Mallorca en Llamas 2024
Hello Hello. Stephen @whataspoon here to talk about another amazing inline skating event that took place in February 2024. If you are a regular reader of my articles then you may remember one on a trip I made to Valencia back in November 2023. This event was organised by @Rollertrip.es where they scheduled street skates, tours of the city and games on skates for around 500 skaters that showed up. You will be able to read all about that here.
In that article I mentioned that it was, at the time difficult to get information on the events unless you were in one of the WhatsApp group chats but thankfully the Rollertrip team have gotten themselves super organised for their 2024 program and have created a link that you can find here or on their Instagram, that shares all the relevant links need in order to know what's happening and when. 
During the year of 2024 they have organised 5 events and are even planning on going to cities that they haven't covered so far including Madrid, Murcia and the one I'm most looking forward to, Malaga. If you are free on any of these dates that have been set so far then definitely get yourself out to one of these events as you will have the best time with the people, the sun and your skates. Let's now have a deep dive into what happened at the first event of the year in Mallorca which I was very happy to attend in February 2024. Ilaria, Jaro, Si and myself from the Slick's Skate Crew all set off from the UK to Palma de Mallorca, the wonderful island in the middle of the Mediterranean.
Unfortunately for anyone who does not speak spanish there was no english subtitles for this event so I had to google translate the events schedule just so I could understand where to go and what I would like to attend. As usual the events would take place between the Friday evening and the Sunday afternoon allowing most people who work Monday to Friday to get there and to not miss anything. On the Friday evening they organised one big street skate for everyone to attend so that everyone could meet each other and see hello to old faces that they haven't seen since the last event. This was a 15km night route where people would dress up with lights and in costumes, play loud music and have a blast through the streets all together. All of the street skates that were organised had marshals who would block off traffic and keep the high numbers of skaters safe. We all met at the famous Cathedral which looked super impressive in the background and this would be the same meeting point for all of the events to follow. 
On the Saturday morning there was a choice of three different events depending on what you like to do. You can go for a nice and chill 25km route around the city with nice views, you can go for a fast intense 35km skate with a long downhill or you can join the street spots session where we would tour the city's amazing street spots like ledges, stair sets and more where skaters can show off their tricks and motivate each other to do some crazy stuff. Of course you also have the option to come along and simply watch if you would like. The last option was the best one for Si, Jaro, Ilaria and myself as we are all freeskaters who like to jump on stuff and film clips so that is exactly what we did. On the Saturday afternoon they had a Rollerdance Jam event with some music and another 15km stroll that was again very touristic before two other 20km skates in the evening. One for intermediate skaters and one for advanced which included another really steep downhill which was incredibly fun. This was such a good way to see the city and of course people were playing music, drinking beer and having a great time.
(Photo taken from the WhatsApp group)
The Sunday had another three events planned all at the same time in the morning. Two routes, one 25km for intermediate skaters and one 50km for the advanced skaters who still had energy left. But I think, like us, most people came to the skatecross event they organised at a sports facility. Skatecross in essentially a race through an obstacle course where 4 or 5 skaters will charge through the course to get to the finish first in order to win prizes. They had heats for juniors girls and then boys, then older children before female and male adults at the end. If you came first or second in your heat then you would qualify for the next round. This went on for quarter finals, semis and then finals. Ima Coker, one of the girls from London who skates with us took home the trophy for the females and our Si took home the trophy for the men. What an amazing experience with lots of laughs and cheers around. They did a nice prize giving at the end and hyped everyone up for the next trip in April to Murcia.
To see exactly what I seen from my perspective then you can watch this video for eighteen minutes of good vibes and amazing skaters.
The whole event honestly feels like a dream. You are surrounded with such great people and welcomed into Spain with open arms. I extremely recommend that if you can make it to any of these events then you definitely should. I would encourage you to have plastic or carbon fibre street skates with wheels no smaller than 80mm if you would like to keep up with everyone. Prepare yourself for not only long distance skating but to have your skates on for hours on end. Check out our buying advice here to see what skates, frames, wheels and bearings would be perfect for a trip like this.
