Bracknell Ice Skating Club Newsletter - December 2004

Top Skaters Set Sights on Next Year

BISC's skaters may not have won medals at this year's British Championships but they are upbeat about next season and their futures. Tamsyn Pack, 14, and Richard Boaden, 16, were expected to be among the medalists in the Primary Ice Dance Championship at the National Ice Centre, Nottingham, after winning bronze last year. But they got off to a less than perfect start which kept their final placing down despite an excellent free dance.

While they may have been disappointed, the club's other dance couple, Rebecca Forsyth, 13, and Christopher Hockaday, 15, were pleased to finish sixth in their first primary championship, having won the novice title earlier this year.

Although Simon Waller, 17, was left with mixed feelings about his skate and placing in the Junior Men's Figure Skating Championship, he is very positive about next season and has already started planning his programmes and training schedule.

“No matter how our skaters did, the club is very proud that they managed to qualify for the championships,” said club chairman, Roy Welham. “Some of the qualifying standards, particularly in figure skating, have been raised quite considerably in the past two years and it seems that fewer skaters are able to reach that standard. All five of our members who competed at the championships should feel good about what they have achieved.”

Tamsyn and Richard came sixth in the first compulsory (tango), fourth in the second compulsory (blues) and fifth in the free dance to finish fifth overall out of eight, while Rebecca and Christopher came fifth in the tango, sixth in the blues and sixth in the free dance.

David Phillips, who coaches both couples with Lucine Chakmakjian, said: “Although Tamsyn and Richard's result may be a little disappointing - they got off to a bit of a poor start in the compulsory dances and were not as together as they might have been in the tango - they skated a very good free dance and scored their highest ever marks in Britain. They had never had a four before in this country and they were chuffed to bits.

“Rebecca and Christopher had had a horrific mid and end to their training with almost non-stop injuries and illnesses so their aim was not to come last. Their placing in the tango was excellent and unfortunately Rebecca had a fall in the free dance but they should be very pleased at coming sixth especially as they beat a Nottingham couple who last year came second.”

Coached by Jon Bonny, Simon was the first club member for about 10 years, and the first ever “home-grown” Bracknell skater, to compete in the Junior Men's event.Having landed triple loop and triple lutz in the first practice session, he landed his best ever triple loop in the warm-up for the short programme and although he landed the loop cleanly in the competition, he fell off the landing. He also landed a triple toe-loop but was only able to combine it with a single instead of double or triple, and added a solid double axel to come sixth in the short where the marking for fourth to seventh places was extremely close.

“Landing the triple loop and lutz in practice was a great boost although it put pressure on me to skate better in the long programme,” Simon said. But his long programme was less solid and he did not end it as strongly as he started although he did include four triple jumps and a double axel. With mixed places from the judges, his overall position was eighth.

“Technically I am up there with all the top skaters. I just need more work on my stamina and to include the new jumps in the programme,” Simon added. “I am very confident for the coming season when I am eligible to compete at junior level again.”

Meanwhile both dance couples and Simon intend to extend this season by competing in at least one international in the new year.

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