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lillibetThe whole thing was a very low-key production. I suspect it would be
similar to a US regional competition, though even those might outshine this
event in terms of organization, professionalism, publicity, etc. There was
one TV camera guy around interviewing skaters and officials early in the
day, but I don't believe the competition itself was filmed. There was a
photographer taking stills throughout the competition. The judges were
seated by the side of the rink, in chairs obviously taken from the "Ice Bar"
upstairs overlooking the rink. They were provided with blankets, which we
sorely envied, since the rink was quite cold and the seats (fold-down, hard
plastic) were freezing and pretty uncomfortable.
The seats on our side of the rink started about 10' up off the ice and there
were perhaps ten rows of them. On the other side of the ice, there were
rooms under the seats, so they started even higher and there were only four
rows of them. At the end of the ice were another four rows of seats and
those came right down to the ice, with hockey glass in front of them. We
sat in the second row of seats, because they'd closed off the walkway behind
the judges, forcing everyone to climb through the first row to get past.
There was no leader board and no skating roster available, so I was very
glad to have brough my little notebook in which to take notes and keep
score, or it would have been very difficult to follow. There was a program
listing the order of events and the participants, so at least we got the
spelling of people's names.
I'd been told the events would start at 2:30pm and we arrived about 2:00pm
and took our seats, only to find that the competition wasn't actually
beginning until 3:00pm. So we sat and watched the senior men practice and
the Zamboni make its first rounds and I went out and wandered among the four
or five vendors' tables in the lobby and the bar.
The first event of the day was the Junior Men. There were a lot of falls, a
lot of stumbles and a lot of very badly edited soundtrack music. The winner
was Matthew Wilkinson, who actually managed to stay on his feet through his
whole program, although he stumbled, doubled and popped one jump each. He
skated to what I chose to call "gypsy violin" in a white peasant blouse and
purple pants. He was the only junior to break the 5-barrier, receiving two
technical 5.0's and a 5.1 and 5.2 in his presentation marks.
I enjoyed the silver medalist's performance more, and he also managed to
stay on his feet, although he only got one clean triple, in his combo. John
Hamer of Gillingham skated to music from one of the Mission: Impossible
movies, dressed in a long sleeved black unitard--complete with gloves-- with
something appliqued onto it that looked like coral. He had a lot of
flexibility and showed it off in a spiral and a combination spin and he
seemed to be having fun playing spy. He had good lines and nice arms.
Hamer had won the short program, with Wilkinson in second place. There was
a lot of movement in the ranks, such that Iain George placed fifth in the
short, fourth in the long and ended up in third place overall.
After a Zamboni break, we had the senior ladies next. That was pretty sad,
with a lot of falls, and 5.0 the high mark for the event. Again there was a
lot of movement in the ranks, with the winner, Zoe Jones, placing first in
the short and second in the long, but the silver medalist, Vikki Hodges,
coming from fifth in the short to win the long.
Jones--from the Centrum club of North Ayrshire, Scotland--had on a pretty
costume of flowing blue-fading-to-white, but somehow it looked too big on
her and her blonde hair had been done up with chopsticks and the ends fanned
and sprayed into a crown of points at the back of her head in a way that
looked fairly frightening. She took a lot of falls and seemed, in my
husband's words, to have "wobbly legs," but she was very graceful and did a
reasonable job of keeping in touch with her Chinese music.
Hodges--from the Streatham club of London--had the most interesting costume
of the day. I failed to take any pictures, so I'll have to try to describe
it. Imagine a greenish-white satin tube top, held across the back by two
horizontal spaghetti straps, with a matching unpleated skirt, all held
together by greenish-white illusion creating a middle and long sleeves, but
leaving the back open. It looked very nice on her and was different from
anything I've seen before. She skated well, also to Asian music, with only
one fall, although I'm sure several of her doubles were supposed to be
triples.
