Pair crowned for first time

SKATERS Matthew Chick and Rhian Brouard have been crowned as British champions. The pair, members of the Phoenix Artistic Roller Skating Club won the junior dance championship for couple skaters at Stoke Mandeville - the first time a local couple have won this level of skating.

This was an exceptional win for them as they have been skating together for less than a year and were not expected to be contenders for the title

But due to their individual skating talents they impressed the audience with natural flow and body harmony to give the illusion of one skater.

In order to win the event, Chick and Brouard were required to perform two compulsory dances with this year's being the blues and HK tango.

With a favourable draw of second to skate, they had time to look at the standard set, which encouraged them to excel higher.

The judges awarded them high sevens for both dances which placed them two to three marks higher than their nearest contenders.

They then moved on to the original set pattern, with this year's tempo being the tango, which suited the Guernsey couple.

During their first circuit, and while executing a difficult layback spin, the couple fell quite badly.

This made them lose their rhythm, but with a determined restart they lifted their performance with the judges still placing them higher than the other couples, due mainly to their technical mark being so much higher.

The free-dance section was skated on the following day, giving the couples a chance to have some rest and a training session in the morning

With the pair having been placed last to perform the free-dance, the pressure was intense. Again, though, they skated with confidence and confirmed their dominance of the event by winning the section and British Championship.

Following this, they received confirmation at the event that they will represent Great Britain at the Junior European Championships, which this year are being held in Trieste, Italy.

Nicola Roland and Kirsty Chick competed in the cadet and youth solo categories respectively and were among some excellent skaters.

Roland made a very nervous start to her event but in the second compulsory managed to place herself in 10th position at this stage.

With the jive being chosen as the OSP for this level, she gave it everything on the performance and delighted the judges enough to move her up and place her finally in ninth.

Chick made her first appearance in the youth section and with this year's dances being of a higher standard caused minor problems for her in the kilian but with Chick having such a natural flair for the waltz she secured 10th position at this stage.

The Charleston was the chosen rhythm for her level and with the effort on the manner of performance she gave, she was awarded much higher marks and placed 4th in this section.

Therefore, this had an amazing effect on her overall position with this being calculated as sixth.

The weekend would not have been so successful if the local skaters had not received the additional floor time being offered by the Scouts Association at the new sports hall at Rue Mainguy, for which they were all very grateful.