24 Hours of Le Mans Roller 2015: Further, Faster

Results of the races

The weather forecasts had announced sweltering heat on the circuit, and they were right. You’d better hydrate well lap after lap not to overheat.

Men’s Sporty Category

Pay honor to whom honor is due, let’s start with the ‘sporty’ category. The first place at the general ranking went quite logically to the Powerslide Ligne Droite Team who skated the mere distance of 916.5 km, i.e. with an average speed of 38.2 kph!
With the armada appointed by the German firm, the record of the event was expected to be broken. We have lost count of the number of world titles and big names in the Powerslide team: Bart Swing (BEL), who established the new lap record in 5’32 », Yann Guyader, Joey Mantia, Ferre Spruyt, Peter Michael, Scott Arlidge, Jan Blokhuijsen (ice skating Olympic champion)… Was it Powerslide’s last stand?

In second position, nearly 80 km behind, was the Men’s MRS-EO Team with a total of 837 km. Ewen Fernandez and Benjamin Macé couldn’t take part, pulled out for injury. The team particularly counted on Nolan Beddiaf, Antoine Lesavre, Nicolas Pelloquin, Bruno Tavant, Maxime Provost as well as Sébastien Darnal. The carbon frame skaters beat the Longchamp Roller Team and their 803.5 km.

Women’s Sporty Category

The women’s category was dominated by the Grol Clic’n Cup Team with 740.7 km, i.e. 29 km more than the Women’s MRS-EO Team (711.5 km). Far behind, the 3rd place goes to the Belgian Rouliroula Girls (548.2 km). It is regrettable that the category isn’t bigger.

Sporty Quad Category

As a novelty this year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans Roller opened a Quad category! The Gossip Yes We Quad Team covered 577.5 km. The Paname Squad roller derby team (539.9 km) took the second place in front of the Southerners of RPM Quad (468.7 km).

Sporty Veteran Category

The Veterans saw two Basque teams seize the two first places of the 2015 edition, with the same distance covered: Master Euskadi Team and Master Basque Country skated 807.7 km. The Rolling Vikings Veterans completed the Top-3 with 753.3 km.

Discovery Category

The Discovery category allows the participants to gather in groups of 12 to reduce the number of rotations per skater.
The Sorcières Les Rapides Team covered 736.6 km and took a 3-lap lead on the ADEL RS Team (724 km). Roller Sports Saint-Pierrais got the 3rd place with 698.9 km.

Men’s Duo Category

The Czech Tempish duo reached 707.3 km, leaving their competition 80 km behind. The Berlins Top Duo covered 627.8 km with a 2-lap lead on Like Two Bosses (619.4 km).

Women’s Duo Category

The Duo Girl 76 (439.4 km) finished with a comfortable lead of 50 km on their followers, the Germans of Dresden Skate (389.2 km). The Toucan Duo took the 3rd place with 330.6 km. Here again, no actual battle was fought in the category, each team skating at their own pace.

Men’s Endurance Category

The Endurance category is for teams of 6. The CH-Chauvin Arnoux Team, with their 853.7 km, is second at the general ranking, in terms of distance covered, behind Powerslide. They finished in front of Berlins Top 6 Men (811.9 km) and the Grol DC Energie Team (791 km). Here is another category the level of which increases year after year!

Women’s Endurance Category

The Women’s Premio Race Team covered 673.8 km, finishing in front of the German Berlins Top 6 Ladies (644.5 km) and the Only Lyonnes (640.3 km), who were only one lap behind. The race was tighter in this women’s category.

Women’s Solo Category

The solo category is probably the most impressive of all, in the men’s as in the women’s. In order to reach the women’s top-3, you had to skate over 530 km! Here again, the level of the participants has become very impressive. After the unbeatable Hilde Solo (565 km), who would have finished 3rd in the men’s category, came Karine Malle Urvoy with 531.5 km for Mont-Blanc Roller. She finished in the same lap as Fug Solo (531.5 km). Proof that the longer the competition, the closer the women’s level is from the men’s.

Men’s Solo Category

After a few hours of race, the withdrawal of Philippe Coussy and Christophe Evrard opened the way for the other competitors, leaving more opportunities to reach the Top-3. Claude Viltard broke the record of Rphil. R’Glod Ligne Droite reached 590.1 km. He outdistanced Balbatruc (581.7 km) by only two laps, which is almost insignificant on such a solo effort! Mister Gil 73 completed the Top-3 with 539.9 km. Hats off for those who keep on impressing us more and more, year after year.

Sporty Company Category

Roll’Air France (694.7 km) made the difference against Airbus Helicopters Tigre (661.2 km) and Oxygene PSA (615.2 km).

Sporty Student Category

The victory went to the Britton Nottingham University 1 Team (623.6 km), who took a comfortable lead on London IC Stormtroopers (531.5 km) and Nottingham University 2 Team (431.1 km).

Change of leadership

After organizing the event for 16 years, Tony Mogis and his team have decided to turn the page. Don’t panic though, the 24 Hours of Le Mans Roller will take place in 2016, at the instigation of Christophe Audoire, the owner of Ligne Droite Shop, and Thomas Davergne, the organizer of the Dijon Roller Marathon. Tony Mogis will still be on the spot on D-Day to help if necessary. We will soon devote a full interview on this change of leadership. However, Tribu Rollers, keep it up and thank you for the unforgettable moments you made possible since the first edition in 2000!

Useful links

Download the full results per category in pdf

Texte : Alfathor
Photo : Colin Morin et Vincent Lecourt
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