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More and more people are jumping on the in-line skating bandwagon
Tuesday, May 05, 1998 By Tasha Zemke
Steve Sternberger remembers the days when in-line skating was looked upon as an unusual sport in Pittsburgh. The police didn't know whether to admonish skaters to stay on or off the sidewalks.
"I remember when there were only five or six people skating around together. In 1994, a skate down Mount Washington sounded risky. We looked like outlaws. Cars would beep," he said.
Sternberger and his friends would travel to places like New York City and Boston, where parts of parks and streets were often closed to traffic so that in-line skaters would have an open, safe place to roam. They'd venture as far south as Georgia to the annual Athens-to-Atlanta 86-mile race.
The 31-year-old Library man never dreamed such events would ever come to Pittsburgh.
But this year, a booming in-line population has warranted two local 5K races, the opening of a paved trail for skaters, more weekly organized street skates and the possible weekend shut-down of part of Schenley Park this summer.
Pittsburgh may still lag behind cities such as New York - with more than 1 million skaters, the most in the nation - or even Cleveland, with about 247,000. But the sport is expanding quickly here.
Pittsburgh's city planning department hopes to shut down the Circuit Drive area of Schenley Park to motor traffic during summer weekends.
The idea was tested last November. When the weather was nice, quite a few people took advantage of having a paved, traffic-free road to skate on, said Eloise Hirsh, city planning director.
"We want to help the in-line constituency, but we're still working on details," Hirsh said. If and when the park does close again off Circuit Drive, it will only be on the weekends.
The Riverview Trail, affectionately dubbed the "Jail Trail" because it starts near the Allegheny County Jail off Second Avenue, near Downtown, will also provide a safe avenue for in-line skaters and their families.
National In-line Skate Week will kick off at 11 a.m. May 17, when Pittsburghers will celebrate at the trail head with free skating lessons, skate rental and guided tours of the 2.5-mile route led by the National Skate Patrol.
On May 30 at RIDC Park in O'Hara Pittsburgh will hold the Blade Cruiser's Classic 5K Race and Family Fun Skate, which is expected to draw about 200 people. The Pittsburgh Inline Classic, which drew 120 competitors last August to Three Rivers Stadium, will also run for the second consecutive year, though no date is set.
A little more than half of Pittsburgh's skaters have reached the intermediate level, and about 20 percent are advanced, so these races are more fun than competitive, said Gene Slevinski of Highland Park.
Slevinski is active in the city's National Skate Patrol, one of only 20 such chapters in the United States and Canada. It offers free lessons for beginners and stresses safe skating.
Some running events are starting to allow skaters, recognizing this group as a new source of revenue, he noted. The Run Like Hell at Three Rivers Stadium previously restricted its race to joggers and walkers, but when it opened an in-line skating division last October, more than100 signed up.
The Three Rivers Inline Club has reported record numbers attending its weekly organized street skates. An average of 170 people attend, forcing the club to increase from six to eight skates per week around town.
The International Inline Skating Association is pushing more baby boomers to take up the sport so they can enjoy it with their children. In Pittsburgh, that's already occurring. Many local skaters are ages 35 to 50.
Take Slevinski. Now 51, he took up in-line skating 11 years ago when he was having knee problems from running. He liked skating because it was low-impact but highly aerobic.
At the National Skate Patrol's "Stop and Start" clinics every Wednesday night in Shadyside, it's not uncommon to see 70 people learning to skate, and most are older than 25.
Nan Boyd, 45, of McCandless, didn't try inline skating until nine years ago. Now an avid in-line speed skater, she travels around the country to attend clinics and races.
Boyd said Steel City Speed, a local indoor track team, wants to get more youngsters interested in the sport. They already have plenty of baby boomers.
But skaters under age 16 are discouraged from participating in the organized street skates around Pittsburgh. "It's dangerous," Slevinksi said.
Many children have taken up aggressive skating on ramps and rails or engage in other activities with their skates instead.
Team Mercury, a local troupe made up mostly of children, for example, performs on skates, teaches fundamentals and stresses safety to other children.
"Kids can learn to skate well in one to two hours," said Amy Krut, 31, of Knoxville, the group's founder.
Tasha Zemke is a free-lance writer who specializes in fitness and sports.
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