Phoenix excels

PHOENIX Roller Skating Club has won the coveted Robinson Club Shield for only the second time in its history. The team of Guernsey skaters returned from the National Solo Dance competition staged by the Federation of Artistic Roller Skating in Gillingham, Kent, with a host of successes.

Top was the award for being the best club during the weekend of competition. This result was based on a points system for those skaters who placed in the top 10 during the 17 events skated.

Phoenix was given a great start by Kelly King, a new member competing in the non-medallists.

She qualified for the final of the compulsory section and won silver medal. Later she skated her original set pattern of a samba and received her first national victory.

Hannah Dyke gave representation in the elementary standard and although skating well in the compulsory section, was unable to secure a medal position. But she made good progress in the OSP group to win her first national silver medal.

In the preliminary group, three skaters competed, Chloe Dyke, Emilia Bianco and Bobby Roland. The standard was high this year and all three performed strong dances, with Dyke winning the event and Bianco second.

These two also competed in the OSP section and with both performing lively and animated polkas, they were again on the podium, Dyke winning silver and Bianco bronze.

In the inter-bronze and bronze category, Nicola Roland secured a place in the final by placing fourth in her heat.

In the final, she was fifth overall, a significant advancement for her as this was the first national final she had achieved.

She also skated an entertaining jive in the OSP section and just missed out on the medals by repeating the placing of the compulsories, which again showed the improvement she has made in the past eight months.

In the inter-silver standard, three Phoenix skaters performed the compulsory section, which proved difficult as the floor was extremely slippery. However, this did not deter them. Kirsty Chick finished just outside the medals in fourth, with Lauren Sauvage 10th and Saxon Prentice 12th.

In the OSP section, Chick improved her position by one place to claim the bronze medal, with Sauvage seventh and Prentice ninth.

The final standard skated by solo competitors was for silver-medal standards and above. Darren Dyke made a return to the circuit, skating two dances with great control despite the surface.

Putting in a confident performance gave him the silver medal and further points for the club.

The team events, although disappointingly supported, proved to be again of a very high standard and more medals were awarded to the local skaters with the following results: