Indoor location Herentals

[emma]

Because I'm checking out icerinks today and I feel some nostalgy for the open air BLOSO icerink in Herentals because I went there in my schooltime (12-15 years old), I came across this:
http://www.bloso.be/public/centra/Herentals.asp
On this page they mention an indoor "gaanderij" hall and inlineskating is mentioned explicitly as a possibility!!! Checking the prices for this "gaanderij" it is 7.20 Euro/hour. Very reasonable, I think.
So, Stijn and Evy, I'm beating you in your own area! Could you maybe have a look at this place? Take some pictures? Find out how large it is (place for 500 people to watch!)? When it would be free?

[Stijn]

We already went there to inspect the location. There sure isn't room for 500 people to watch: the tribunes are of the movable kind over there and they are placed at the same level of the sports area. The "gaanderij" is located a level above the sports area and is U-shaped. It is about 5 meters wide and (wild guess) about 20 meters long at each side of the "U". A lot of athletics equipment is stacked there however - including a sandbox for long jumping - so I don't think the complete area will be available.

The floor looks fine: it's made of (very) big concrete tiles. But the joints are rather big and uneven, which makes me doubt if the floor is good enough for slalom.

We have other sports areas that are for rent as well. They are all managed by the local "sportdienst". We already went there, but the staff over there didn't seem to be fond of unpopular sports. From to moment we mentioned "inline skating" you could see "graffiti" and "vandalism" appearing in their eyes and all of sudden not a single location was available for rent anymore. I plan to return there with some example movies on a laptop of what exactly we are planning to do. Thomas? Can you make some time for composing a nice vid of what we have been doing in Diepenbeek? I especially would like a video made in Diepenbeek, so they can see we don't ruin sports floors.

[emma]

Thanks for checking, but this indeed doesn't look so good as Diepenbeek for the same price. The Herentals BLOSO idea made me check some other possible BLOSO locations.  The large hall in Ghent is also from BLOSO, so they shouldn't HATE skaters in general. I called Hofstade over lunch but the lady responsible was in a meeting, so I should call back.
But indeed, maybe it is better that I make an appointment and take my laptop with a nice video on it with me.
These locations would be soooo nice. They also have hosting facilities and for something like 30-35 Euro per day we could organize a kind of slalom stage weekend and combine it with some other sport acivity. Maybe invite the Groningen or German guys? I'm dreaming...
So Thomas, please send us a small video from Diepenbeek and I go to Hofstade with it, preferably this week because I have time for it now.

[sch3lp]

Stijn, it took me some time, but I have had plenty the past 2 days.
So here you go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqiX3w8Lok8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AJeNrkqCL4&feature=related