Sydney event beckons figure skaters
EIGHT Dunedin figure skaters are set to test themselves against some of Australia’s best.
The team left for Sydney yesterday, where it will compete at the 49th Hollins Trophy beginning tomorrow and finishing on Monday.
Top skaters from Australia will be at the competition, as well as several internationals.
It acts as a benchmark event for the Australian skaters in which they can qualify for the national championships.
For most of the Dunedin team it will be their first taste of international competition.
Sarah MacGibbon (21) is the most experienced in that sense, having competed internationally for more than a decade. She will take part in the senior women’s competition.
Lucienne Holtz (12) has also skated internationally and will be in the novice women’s section, as will sisters Rebekah (10) and Hannah (14) Sime.
Reuben Dougherty (17) will compete in the advanced novice men’s category, while Tama AnthonyWhigham (13) will be in the novice men’s section.
Brooke Cathro (8) is competing in the elementary competition, while Siutoni (Asia) Tapealava (14) is in the junior women’s grade.
Dougherty and Hannah Sime will also compete in the novice pairs. They are the only pairs combination going from New Zealand.
It is one of the largest teams the Dunedin ice skating club has sent to Australia for a single competition.
The skaters train between 15 and 35 hours per week over five or six days. That includes early morning sessions, as well as evening sessions on some days.
AnthonyWhigham is coached by Grant Howie, and the others by Fanis Shakirzianau.
The skaters had made big improvements and club coach Megan Kliegl said there was some amazing young talent in Dunedin.
The trip would be important for their growth as skaters, she said.
Dougherty was one of those going to his first international competition and like the others, he was excited.
‘‘It’ll be my first international competition so I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully it’s the first of many,’’ he said.
‘‘I know that Australia’s a little bit of a step up from New Zealand at the moment, but I’d like to get a bit of an idea of what’s going on over there and then go over again and be better.’’
In addition to skating solo, he had been doing pairs competitions with Hannah Sime for the past year and ahalf.
‘‘We were just skating in development and they decided we looked good together,’’ Sime said.
‘‘So we didn’t choose to go together, we were put together because we’ve got the coordination and the symmetry,’’ Dougherty said.
There will be 21 New Zealanders attending the competition, the other 13 coming from Auckland.