Ayrshire Flyers Speed Skating Club must be happy, for their five players have qualified for the Star Class of the season at Bolzano, Italy to compete against the continents top juniors.

For junior speed skaters, this competition is very prestigious, as this one is just a level below the World Cup, with four events in Western Europe, four in the east and the top ten in each category meeting in Italy for the final at the end of February.

Alison Walker came 6th in the under 15 categories; Shannon Scott and Rosslyn White came in 10th and 13th respectively.

Other winners who competed in the Sheffield Open were Shelly Thomson who came first and Lorna Thomson, 2nd; in the ladies speed ice skating category.

Euan Taylor and Roy Walker came 1st and 3rd respectively in the juvenile category and Kathryn Thomson topped in the Pee Wee category. Emma Reilly and Crawford Gillies especially shone in the novice ice skating category.

The Ayrshire Flyers Club train at the Manum on Thursdays and Sundays and will be participating in the Scottish Open at Dumfries on Saturday and at Magnum on Saturday in the Irvine Open.

In a unique marketing move by German traders, a typical, traditional continental market feel will be brought to the hugely popular Cambridge temporary ice skating rink for the Christmas season.

Around 50% more ice is what the immensely popular Cambridge on Ice Skating rink is promising when coming back to Parker’s Piece this year.

The festivities are expected to start within a month of the official opening of the ice skating rink that takes place on Friday November 14th.

Except for a break on Christmas Day, skaters can use it every day.

The ice skating rink, which attracted 40,000 people last year, is all set to add to its growing number by including a traditional German market and a café.

With thoughtful segregation, separate sessions for mothers and children will be conducted and for those over 50 wanting a more leisurely skating session, there is the ‘silver skater’ session. Tickets can be booked in advance, online.

The traditional Christmas market will be held from Friday, December 12 to Sunday, December 21, in which more than 20 stallholders will set up their stands.

Complementing this is the Ice Café with its two traditional Alpine log cabins offering warm drink and food to keep that winter chill away.

The beautiful sport of ice skating seems to be garnering a lot of interest from young skaters and the talent that these skaters possess is being honed to perfection. The recent arrival of the Oxford team is a testimony to this fact.

Out of the twelve junior ice skaters who represented the Oxford Ice Rink, six returned proudly with medals in their necks from the Link Centre in Swindon.

Tori Strange, aged fourteen, won the gold in the beginner class for skaters 13 and above while Shelly Harmer came third in her very first competition.

The three Oxford skaters who entered the 3rd level category, Alisom Drake came in second and Laura Smith finished third, beating her sister Jessica by a small margin.

Alicia deLange, a sixteen-year-old, came in as a runner up after performing her new routine.

Charlotte Davis, also a sixteen year old, got an excellent presentation of 4.0 in her programme performing the double axle among her other seven double jumps; finishing Oxfords grand medal haul.

Caroline Drake, a seventeen year old came in at level 5 while Athina Mavrou (12) and Maisie Meadows (13) came in 5th at level 4 and 5th at level 1 respectively.

London should be seeing a lot of ice skating action this winter.

Ice skating has always had a special place in our hearts, from Little Women to Home Alone, ice skating brings to mind the festive cheer and enthusiasm of Christmas.

If you plan to go ice skating this winter, you might want to consider the top five locations in London that will give you the best ice skating experience.

Hyde Park Winter Wonderland: November 22 - January 4, 2009
A giant observation wheel, toboggan slide and myriad attractions, Winter Wonderland has been the Mecca for the ultimate winter experience. The fact that in 2007, tickets for ice skating were sold out, bears testimony to this fact.

Hampton Court Palace Ice Rink: November 29 - January 11, 2009
The café and carousel owners will be pleased they have such a close proximity to this 90sq m ice rink, for after a tiring day at the ice skating rink, people can relax here. Open daily between 10 am to 11 pm, this rink has sessions lasting an hour each.

Somerset House Ice Rink: November 19 - January 25, 2009
Skate to the DJ’s tunes at the most glamorous outdoor venue while enjoying the romantic backdrop of the 18th century courtyard and Tiffany & Co. Christmas tree.

Ice Skating at the Tower of London: November 22 - January 11, 2009
With an oval rink, piped carols and a café, and the backdrop of the eternal Tower of London, this one is guaranteed to bring festive joy to all who skate here.

The Natural History Museum Ice Rink: November 6 - January 19, 2009
the Natural History Museum is known for, and very soon may be, by; the 1000 sq m rink with a café and bar that serves hot drinks to drive away that winter chill.

Robin Cousins, the former Olympic Ice skating champion, MBE, will switch on Exeter’s Christmas lights as revealed by the City Council.

ITV’s Dancing on Ice show’s chief judge will join Councillor Paul Smith, Lord Mayor, to officially switch on the display of a thousand dazzling Christmas lights on 18th November, Tuesday at 6.15 pm.

