Valencia a Fuego
Hello Hello. Stephen @Whataspoon here and in this blog I would like to share with you what kind of experience you can have if you attend an inline skating event in Spain.
Throughout 2023 there have been four huge rollerblading events that have taken place in Spain. The first in Mallorca, second in Zaragoza, third in Seville and then the final chapter in Valencia. This list does not include the competitions and other events that I haven't heard about that also happen in the country. I was fortunate enough to attend two of these particular skating festivals including the first in Mallorca last February and the last in Valencia that took place in November.
What I saw when attending the Mallorca event was mesmerising. There were around 200 to 300 or maybe more skaters who had travelled from all over Spain, Europe and further, who were all united together to skate the city and try tricks together at different spots. There was no competing as such, only good vibes, like a huge festival on skates. After this I was determined to travel back to Spain for another one of their community events.
For information on how to travel with your inline skates then check out this article on exactly that.
November rolled along and the UK weather got gradually worse so team riders Ilaria, Jaro, Si and I were extremely happy about flying out to Valencia's twenty eight degree November weather. The organisers had prepared a huge programme full of events for us all to enjoy at any level of skating throughout the whole weekend. There were touristic street routes, 30km and 50km long distance routes, night time "lights" routes, a street spots jam and some games on skates for us all to enjoy. In the below video, Ilaria and I tried our best to capture the magic that we experienced so that we could show the world what it is like to skate with around 300 Spanish skaters. The atmosphere is electric and we genuinely didn't want it to end. I could not recommend these trips enough so if you have a chance to attend one of the Spanish megatrips then do not hesitate and get out there. In this video you will see skaters of the likes of: Myself, Ilaria Di Maio, Ima Coker, Si Coburn, Rui Vieira, Aurora Garosi, Pablo Soler, Natsu, Tina Hainovska and many many more.. If you attended the trip then you may very well see yourself in this video.
During the trip we joined the events that were best suited to us. On the Thursday before everything kicked off, those who were already in Valencia met up at the local skatepark for a mega session. There were already about 40 or 50 of us on Thursday evening which was incredible to witness. One of the locals brought a clean mattress to the skatepark which is unheard of. Usually when you have a mattress at the skatepark it is something you definitely don't want to jump on but this one was transported from someone's house to the park in a car all wrapped up and ready to be landed on. What a great start to the weekend.
Friday involved us being shown around in the morning where one of the locals, Miguel, took us to what he called "Little Venice'' which was the most amazing housing estate with canals flowing through it. I specifically loved how all the houses were a different colour unlike our british houses that are all grey and boring. The skate to and from this area travelled along the beach front so we always had a sea view which was appreciated. After chilling out and eating some food at Little Venice we had to skate back along the seafront to get to the first event which was a mass street skate involving everyone who had arrived on the friday plus everyone who was already here. It looked like a never ending bunch of skaters travelling around in Valencia. Music was blasting and everyone had great energy as the event had only just begun. This skate lasted for about 4 hours and they even managed to get all of us to skate out of Valencia to a neighbouring town and then back again. 
Saturday was my favourite day for sure. We had an option of a 30km skate, a 50km skate, a tourist route or a street jam. Of course we attended the street jam as it was best suited for us. This consisted of skating from spot to spot, selected in preparation to the event, then having mini competitions at the spots for about 40 minutes in each location. We definitely had over 100 skaters travelling from spot to spot that day, cheering and skating hard on every obstacle trying to win prizes that were donated by the organisers and sponsors. The spots were varied so that there was something for everyone. The first was steps, second was a street plaza skatepark, third was a sliding spot to perform long slides and the fourth was some platforms with drops at each side so we could do some jumps and spins off the sides. At that last spot I managed to win myself some wheels by doing the best trick which was an awesome moment. Having a huge crowd cheering when you land a trick is such an amazing feeling. We then finished at the same skatepark we were at on the Thursday evening for some final tricks before heading off for some food.
In the evening we then had the lights skating where everyone dressed up with flashing lights which again lasted for about 4 hours, skating through the darker areas of the city to show off our lights. This was the only event on at that time so the whole crowd attended this one making it HUGE! Some of the skaters got super creative with their outfits with glow sticks, light up masks, capes and more. It was a spectacle for the locals for sure.
Sunday brought the final events which were a street skate in the morning and some roller games in the afternoon. We never attended the morning skate as we were so tired from the long Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We caught up with everyone for the roller games which was labelled as a "Grand Prix". This involved games where we had to skate around and catch people, pop balloons and even create "cars" with 3 skaters to race against the other "cars". Everyone was split into teams of 3 and the goal was to see which team had the most points at the end. These games were incredibly fun and hilarious as they were all extremely difficult.
At the end they had stands with people selling merch and skating gear. They also announced the winning team, which was the youngsters, who got the most amazing cheer. They then announced the next event in Mallorca and thanked everyone for joining. The whole thing could not have gone any smoother. A huge shout out to Natsu and the organisers for all your efforts to help all of us have such an amazing time.
I hear that the next trip will happen sometime in February. I am hoping it is not the same weekend as the Winterclash aggressive skating competition so we can go again and get some sun in February. Mallorca is an amazing place to skate as the ground is so smooth along the beach front and the views are amazing.
It's a little hard to keep upto date with when the next one will take place as they use whatsapp to organise their events and all the information is in Spanish of course so we will look out for the next one and let people know what's going on using our instagram @slicks_skates so be sure to follow us there so you don't miss out. Trips to Spain can be extremely affordable in the winter months so if you fancy a cheap getaway to skate with 300 skaters then stay tuned and join the fun.
