Brockmann Breaks Inline Skating World Record on Wedding Day
Eric Gutke
[reprinted from Atlanta Sport & Fitness Magazine, Oct.. 97]
Brockmann Breaks Inline Skating World Record on Wedding Day
Uwe Brockmann, a 33-year-old softer engineer from Germany, recently
added world record holder to his list of credentials by breaking the
24-hour in-line speed skating
world record in Atlanta, GA, on Saturday, July 12 and Sunday, July 13.
Skating
around the upper concourse at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Brockmann
completed
726 laps, for a total distance on 296.27 miles in a 24-hours period.
(The previous
world record was 290.8 miles, set by Cristophe Evart of the French
national skating
team.) And as if he didn't have enough on his mind, a few hours before
his record
attempt, Brockmann married Donna Swords of Stone Mountain, GA, in the
first-ever
wedding in the Georgia Dome. It was a day he will never forget!
A member of the German and U.S. amateur roller skating federations
with over 11
years of long-distance racing experience, Brockmann is a two-time winner
of the
86-mile Athens-to-Atlanta Road Skating Marathon (1987 and 1988), the
1996 German national marathon champion in the 30-39 age group and the
1996 and 1997 marathon
state champion of Lower Saxony, Germany. Brockmann believes that his
extensive
racing experience, the smooth surface of the upper concourse of the
Georgia Dome and
his ultra-lightweight custom carbon fiber in-line racing skates gave him
an advantage over previous record challengers.
Brockmann spent one year preparing for his record attempt. "I skate
with cyclists
[rather than against other inline skaters] because they go my speed,"
explains
Brockmann. "I have very good brakes so I can stop as fast as cyclists
can."
Brockmann also credits his supporters for pushing him and getting
him through the
24-hour challenge. For fuel while skating, Brockmann drank liquid
food. He was
allowed to take bathroom breaks, but otherwise was on his skates the
full 24-hours.
Brockmann's wife, Donna Brockmann, is an 18-year veteran teacher in
the DeKalb
County School System. The couple met 10 years ago while Mr. Brockmann
completed work on his master's degree in computer science at the Georgia
Institute of Technology
in Atlanta.
[note: I thought this was a good article everyone might want to see.
Nice job, Uwe!!!]
Eric Gutke
[reprinted from Atlanta Sport & Fitness Magazine, Oct.. 97]
Brockmann Breaks Inline Skating World Record on Wedding Day
Uwe Brockmann, a 33-year-old software engineer from Germany,