Roll back to fitness

London is not the place to go to ski, although if today’s IPCC report on climate change is correct what’s now southern England might be prime waterskiing country in 50 years time. You can however learn to rollerski in the capital with classes in Hyde Park, Richmond Park, Dulwich Park and Battersea Park.

Rollerski.co.uk have classes and courses from 1 day to 4 weeks covering the two types of rollerskiing, classic and skating. Classic rollerski is where the skis run parallel and have ratchets to stop them rolloing backwards, Skating rollerski is similar in motion to ice skating where the movement is outwards.

Rollerski was developed for cross country skiiers to train in the summertime and is a good low impact alternative to running for people with joint problems. Its a good way to prepare for a skiing trip, exercises most of the body, gives a good cardio workout and is a way of training for something like a marathon without the stress on the weak points of the leg.

Rollerski offers a one class session for £20 or four classes for £60. A one week course is £45 and a four week course is £85. Once you’ve mastered the basics you could set yourself up with rollerskis, bindings, boots and poles for around £250. If you’re bored of running this sounds like a challenging way to get outdoors in the city and get some hard exercise.