Danielle Guppy, from the Blackburn club, moved up from fourth in the short
to third in the long and third overall. She was the only skater who didn't
fall. She was wearing a lovely brown-velvet strapless dress, with long
sleeves of illusion and had her hair cornrowed and then in a bun, which I
hadn't seen, but seems like a good solution to keeping hair contained for
competition. Despite her stronger jumps, her stroking was bad enough even
for me to notice, and it seemed right for her to be in third.
The local star, Tamsin Sear, had her fan club there in force, but their
cheers couldn't keep her on her feet. She looked great, in a red sequinned
dress that had me wondering before I heard the music if it would be
Firebird, and indeed it was.
The worst costume award goes to Kathryn Hedley of East Kilbride in Scotland,
who was wearing a translucent pale blue sleeveless dress with lines of
sequins curling across it that turned green against the bright yellow
leotard underneath for a lovely sea-nymph effect. It actually looked great
as long as she was standing straight. But whenever she skated backward or
jumped or fell, there was her BRIGHT YELLOW BUTT.
The saddest performance to watch was Victoria McCormick, also of East
Kilbride, who made her first two triples perfectly and then fell absolutely
flat down on the ice over and over and over. But then she did a beautiful
3-2 combo right at the end of her program, which rescued the routine
admirably and let her move up from seventh to sixth.
After the ladies, there was another Zamboni break, followed by the senior
dance event. This was the only event of the day that felt like a senior
event to me. The winners, Marika Humphreys and Vitaly Baranov, skating for
the Deeside club, were the only ones who looked at all ready for
international competition and did qualify for an Olympic berth in Zagreb,
apparently. She reminds me of Bridget Fonda, while he's more Howie Mandel.
Dressed in purple, they did a swing routine to a medly of "Mr. Zoot Suit,"
"Stormy Weather," and "Zoot Suit Riot," that reminded me of Punsalen &
Swallow's lighter routines.
The second place couple, Pam O'Connor and Jonathan O'Dougherty, from
Nottingham, were fairly innocuous. Dressed in teal with pink sequinned
flowers, they skated to an Enya-esque piece and did a nice job with it.
The third place team, Sinead and John Kerr of Murrayfield in Scotland, had
the most creative routine, in Native American costume. They did a number of
very inventive moves, including one where she crouched in front of him and
he kind of kicked her away from him, then brought his leg up to rest on her
back before pulling her through his legs to end up behind her. They did a
pair of moves where one partner lifts the other so the liftee's head is at
the lifter's knee, with the liftee's legs straight up at an angle across the
lifter's body. She lifted him first, much to the delight of the crowd, and
then he lifted her exactly the same way, toward the end of their programme.
The fourth place couple, Phillippa Towler-Green and Robert Burgerman of
Streatham, were in red & BRIGHT orange flame costumes and skated to a medley
of songs that I think are all off of Michael Jackson's latest album. They
started with a very industrial/hip-hop track that was great fun, before
fading to more boring power ballads, ending with a chorus something like "I
just wanna make the world a better place."
We were informed by our seatmates that Charlotte Clements of Slough won the
championship two years ago with a previous partner and is back this year
with a new partner, Philip Poole from Alexandra Palace. They looked very
good, two tall thin blonds, but only managed to get to fifth place.
The sixth place team, Chloe Kyriacou and Vincent Kyle of Alexandra Palace,
had a fun routine, with a number of innovative lifts and moves. I think she
wants to grow up to be Pasha.
Lucy Warman was very cheerful and upbeat and is obviously a good skater, but
she's awfully buxom for an ice dancer and managed to make the various lifts
and jumps just look clunky. Her partner, Craig Ash, was pretty
unmemorable. They were obviously trying hard, but their seventh place
finish was no surprise.
That over, we got to see the one senior pair--Tiffany Sfikas and Andrew
Seabrook of Swindon--skate their routine. Our seatmates mentioned that
she's from Chicago. They did a nice job--she stumbled on the first throw
jump and fell on the second, by they managed their SBS jumps and the throw
twist just fine and had good unison through most of the SBS spins. They
deserve competition!
The one junior pair had been scheduled to skate before the seniors, but
apparently scratched.
Then it was time for the final event of the competition, the senior men.
