Page 54 - RADC Bulletin 2019

N-Ice and Easy
Maj Verity Brown RADC
It is fair to say that, following my first adult ice skating competition, the British Adult Championships (BACs) in 2017, I well
and truly caught the bug. I enjoyed ice skating as a child, and was a successful national competitor as a teenager, but I fell in love with the sport all over again during my posting to Leconfield. I have now increased my repertoire to compete in 4 events, doing 5 different routines...which is plenty to keep me busy outside of the dental surgery.
I have been fortunate to be based a few miles from my nearest ice rink in Hull for nearly 3 years now. Throughout this time
I have been training twice a week with my coach, Vic, and developing routines in different disciplines, some of which I have never entered before. My new favourite event is the ‘Artistic’ free skating event. The programmes for this are just 1min 40 long, to any music you choose, with just two required elements: a spin and a jump. I have never been much for jumping, but can manage one if I really have to! I am traditionally an ice dancer, which is quite different to free skating- a rival discipline if you will!
In 2017 I watched the artistic event at
the BACs. It is a very popular and highly competitive event, traditionally dominated by free skaters. I love a good challenge though, so set about building my programme ready
for 2018. In 2018 I skated to a medley from Beauty and The Beast, which I have adored ever since it was released in the early 90s. We worked very hard on that programme, channelling my inner ‘Disney Princess’, and was delighted to win the British title in my age category. I absolutely loved this event, and how free I was to put pretty much whatever I wanted in it. I entered the same event in 2019 and won my age category again, even after a fall. I skated to ‘Once Upon a December’ from Anastasia...another opportunity to play princess on ice!
The other events I entered were the Pattern Dances and Freedance, my more traditional dances I have entered into
for three years now. My preparation for these was not so traditional though. I had been practicing the wrong waltz all year.
I only discovered the week before the competition, when one of my coaches couldn’t understand why I was practicing a different dance to her other pupil. Oops! I was mortified to get my waltzes mixed up but fortunately I knew the correct one so scrambled to get that ready instead, and took home gold medals in all those events.
One of my favourite parts of ice skating is picking the music to skate to. I love to dance and I can pick whatever I want. This year,
I had a blast samba-ing to Bootilicious by Destiny’s Child, I
waltzed to
52 RADC BULLETIN 2019
SPORT