Bracknell Ice Skating Club Newsletter - March 2005

Young Skaters Shine in Edges & Bligh

Younger BISC members shone in the first inter-club free skating competition of the year - the Edges & Bligh - at Basingstoke on March 6.

Hannah Connor, who was 11 four days after the event, proved she can be relied on to deliver the goods when she not only came second in a class at her own test standard, but won a higher level class as well!

The competition is for a maximum of 10 skaters from each club. Two aged up to 11 compete in a class for up to test level 3 and a further two at up to test level 6 in the Edges competition, and four skaters of any age compete in the same classes in the Bligh competition. Both Edges and Bligh have an artistic class for one skater from each club.

In addition to Basingstoke and Bracknell, this year's event attracted teams from Streatham and the Isle of Wight in the Bligh competition although Streatham was unable to field a team in the Edges contest. The only club with a full team was Basingstoke while Bracknell was short of one competitor in the Bligh section.

The event began with the Edges Level 3 class in which Hannah Connor and Olivia Clarke, 10, both skated very well to come second and third out of six. Hannah then beat four other competitors to win the Edges Level 6 class where she was the only Bracknell entrant.

James Bailey, 12, maintained his medal winning ways when he beat seven others to win the Bligh Level 3 class in which Bracknell's Robyn Vaughan, 12, came seventh.

Then came one of the most interesting contests for Bracknell - the Bligh Level 6 class - which put two of the club's top boys in competition against each other for the first time. Chris Kerr, 14, rose to the occasion with one of his best ever competition skates to take third place out of eight with the less experienced David Truby, 14, coming sixth.

The event ended with the artistic classes in which Olivia Clarke was second of three with her Nine Til Five programme in the Edges competition while Seren Tudor, 13, was second of four with her Elvis routine in the Bligh.

Final team placings - Edges: Basingstoke 19 points, Bracknell 17, Isle of Wight 11; Bligh: Basingstoke 25 points, Streatham 23, Bracknell 22, Isle of Wight 12.

Ice Precise Learns from Inspirational International

The club's novice synchro team, Ice Precise, represented Great Britain in an ISU event at the National Ice Centre in Nottingham on March 6.

Once the team of under 14-year-olds had got used to the enormous rink during a practice session the previous day, Ice Precise skated very well during the official practice on the Sunday morning and went on to skate well to its Hoe Down medley in the competition. But the programme was not clean and the team suffered two falls, finishing in eighth place. However its marks were very close to the Dutch team which had skated clean and was placed seventh. The competition was won by Ice Mates from the USA followed by Canadian, Finnish and French teams while Basingstoke was fifth and Nottingham sixth.

“The team learnt a great deal at the weekend and was truly inspired by the Russian senior team,” said team manager Sacha Hartley. “It is now the end of the season and we need to rebuild Ice Precise as we are losing skaters due to age restrictions.”

Skating for Ice Precise were: Amy Barnes, Charlotte Brooke, Paul Dredge, Rebecca Fraser (vice-captain), Steph Francis, Laura Hartley (captain), Becky Highcock (vice-captain), Laura Highcock, Helen Ingram, Katherine Loades-Bannon, Rebecca Loades-Bannon, Danni McBride, Susie Race, Alison Ryder, Alex Smith and Olivia Wessendorf with Charlotte Briddon and Hayley Salmon as alternates.

* The club's synchro section needs new skaters in order to get the team back up to 16 (preferably 20) skaters. Any skaters who have passed their Rink Advanced test and are under 14 should contact Sacha or the synchro coaches, David Phillips and Lucine Chakmakjian (contact details are on the club noticeboard or at reception).

It is also trying to establish a senior team for which it is actively seeking skaters aged 14 and over.

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