The British Figure Skating and Ice Dance Championships are here again, they take place every year, followed a couple of months later by the European Championships at the same venue, Ice Sheffield, near Don Valley Stadium.
The competition features the best of British talent in the skating world, whether they are solo or pair skaters, or in the novice, junior or senior age ranges.
Picture: HR Media
Considering the success of ITV’s Dancing on Ice, the championships get remarkably little press coverage, and Ice Sheffield is not full of spectators by any means.
The championships are held by the National Ice Skating Association (NISA), which has been in existence since 1875, so is one of the oldest sporting bodies in the UK, and they govern ice skating throughout Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
NISA’s national centre for figure skating is here in Sheffield, and so the city has been chosen to host the championships for the past six years.
The facility was built with lottery money, and as a result of the deal struck to obtain this funding NISA have over seven hundred free hours on the ice each year.
The championships span over one week in November, and during that week figure skating, ice dance and synchronised skating events all take place, and a number of the senior skaters in attendance will be looking to qualify for the European Championships, which take place in the new year.
One such skater is Jenna McCorkell, 25, the ladies solo champion and has won the title eight times previously.
As she speaks, she was in first place having just come off the ice, but was immediately taken to dope control, where she was forced to spend two hours until she could provide them with a sample.
The control surrounding this is rigorous, as soon as skaters are told they are to be taken to dope control they are accompanied everywhere even to their dressing room where they have to get changed, so there is little room for modesty.
They are then required to drink copious amounts of water until they can provide a sample, but this itself is fraught with complications, as the sample cannot be too weak.
On this occasion, Jenna was held up for only a couple of hours, but it can take longer, as much as eight hours. This can happen at any event and is usually totally random, and happens at all levels of skating, even the novice level.
This is a process Jenna has been through many times before, and is part of the career she has chosen. She trains a gruelling six days a week both on and off ice, although being the Ladies champion; no-one could argue that it hasn’t paid off.
Jenna also went to the Vancouver Olympics last year, but as she says “unfortunately it was one of my worst performances which was absolutely devastating, but I completely enjoyed the experience.
“I had missed out on the Turin Olympics in 2006 due to a back injury so it meant even more to get to Vancouver.
“I just learnt so much from my competition, even from my own performance and really came home with a lot of inspiration and motivation to keep going.”
For Jenna, by far the lowest points of her career have been when she has been injured, she admits, “I have had so many setbacks and at times it really brings you down.
“Last season I was plagued with my foot and within four months I’d had about thirty injections which was just terrible, you get so down and frustrated because you can’t train like you want to.”
Someone who knows all about this, as he is going through something similar this season, is Matthew Parr, 21, the two times senior men’s solo champion.
He is currently out with injury, and cites this year as a real low point as he has been so frustrated, having spent six months out of action – “the most boring thing ever.”
He is now back in training, and spending much time in the gym regaining his fitness.
He says “the jumps, spins, all the technical elements on the ice come back pretty much straight away, but the level of fitness I had before takes a long time to come back.
“I lost the title last year, which I didn’t feel I deserved to but it was awarded to someone else. I wanted to come back and regain it but I couldn’t because of the injury which is so frustrating.”
Picture: HR Media
Nevertheless, high points in Matthew’s career include skating for the Queen at her Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002 and winning the British Championships twice.
It’s hard not to get the impression that this time next year, he will be back fighting.
He hopes to qualify next year to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and so that is his main aim for the moment.
Junior ice dance pair Sophie Jones and Richard Sharpe were also at the championships, and have just returned from Austria and their second international event of the year with a silver medal and a personal best.
Richard holds down a full time job in Essex, while Sophie is a student at Rochester University, alongside their gruelling training on the ice.
Both are lucky in the sense that both the company that Richard works for and Sophie’s university are very flexible and allow them time off to train.
They have been abroad and seen other countries train, and Richard says “going abroad, you can’t get a better experience, when you’re next to the Russian, American and Canadian teams you get a wider perspective of how training should be done, how other countries do it.
“In Russia, for example, if you have the talent they will look after you, they will pay for everything whereas in this country you don’t get that.”
The skaters start young, with many being as young as seven or eight when they first start on the ice.
Peter Hallam is 16 and has won the championship in this novice category. He was expected to win it this year, but lost out to another competitor, although he is another competitor who works incredibly hard and didn’t feel he deserved to lose it.
He currently attends college alongside training, but he is considering dropping out to concentrate on it full time.
“Both my schools were very supportive, giving me opportunities all the time to go and train so it’s been really good.
“They helped me catch up on my work and everything and the college I’ve just moved into now is doing exactly the same.”
Peter is deeply passionate about skating as he says there are no lows to his life as a skater “it has to be something really serious for you to want to quit.”
With his passion and drive, it might be possible to see Peter on the gold medal podium of Olympics in years to come, which is his ultimate dream.
The spectator seats may not have been full, but nearly all of those that attended were entranced and excited by the array of talent they see before them.
The sheer athleticism, the skill and timing are feats that take years and years of work and dedication, and one can only hope that the very talented players of this game find their years of commitment come to fruition.