The program mentioned that last year's winner, Alan Street, came in 6th at
the 2000 Junior Championships, but he wasn't back this year to defend his
title.
The first skater, Neil Bone of Dundee, was in kung fu costume and skated a
routine that looked like a page from Elvis Stojko's book. There was a
similar routine in the junior men, so his influence was really showing. It
didn't do either of them any good, though and Neil ended up in fourth place.
I was actually somewhat surprised at how often the presentation marks were
lower than the technical marks, especially given how low the technical marks
were.
Only one man, Scott Trowbridge of Aberdeen, managed to stay on his feet,
although there were a couple of single jumps and a two-footed landing, but
he ended up in last place anyway. Tristan Cousins from the Centrum club
looked great in warm-ups, but he left all his jumps there and only made two
triples when it counted and ended up in fourth place. I wondered if he is
related to either of the two great British Cousins, but our seatmates didn't
have information on him.
The two top skaters both showed signs of Eldredge's influence. The second
place skater, James Black of Hull in Yorkshire, was in a lovely maroon
doublet and pants over a white shirt. His lines reminded me of a young Kurt
Browning. He had very nice arms and some good, different head and arm
positions on his spins. He managed to land four triples, but singled the
second jump in his combination, doubled another triple and stepped out of
another. Matthew Davis of Dundonald in Northern Ireland was wearing a
silver velour doublet that looked like something out of Todd's closet. He
did a lovely job with an instrumental version of "As She Moved through the
Fair and made all but one of his triples, including a triple-triple
combination, the only one of those we saw all day. I didn't like him as
much as Black, but he certainly deserved the win. His high marks were three
5.5's.
So--not a lot of great skating to be seen, but a fun day out. It was
interesting to realize how much more I enjoy the competitions when I have
some idea of who people are and what is a good performance for them. It's
sad to see so few skaters--the biggest field in the whole competition were
the 22 primary ladies. Our seatmates suggested that part of the problem is
how poorly coaches are paid in the UK and how expensive ice time is these
days. But there were obviously a lot of people working very hard, both on
the ice and off, and we enjoyed the opportunity immensely.
similar to a US regional competition, though even those might outshine this
event in terms of organization, professionalism, publicity, etc. There was
one TV camera guy around interviewing skaters and officials early in the
day, but I don't believe the competition itself was filmed. There was a
photographer taking stills throughout the competition. The judges were
seated by the side of the rink, in chairs obviously taken from the "Ice Bar"
upstairs overlooking the rink. They were provided with blankets, which we
sorely envied, since the rink was quite cold and the seats (fold-down, hard
plastic) were freezing and pretty uncomfortable.
The seats on our side of the rink started about 10' up off the ice and there
were perhaps ten rows of them. On the other side of the ice, there were
rooms under the seats, so they started even higher and there were only four
rows of them. At the end of the ice were another four rows of seats and
those came right down to the ice, with hockey glass in front of them. We
sat in the second row of seats, because they'd closed off the walkway behind
the judges, forcing everyone to climb through the first row to get past.
There was no leader board and no skating roster available, so I was very
glad to have brough my little notebook in which to take notes and keep
score, or it would have been very difficult to follow. There was a program
listing the order of events and the participants, so at least we got the
spelling of people's names.
I'd been told the events would start at 2:30pm and we arrived about 2:00pm
and took our seats, only to find that the competition wasn't actually
beginning until 3:00pm. So we sat and watched the senior men practice and
the Zamboni make its first rounds and I went out and wandered among the four
or five vendors' tables in the lobby and the bar.
The first event of the day was the Junior Men. There were a lot of falls, a
lot of stumbles and a lot of very badly edited soundtrack music. The winner
was Matthew Wilkinson, who actually managed to stay on his feet through his
whole program, although he stumbled, doubled and popped one jump each. He
skated to what I chose to call "gypsy violin" in a white peasant blouse and
purple pants. He was the only junior to break the 5-barrier, receiving two
technical 5.0's and a 5.1 and 5.2 in his presentation marks.
