Skating enthusiasts roll their way through the streets of Paris   VIDEO Go rolling on the Champs-Elysees with CNN's Peter Humi. Windows Media 28K 80K

From Paris Bureau Chief Peter Humi

PARIS (CNN) -- Friday night is party night in Paris -- when the city's restaurants, bars and nightclubs do a booming business.

But, the "city of light" doesn't just rock on Friday nights -- it rolls. Each week, thousands of in-line skaters wheel through Paris, down the famed Champs-Elysees and along a 25- kilometer (15-mile) route.

Skating enthusiasts from neighboring countries bring their blades to Paris each week for the Friday night roll. They come in all shapes and sizes but have one thing in common: They love the thrill of high-speed skating through city streets that, at any other time, would be clogged with cars.

"I've been roller-skating since I was 5," said one man, who, at 68, was the oldest skater in the pack.

Organizers help police supervise the "rollers," who started the weekly event during the summer of 1998. At the height of summer, as many as 25,000 skaters roll their way through Paris.

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