The family in line for skating glory
Aurora and Kehan Griffiths share their stories.
Sister and brother Aurora and Kehan are British inline speed skating champions. Aurora, who’s 12, has two records, and nine-year-old Kehan has five. Inline skates have wheels and you skate on the ground rather than ice. Recently, the pair took part in a Development Squad training day organised by Team Great Britain (GB). For three hours they practised hard for European competitions.
It all started on a holiday to China when Aurora took an ice-skating lesson. Her mother, Weixi, says Aurora was a natural, so when the family returned to the UK, Aurora joined an inline speed skating club in Birmingham. Now, Aurora says, skating is “second nature” to her. She compares it to learning how to walk. “When you’re younger, walking is hard, but then eventually you do it every day so it gets easier. That’s what skating is like for me.” Kehan then took it up too. Their father, Alan, says his children support each other and he felt very proud seeing Kehan shouting, “Go Aurora go!” at a recent competition. Kehan says, “If I win I feel happy, and if Aurora beats me, I feel happy for her.” “They put a lot of hard work in,” says Alan. Kehan does his homework before school so he has time for skating practice after lessons. Aurora thinks everyone should give skating a try. She says it’s hard at first but “be resilient, keep going and you will meet lots of friends.”