I enjoyed the silver medalist's performance more, and he also managed to
stay on his feet, although he only got one clean triple, in his combo. John
Hamer of Gillingham skated to music from one of the Mission: Impossible
movies, dressed in a long sleeved black unitard--complete with gloves-- with
something appliqued onto it that looked like coral. He had a lot of
flexibility and showed it off in a spiral and a combination spin and he
seemed to be having fun playing spy. He had good lines and nice arms.
Hamer had won the short program, with Wilkinson in second place. There was
a lot of movement in the ranks, such that Iain George placed fifth in the
short, fourth in the long and ended up in third place overall.
After a Zamboni break, we had the senior ladies next. That was pretty sad,
with a lot of falls, and 5.0 the high mark for the event. Again there was a
lot of movement in the ranks, with the winner, Zoe Jones, placing first in
the short and second in the long, but the silver medalist, Vikki Hodges,
coming from fifth in the short to win the long.
Jones--from the Centrum club of North Ayrshire, Scotland--had on a pretty
costume of flowing blue-fading-to-white, but somehow it looked too big on
her and her blonde hair had been done up with chopsticks and the ends fanned
and sprayed into a crown of points at the back of her head in a way that
looked fairly frightening. She took a lot of falls and seemed, in my
husband's words, to have "wobbly legs," but she was very graceful and did a
reasonable job of keeping in touch with her Chinese music.
Hodges--from the Streatham club of London--had the most interesting costume
of the day. I failed to take any pictures, so I'll have to try to describe
it. Imagine a greenish-white satin tube top, held across the back by two
horizontal spaghetti straps, with a matching unpleated skirt, all held
together by greenish-white illusion creating a middle and long sleeves, but
leaving the back open. It looked very nice on her and was different from
anything I've seen before. She skated well, also to Asian music, with only
one fall, although I'm sure several of her doubles were supposed to be
triples.
Danielle Guppy, from the Blackburn club, moved up from fourth in the short
to third in the long and third overall. She was the only skater who didn't
fall. She was wearing a lovely brown-velvet strapless dress, with long
sleeves of illusion and had her hair cornrowed and then in a bun, which I
hadn't seen, but seems like a good solution to keeping hair contained for
competition. Despite her stronger jumps, her stroking was bad enough even
for me to notice, and it seemed right for her to be in third.
The local star, Tamsin Sear, had her fan club there in force, but their
cheers couldn't keep her on her feet. She looked great, in a red sequinned
dress that had me wondering before I heard the music if it would be
Firebird, and indeed it was.
The worst costume award goes to Kathryn Hedley of East Kilbride in Scotland,
who was wearing a translucent pale blue sleeveless dress with lines of
sequins curling across it that turned green against the bright yellow
leotard underneath for a lovely sea-nymph effect. It actually looked great
as long as she was standing straight. But whenever she skated backward or
jumped or fell, there was her BRIGHT YELLOW BUTT.
The saddest performance to watch was Victoria McCormick, also of East
Kilbride, who made her first two triples perfectly and then fell absolutely
flat down on the ice over and over and over. But then she did a beautiful
3-2 combo right at the end of her program, which rescued the routine
admirably and let her move up from seventh to sixth.
After the ladies, there was another Zamboni break, followed by the senior
dance event. This was the only event of the day that felt like a senior
event to me. The winners, Marika Humphreys and Vitaly Baranov, skating for
the Deeside club, were the only ones who looked at all ready for
international competition and did qualify for an Olympic berth in Zagreb,
apparently. She reminds me of Bridget Fonda, while he's more Howie Mandel.
Dressed in purple, they did a swing routine to a medly of "Mr. Zoot Suit,"
"Stormy Weather," and "Zoot Suit Riot," that reminded me of Punsalen &
Swallow's lighter routines.
The second place couple, Pam O'Connor and Jonathan O'Dougherty, from
Nottingham, were fairly innocuous. Dressed in teal with pink sequinned
flowers, they skated to an Enya-esque piece and did a nice job with it.