A display of pyrotechnics will also be there, launched from the Old Debenhams building.  The event will attract a lot of people from the nearby areas. The crowd is to be entertained with family fun by popular breakfast presenters from Gemini FM. Robin Cousins.  The winner of the Olympic Ice Skating gold medal in 1980 and also the choreographer of the new Holiday on Ice Mystery show will be joined on the stage by two ice skaters in stunning show costumes.

The switching on of the Christmas lights will take place at the bottom of Castle Street off the main High Street. Visitors will get to see the amazing display of lights and well decorated Christmas trees along with some spectacular ice skating performances from some of the best ice skaters in the country.  All ice skating enthusiasts will definitely want to be at the venue.

It is a known fact that sports lovers would do anything and even endure early mornings for their favourite sport.

At half past five in the morning, when all the children in the country are asleep, the devoted members of Kirkcaldy Ice Skating club are busy training at the Fife Ice arena.

About 80 youths from age three to eighteen are part of the team and all the members along with their four coaches do not mind getting up early in the morning for their ice skating training sessions as they just love the sport.

Head coach Jackie Coubrough says that it is a huge commitment but they all enjoy it and hence it is not a problem. The children take part in the morning training sessions before they leave for school.

They all reach the arena at half past five and some of them travel from as far as Dundee. They even train on Saturdays and Sundays.  They do that all throughout the year as they move to Edinburgh when Kirkcaldy is shut in the summer. The children never take a break.

The Kirkcaldy ice skating club will be competing in Dumfries later this week for national titles. If the hard work is fruitful, they should definitely have some winners in the competition.

The pupils of Mountfield and Whatlington School got the chance to be in an indoor winter wonderland as the school’s hall was the venue for a family ice skating event.

People from all ages, more than 120 of them, enjoyed the Magic-eye surface that was laid for the ice skating event during the afternoon in the school hall.

Everyone, including first timers, had a wonderful time and wanted to know when they could do it again. Joe Hellet, the head teacher at the school said that he was very impressed with the entire event. He was happy that many students developed a liking for the sport and picked it up so soon despite trying it for the very first time.

Mr. Hellet said that he would present Yasmin and Ted from the school with special certificates after they managed to spin and skate backwards after just 30 minutes of learning how to skate.

Impressed by the turnout and the success of the event, the school has decided to host the event again, at the same time next year.

Such events are needed to promote the sport of ice skating in youngsters and school children.

It is time to get back on your roller skates. In an attempt to revive roller skating as a sport and hobby, roller skating sessions will start in Bolton from this Friday, 24th October.

The residents of Little Lever joined together in an attempt to push for a roller skating venue in the village. The residents of Little Liver had to travel all the way to Altrincham to enjoy their favourite hobby. However, they now have reasons to rejoice as roller skating sessions will now be held locally at the Little Lever Sports Centre.

Carol Hardman put in a lot of effort to lead the campaign. The 48 year old from the Little Lever High Street said that this would get the kids off the streets on a Friday night. They want Sundays to be for families, with grandparents and parents bringing together their children.

Named after the popular ice rink, The Navada, in Spa Road during the period 1950 to 1985, The Navada Experience will be held at the centre at Little Lever Specialist Language College on Fridays and Sundays between 7pm to 9 pm and 1.30 pm to 3.30 pm respectively.

The sessions will cost just £3 per person and skates can be hired at the venue for 50p.

If Strictly Ice Dancing’s Zoia Birmingham manages to do for a Kensington schoolgirl what she hadsdone for David Seaman on TV, there would a new champion in the making in west London.

The current protégé of Birmingham, Blythe Burkhart, an eleven year old, soared to gold in an open U12 event in what was only her fourth competition.  The win for Burkhart came at the Chelmsford Open Championship. The event was held recently and is considered to be one of the most prestigious junior events.

Burkhart is being hailed as the next ice skating star. She attends St Paul’s School in Hammersmith and trains every week for two hours with Birmingham in Bayswater at the Queens Ice Rink.

Burkhart’s coach said that she had started skating around six years ago and had worked really hard to get here.

Birmingham said that Blythe was competitive enough to win last year but had to deal with a lot of pressure. However, she has overcome all that and managed to finish at the third place with her recent win in Guildford.
Birmingham added that one can easily tell by Blythe’s talent how graceful she was and how beautifully she executes her manoeuvres.

It was another graceful performance by Jenna McCorkell, the ice skater from Coleraine at the Finlandia Trophy in Finland.

The skater was competing against some of the best skaters from all over the world and impressed everyone with her skill and talent. With this amazing performance, Jenna added a total of almost ten points to her overall score from her previous international performance in Germany, Obersdorf.

Delighted by her performance, Jenna said that everything went smoothly at the event. She added that this was her best technical performance so far. She had a great free skate and completed a total of two double axles and five triple jumps.

This has been a great season start for her adding her to the top 5 finish in Obersdorf. This gave her a lot of confidence at Finlandia where some of the best skaters of the world had competed.

Jenna was up against the silver and bronze medallists from Europe and Japan’s top skaters had won the competition.

She was very happy with the results and felt that she was progressing quite a bit at the competitions. She hopes to continue the season and skate the best that she can. She added that she was training hard and looking forward to her next event.