Running and Skating

The four disciplines of the upper category running and skating are incredibly diverse. There is Nordic Walking, a trend sport for everyone who likes to move and keep fit in a gentle way. Jogging is the best way to train stamina and endurance and can be practiced almost anywhere with minimal equipment.

Trail Running is something for the demanding athletes among you: The term refers to jogging off the beaten track – but it's up to you whether you want to move around on a flat meadow or run across the Alps. The last discipline is Inline Skating, which became popular in the 1990s and is still more than just summer training for ice hockey players and cross-country skiers.

Cave paintings show that our ancestors were running in prehistoric times. However, running was not so much a pleasure, but rather a necessity for survival. In order to get food, hunters tracked their prey hour after hour until it got tired and was then easier to catch. Even then, shoes were used for protection and for better progress. There are finds of leather sandals as well as bast sandals with thorn-spikes, which were a kind of forerunner of today's spike shoes.

From the 7th century BC onwards, the first known races took place. At the ancient Olympic Games in Greece, a stadium race over 190 m, a cross-country race over 1500 m and a “race of soldiers” were held. The race of soldiers was mostly attended by young men who had to do their community service. They had to run barefoot, wearing a helmet, wooden shield, greaves and spear. Olympic champions were awarded fame and honour and could hope for a good position.

From the Renaissance onwards, running became popular again after a long dry spell. The basis for the rebirth was the passion of the English for competition. Among other things, this developed into the six-day races, in which people ran or walked from sunrise to sunset. The winner was the one who made the most progress during this time.

In the 18th century, mainly long-distance races or 1000 mile runs were held and rewards and prize money were offered. The British also wanted to make the race popular in the USA, but met with little interest. Only few spectators visited the events and many races were cancelled.

At the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, running competitions became internationally important. At that time, races over 100 m, 110 m hurdles, 400 m, 800 m and 1500 m were held. There was also a marathon race over 38 km. Four years later, at the Olympic Games in Paris, athletes had to run 40.2 km and in 1908 the distance was set to 42.195 km, which is still the distance used today.

No, not at all. The decisive difference lies in the arrangement of the rollers and the brakes.

Whereas in roller skates the wheels are attached to the shoe in pairs, the wheels on inline skates are “in-line”, i. e. one behind the other. In addition, the rollers of inline skates are much narrower than those of roller skates. They therefore have a smaller friction surface.

The brakes are attached differently in both shoes. On inline skates, you can stop by applying firm pressure to the heel. The roller skate has stopper studs on the toes, which are used to brake.