The third place team, Sinead and John Kerr of Murrayfield in Scotland, had
the most creative routine, in Native American costume. They did a number of
very inventive moves, including one where she crouched in front of him and
he kind of kicked her away from him, then brought his leg up to rest on her
back before pulling her through his legs to end up behind her. They did a
pair of moves where one partner lifts the other so the liftee's head is at
the lifter's knee, with the liftee's legs straight up at an angle across the
lifter's body. She lifted him first, much to the delight of the crowd, and
then he lifted her exactly the same way, toward the end of their programme.
The fourth place couple, Phillippa Towler-Green and Robert Burgerman of
Streatham, were in red & BRIGHT orange flame costumes and skated to a medley
of songs that I think are all off of Michael Jackson's latest album. They
started with a very industrial/hip-hop track that was great fun, before
fading to more boring power ballads, ending with a chorus something like "I
just wanna make the world a better place."
We were informed by our seatmates that Charlotte Clements of Slough won the
championship two years ago with a previous partner and is back this year
with a new partner, Philip Poole from Alexandra Palace. They looked very
good, two tall thin blonds, but only managed to get to fifth place.
The sixth place team, Chloe Kyriacou and Vincent Kyle of Alexandra Palace,
had a fun routine, with a number of innovative lifts and moves. I think she
wants to grow up to be Pasha.
Lucy Warman was very cheerful and upbeat and is obviously a good skater, but
she's awfully buxom for an ice dancer and managed to make the various lifts
and jumps just look clunky. Her partner, Craig Ash, was pretty
unmemorable. They were obviously trying hard, but their seventh place
finish was no surprise.
That over, we got to see the one senior pair--Tiffany Sfikas and Andrew
Seabrook of Swindon--skate their routine. Our seatmates mentioned that
she's from Chicago. They did a nice job--she stumbled on the first throw
jump and fell on the second, by they managed their SBS jumps and the throw
twist just fine and had good unison through most of the SBS spins. They
deserve competition!
The one junior pair had been scheduled to skate before the seniors, but
apparently scratched.
Then it was time for the final event of the competition, the senior men.
The program mentioned that last year's winner, Alan Street, came in 6th at
the 2000 Junior Championships, but he wasn't back this year to defend his
title.
The first skater, Neil Bone of Dundee, was in kung fu costume and skated a
routine that looked like a page from Elvis Stojko's book. There was a
similar routine in the junior men, so his influence was really showing. It
didn't do either of them any good, though and Neil ended up in fourth place.
I was actually somewhat surprised at how often the presentation marks were
lower than the technical marks, especially given how low the technical marks
were.
Only one man, Scott Trowbridge of Aberdeen, managed to stay on his feet,
although there were a couple of single jumps and a two-footed landing, but
he ended up in last place anyway. Tristan Cousins from the Centrum club
looked great in warm-ups, but he left all his jumps there and only made two
triples when it counted and ended up in fourth place. I wondered if he is
related to either of the two great British Cousins, but our seatmates didn't
have information on him.
The two top skaters both showed signs of Eldredge's influence. The second
place skater, James Black of Hull in Yorkshire, was in a lovely maroon
doublet and pants over a white shirt. His lines reminded me of a young Kurt
Browning. He had very nice arms and some good, different head and arm
positions on his spins. He managed to land four triples, but singled the
second jump in his combination, doubled another triple and stepped out of
another. Matthew Davis of Dundonald in Northern Ireland was wearing a
silver velour doublet that looked like something out of Todd's closet. He
did a lovely job with an instrumental version of "As She Moved through the
Fair and made all but one of his triples, including a triple-triple
combination, the only one of those we saw all day. I didn't like him as
much as Black, but he certainly deserved the win. His high marks were three
5.5's.
So--not a lot of great skating to be seen, but a fun day out. It was
interesting to realize how much more I enjoy the competitions when I have
some idea of who people are and what is a good performance for them. It's
sad to see so few skaters--the biggest field in the whole competition were
the 22 primary ladies. Our seatmates suggested that part of the problem is
how poorly coaches are paid in the UK and how expensive ice time is these
days. But there were obviously a lot of people working very hard, both on
the ice and off, and we enjoyed the opportunity immensely.
