The 54th World Roller Figure Skating Championship events begin this evening with inline skating, and I get access to the best seats in the house - thanks to my USA Roller Sports media pass.

It's great to see coaches, athletes and friends from around the world who all come to live or share the World Championship dream. This first week will feature the Inline and Junior events that will compete in the Schauenberg Hall at the FT-Sportpark.competitive events from November 10th through the 21st. Next week the Senior World Class events will skate finals and do award ceremonies at the Messe Freiburg.

Image Courtesy of the Federation Internationale de Roller Sports

If you want to skate or get a family member started in roller sports and find that your budget does not agree, don't walk away from skating. First look for dependable new multi-purpose inline skates from known manufacturers of affordable recreational skating equipment for entry level inline skating and training. Most come with a similar list of features, and these low budget skates can be a good option for new skaters, skaters who have not committed to a skating discipline or when expensive premium inline fitness skate equipment is just not an affordable or practical solution for recreational skating adventures.

If that doesn't work there are other cheap inline skating equipment options, including used, borrowed and rental skates. At a later date, you can buy the skates that you really want.

It's better to be a selective cheap skate for a little while than never to skate at all. Are you a successful cheap skater? Share your inline skate experience with us.

Are you ready for the "Open International de Paris" - a well known annual inline artistic dance and figure skating competition that will skate on January 30th and 31st in 2010? See photos that were taken during the event from January 31-February 1, 2009 in the Gymnasium de la Plaine 13 Rue du Général Guillaumat 75015 Paris, France. There are also photos of previous "Coupe de Paris 2007" and "Coupe de Paris 2008" inline figure skating events.

Then, if your entry is not already submitted, hurry up and get additional information and submit your entry to the Glace et Roller Inline de Paris (G.R.I.P.) association.

Photo Courtesy of Glace et Roller Inline de Paris

The inline freeskating participants at the 2009 World Championship in Freiburg, Germany wiil enjoy the support of teammates and be greeted by an enthusiastic German crowd. Young Vivian Moreira from Brazil is back, and I'm anxious to see how she is growing in this sport. This is the skating lineup, so far:

Women's Inline Participants to Date

• Aleesha Hanczakowski, Australia
• Vivian Moreira, Brazil
• Nesa Hassanzadeh, Iran
• Sara Zadmehr, Iran
• Silvia Marangoni, Italy
• Laura McKenzie, New Zealand
• Chen, I-Ching, Taiwan
• Hsin Chia-Ling, Taiwan
• Courtney Donovan, United States
• Natalie Motley, United States

Men's Inline Participants to Date

• Carlos Urquia, Argentina
• Andrew Bassi, Australia
• Gustavo Casado De Melo, Brazil
• Diego Dores, Brazil
• Eric Traounez, France
• Anup Kumar Yama, India
• Marco Viotto, Italy
• Lee Chun, Taiwan

The next big inline figure skating event will be the Open International de Paris in January, 2010. Hopefully, many of the World competitors will support this event, hosted by Jean-Pierre Faugère, to increase their competitive experience and grow the inline figure sports.

If you have links to any of these or other inline figure skating events or performances in any discipline, feel free to send them via email for possible inclusion in the inlineskating site.

If your name is Jilleanne Rookard, it is very hard to be a great speed skater. Jilleanne surprised everyone at the U.S. Speedskating Trials in Milwaukee by winning the 5,000 meter race last Sunday as well as winning the 3,000 earlier. She claimed positions on the World Cup Team in the 1,500 and the 1,000 to qualify her to skate as many as four events in Vancouver. Her position on the Olympic Team appears to be secure after her performance at the Pettit National Ice Center, even though the Olympic team will be picked based on the results of five World Cup meets.

The hard part of this story is that Rookard, a former inline skater, is experiencing very difficult financial times since her father passed away eight years ago and now her mother has cancer. But Jilleanne is a tough inline-to-ice survivor, and hopes to find Olympic success in spite of her current circumstances.

All dressed up and no where to roll? If the weather is not too dreary, Halloween Week is another great time for adult ghosts and goblins to take a brisk spin on a rail trail. Find one near you and get detailed information on surface types, access points, locations, distances, services, reviews, photographs and local links for America's 1,500 plus rail-trails on TrailLink.com, which is a free service powered by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

If you are in London, get your Halloween costume ready. There will be a big street Halloween Skate on Saturday, October 31st. The marshaled event starts at 6pm at the eastern end of Serpentine and finishes at the Smithfield Tavern with a party. Check out the cool homepage poster by illustrator Nick Grant when you visit the site, too.

The 3rd Annual Houston Inline Marathon Weekend is almost here. The events run this weekend from October 31-November 1, 2009 in Downtown Houston, Texas. This event provides a wonderful opportunity for inline and quad (yes quad) skaters of all skill levels to share a weekend of races and social skating. Saturday activities include a scenic sightseeing roll among in downtown Houston, a pre-race party, and a mini-Expo. On Sunday morning, the roadskating marathon, half-marathon, and casual Fun Skate will take place on Allen Parkway in the heart of Houston.

Graphics courtesy Bont Skates North America

Inline skating needs more visibility and Mojmir Kovač is inviting everyone to participate in an inline project that skates the masses. Mojmir's plan is to encourage skaters in many cities, countries and continents to all skate at the same time, set a world record for group skating and promote inline skating sports worldwide in one gigantic roll.

His idea is very simple:

• The 31th of May would become the World Inline Skating Day (WISD).
  
  
• Connect the participating cities, countries and continents via the internet.
  
  
• Provide big screen broadcasts of events, interviews and activities in each location.
  
  
• Plan to have skating start at the same time worldwide with each location organizing its own activities and entertainment.
  
  
• Demonstrations of basic skills, various disciplines, safety, games, a marathon and street skating could be included.
  
  
• Videos can be loaded into Youtube.com and made into a high quality promotional CD.
  
  
• The number of participants worldwide would be sent to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Mojmir figures that the final production will depend on the ingenuity and budget of each organizer - but whether the final video is made from high budget footage or cell phone videos, this could make news media, film festival and sports promotion history. I can push Southeastern Michigan in the USA. And there are others like skating instructor Franc Pirc-Frenk, Arthur Lee from Inline figure.com and Joe Kaplenk from U.S Inline Figure Skating who think the idea is great and want to help. How do we sign up?

The 54th World Roller Figure Skating Championship will include all of the artistic/figure skating disciplines including Solo Dance, Inline and Quad Freeskating Singles, Freeskating Pairs, Synchronized Teams and Show Groups during the two weeks of competitive events from November 10th through the 21st.

There will be Junior and Senior World Class events in Freiburg, but the competitions for each level will be skated at two different venues in Freiburg. The juniors will compete in the Schauenberg Hall at the FT-Sportpark, and the seniors will skate finals and have their award ceremonies at the Messe Freiburg. Short programs and compulsories for seniors will take place in the Schauenberg Hall.

Image Courtesy of the Federation Internationale de Roller Sports