This is great advice ladies! Thanks

Does it help to get low too? I feel quite secure when I'm lower but wouldn't like it to slow me

yep - what's been said really...
crossovers all the way round, don't coast, diamond shape, chase someone slightly ahead of you (but don't focus too much on other people)

i don't skate very low but i'm told it helps a lot

i try to stick to the same pace throughout, for me keeping a steady rhythm really helps - like 5 strides for each side of the diamond (or whatever). i step it up a bit at 10/15/20 laps - really incrementally, cos it doesn't work for me to feel like i'm dying from lap 1

if you fall, GET UP in 2 seconds and forget about it, and always start/start again with a toe-stop run or a duck walk

if someone is buddying you - listen to them. if they're screaming at you to push it, then push it - they know what you can do!

This is awesome, thanks everyone!

Toe stop runs/duck walks would be a massive help but i've not tried them before. I'll do some youtube searching and practice them before mins on sunday.

I'm gonna be like a speeding bullet!

YEAH this is such a good thread! I agree with everything that's been said so far... just to add/reiterate (oh how I love to repeat things)

-yes, skate low! Derby stance, all the time! When you are in derby stance, your stride should get *bigger* - did you every try that thing where you lean against the wall, standing up straight and kick your leg out diagonally out/back as if skating, then again while getting really low? If not, try this. Go and do it now! It shows you the difference between skating low and skating upright. Bigger strides = more ground covered = faster!

-having said that, I tend to hop round the track like a frightened bunny quite a lot of the time - just saying this to demonstrate the fact that everyone has a different skating style, and it might not be best to attempt a dramatic change in how you skate for the first time during an assessment so work on your skating stance, strides etc. one step at a time. Any time you are on track is an opportunity to work on this - warm up skating included.

-skating the diamond is the dog's baws. Right out in the middle of the straight way and right in on the corners. If someone is in your way, hop around them - don't give yourself a load of extra track to skate just because you don't want to get too close. You can even say 'excuse me' if someone is in your way and going slower than you - they might move a bit and let you zoom past!

-crossovers, crossovers, crossovers! People have different preferences about how and when to do these, but good crossovers will speed you up no end! If you can get a bit of bounce into your crossover, you'll be able to basically run round the track using these. You don't want to just 'step' one foot over the other, you should be pushing hard with the leg that isn't doing the crossing (if that makes sense) and leaping rather than stepping. If I need a burst of speed, I use these 'running crossovers' almost all the way round the track. But this isn't really sustainable for 5 minutes (it's really tiring!), so you mostly just want to cross over on the corners but make sure they are powerful, hoppy ones.

Capiche? I feel like this might have made less sense outside of my head...

Coming from someone that hasn't got her 25 in 5, I always find I push it too much at the start and then about halfway through nearly die. I will be trying to pace myself!

Connie! Come to Bowhill tomorrow?!?!?!

I plan to spend the whole time running around on my toe stops

YES! This is pretty much my plan too - come!

I really can't. I spent the last of my pennies on a mouth guard today because I lost mine like an idiot! Plus I don't want to risk anything stopping me sitting mins on Sunday.

Get someone to push you while they're counting!

Nothing's better than someone telling you that you have 5 left to go when you feel like shit!
And they'll yell at you when you're coasting And can give you vital constructive criticism when it matters

if you fall doing 25 in 5 get back up & get going, asap! the first time i fell doing it i was gutted & thought my time would be terrible, but it was actually better - sometimes falling happens cos you're pushing yourself. i have fallen 3 times & still done (1) more lap than the week before. Connie, GO!