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News, 12/9/10 To mark our 5 years of service to cross-country skiers in the UK, the ski holiday company XCUK interviewed rollerski.co.uk's director / founder, Iain Ballentine. Here is an abridged version, you can read the full details if you sign up for their next e-newsletter.
Interview by Stuart Montgomery - Back in July you celebrated the fifth birthday of the Rollerski Company – congratulations. The company offers rollerski instruction in and around London and also sells equipment. Tell us why you started it, and what you were doing before that.
I started it really to try to get more people into rollerskiing. I'd been rollerskiing in London since I arrived here in 2000, and was always being asked where I got the rollerskis from, and how to get started. It was very difficult to obtain rollerskis in London, and nowhere to go for a lesson, so I thought I'd start something myself. I've always been passionate about getting people into sport - I was 'Lower Boats' captain at University, involved in getting people into rowing, and my mother and uncle had been involved in sport coaching. During the five years the company has grown considerably. You started as a one-man band and now you have 10 rollerski instructors and a busy online shop. Has it all gone according to your original plan or have there been surprises or changes of direction?
It's actually been a lot more difficult than I could have imagined. It was incredibly difficult at first to sell something which was (to most people) completely new, quite expensive, slightly odd looking and based on a sport with a fairly creaky image! It's only when you try rollerskiing that you get an idea of what good exercise it is, and then only really after several sessions that you begin to feel the complete 'endorphin rush' you get from it. Over the years the image of cross-country skiing has improved a lot, and there seems to be a real awareness of the sport through TV coverage, the internet and the success of British skiers. In terms of a plan, there hasn't really been one - the growth has been entirely organic, and largely based on me trying out new things. I try to listen very carefully to what people want, and look ahead and think what people would like if it were offered. The team of instructors is great - we all do it firstly for the love of the sport - and people keep coming back to lessons and to our regular training group. With the equipment sales, I try to offer a very good service - and keep the prices competitive, and I think people like buying equipment from a shop that is also making great efforts to develop the sport. Word of mouth has been vital, as has the internet.
How many people have done your courses over the last five years?
It would be too complicated to work out - but definitely getting on for 2000, if you include people who have done one-off sessions.
Do many of your rollerski clients also go cross-country skiing - on snow – or are they only interested in rollerskiing? Most people have cross-country skiing in mind - probably 90% find out about rollerskiing when looking into cross-country skiing. A lot of people are preparing for cross-country ski holidays, often with XCUK. An increasing number are interested in racing on snow, be it ski marathons, Arctic expeditions, winter triathlon or even biathlon (skiing and shooting). Personally, I find it most rewarding being involved with people who have a holiday or racing goal to aim for, as they generally stick with it, and you can see a lot of progress over a few months. Often, they also have a very good attitude towards training.
From the outset, the Rollerski Company has always seemed to me to want to combine two roles. One role is that of a commercial organisation. The other is to develop the sport of rollerskiing in a general way, irrespective of commercial benefit. Am I right to think that?
Definitely. In an ideal world, the teaching side of it would possibly be organised by a well-funded governing body or club - but there isn't one. I run the teaching much like I would a club, and I have always believed in the importance of re-investing proceeds in coaches, equipment and athletes. A large amount of my time goes into maintaining and managing the equipment, and in dealing with bookings and marketing. A lot of people we introduce at our Windsor Dorney Lake sessions (near J7 of the M4) go on to join clubs across the UK - in Hampshire, Wessex, Manchester and beyond. We encourage people who start in London to continue training through our London club - so I think we contribute a lot to the sport.
And if I am right, what is next for you in terms of general development of the sport? I would love to see more people becoming rollerski instructors and / or establishing rollerskiing and cross-country skiing clubs across the country, with an emphasis on getting kids into the sport. All it takes is a few parents, or a determined individual or two, to take the initiative - and be prepared to work hard even when it seems you are going backwards. We try to feed the youngsters we come across into the 'British Nordic Development Squad' and the adults into the 'British Masters / Snowsport England' programmes. But it's the grass-roots that I'd like to see develop more, and that is down to individuals just getting on with it.
You started a club last year. Tell us about that. Actually the club started back in 2006 with the people to whom we'd taught technique, wanting to do more training. My thought initially was to feed people into an existing London club (the LRNSC), but they weren't really set up for providing the regular coaching and development that was needed. So I established our regular training sessions in Hyde Park initially, and now also in Richmond Park, and it is going from strength to strength. It is really good to see people develop and also feed back into the skiing community - as many of them now take part in races, attend Snowsport England courses and are members of other clubs. This Autumn we are introducing rollerskiing into two schools, and hopefully this will attract a lot more kids into the sport.
And to end up, let’s have the standard interview question: Where do you think the company will be in another five years time? I've no idea. I'd aim for 'better' rather than 'bigger', but I would love to grow the numbers of people for whom rollerskiing / cross-country skiing is a part of their lives. I would definitely like to see us doing more work with schools, and see regular sessions in more locations. Growing the number of instructors, and what they do, is also a long term goal. I would also like to sell more equipment in the shop, but it will remain focused on cross-country skiers and roller skiers.
You can find out more about XCUK at their website, www.xcuk.com You can also sign up to their e-newsletter here - for lots of information relevant to cross-country skiers.
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