA, Jamaica, Dominican Republic are just a few flags which the skaters were carrying. They flew all the way, to come and skate a 42km event. Isn’t that fantastic!?
I am heading back to the finish line. I know the guys got faster and faster on 110mm wheels. While we were skating the Berlin marathon in 1.07.00 about 6 years ago on 84mm, the guys now manage to race this event in an hour. I need to rush to go back to the finish line to be in time.
I am getting closer and I see both tribunes are totally packed with supporters and fans. Sebastian Baumgartner is present as speaker. The man has an unstoppable level of energy. He makes everyone laugh. He makes the crowd happy and excited. Mexican waves, it s something only Sebastian get them to do. Together with his team and Sabrina Rossow, they have been also the power behind the Experts on Speed concept. You can recognize them from very far. They are people who spread the skate virus amongst their friends and family.

I am again astonished by all the people here at the finishline. I am heading in the tent quickly to see how the race is going. The people from Powerslide on the first row. They look excited. At first, I cannot recognize the leading man. All with the same suit, helmet and glasses and skates. I ran over to Joost Van Schaik from Powerslide to check. ‘Ewen Fernandez’, he says -with a smile-. But still looking nervous. There is no Bart Swings in the pack. Bart and his teammates are already on the ice. So why is he nervous? There is still Joey Mantia there. But Joey is alone and isn’t in the same shape as the previous years. No need to be nervous. The gap is almost a minute! Something should go terribly wrong for Ewen, for him not to win today. And there he goes, Ewen Fernandez, the man I first got to know in Trois Pistes 5 years ago. Invited by his parents at the mobilhome to have some real French wine. Ewen became very strong the last years. He had a good teacher –Yann Guyader. Today, all spots are on Ewen. He is going under the Brandenburg Tor. The spectators are going crazy! They are litteraly screaming him forward. I can see him now. I almost forgot to turn on my camera! He would hate me, if I didn’t have that outstanding performance on camera! The last 100 meter now. The people on the tribunes are cheering loud. Ewen enjoys and takes his time to put his sponsor Powerslide in the spotlight. Excellent sportsman! Immediately after the race, I got an eyewink from Ewen. I know he’s happy. I know he wanted this so badly. Big smile on his face, he’s posing for a picture. Matthias Knoll, Joost van Schaik and the other Powerslide people are closing him in their arms. We have to wait 1 minute for the 2 nd one to arrive. It is Roger Schneider from the Swiss Skate Team and a bit later, there is Julien Levrard from the Levallois skating team. Julien didn’t expect this. I know it. He immediately skates to his friend Ewen. Both are French. Been skating together since they were still in pampers ;)
They are more than happy. They can’t stop talking about how Ewen attacked. Joey still trying to catch up but no-one wanted to help. Pity. But nevertheless, for 21km, Ewen skated alone in front of the pack. Super performance. End time: 1:01:26.

We are talking and talking and suddenly we hear the crowd go crazy again. There are the girls coming! The very strong German girl Sabine Berg wins again. She s on the Powerslide team as well for many years. Double party in the Powerslide tent. Next interesting task for me was to find Stefan Rumpus from the Speedlager team. He came to me in a rush: ‘Kevin, can I give you my car-keys. Thank you’. Before I could answer he disappeared again in the pack. But now, I got to find him, somewhere in the bunch of skaters after the finish line. He already asked a race-official to guide him to me, but you can spot those beautiful Speedlager suits from miles far. He looked kind of relieved when I shouted his name and showed him the keys. He could now go prepare for the famous Berlin marathon afterparty. I headed back to the Brandenburg Tor to meet with some clients who are looking for new apparel for 2012. When that was over, I was invited by Christopher Guzman from Denmark to join the Danish skaters in the restaurant for dinner. The whole restaurant was full of Danish skaters! I had a good laugh and it was good to sit with Christopher and show him some of our 2012 apparel. At Orana Dynamics, we work already with most Danish clubs and we are very happy about the collaboration.

When the chat was over, I headed to the afterparty, where I had a good and fun chat with Scott Arldige and his wife Anna who works at Arena Geisingen. I returned back to the hotel with a smile. Knowing there are still many more people with a heart for skating and who will keep the sport alive. I had an early flight back to Brussels, Belgium to attend Frank Fiers his last race. But when I checked my Facebook on the way, I read about the tragic death of the big man behind the Berlin marathon. Alexander Uphues was killed when cycling in Tibet, by a truck who lost control. I had no words. I checked with some other skaters if this is true. Sad enough, they confirmed. O, what a tragic end of the weekend. Our thoughts are with his friends and family. We are thankful to Alexander for what he has done for the sport. A great man, gone too soon.

Thank you to all sponsors, athletes, officials and the team around Alexander Uphues for making Berlin marathon an event to not forget.

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