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All-star cast reminisces about Edmonton's Royal Glenora Skating Club
Browning, Sale, Pelletier, et al, participating in 50th anniversary show this weekend
| Source: |
Edmonton Journal |
| Date: |
May 19, 2011 |
| Author: |
Chris O'Leary |
EDMONTON- The figure skaters in the Ice Memories Show say it couldn't
be more aptly named.
Some of the Royal Glenora Skating Club's most famous alumni have
returned to their old stomping grounds this long weekend for five
shows. In between performances, they'll reminisce, reconnect and catch
up.
Kurt Browning, David Pelletier and Jamie Sale, Cody Hay and Annabelle
Langlois, Susan Humphreys and Michael Slipchuk were on the ice that
they all found national and Olympic fame on. They'll be joined tby
past and current Glenora skaters as they combine several past shows
for skating fans.
"I spent nine years of my life here, every day training," said
Humphreys, who took part in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer,
Norway, and won a Canadian championship in 1997. She arrived in
Edmonton on Wednesday from her home in Bordeaux, France.
"It's like the halls of a high school, except I spent more time here
than I did in school. The people and the rink … it's
nostalgia. Definitely."
"It's exactly like that," agreed Browning, the Caroline, Alta., skater
who is the most successful member of the Glenora Club, having won four
World Championships, four Canadian championships and competed in three
Olympics.
Humphreys said she greatly benefited from training with talented
skaters like Kristi Yamaguchi, Browning and Slipchuk, to name a
few.
"Not only are they amazing people," she said, "but just seeing the
work ethic, seeing champions forming and becoming was really an
opportunity that not everyone had."
"Everyone was skating at such a high level," Browning recalled. "It
was really a remarkable group of athletes that came out of this club,
but also the things we're all talking about are sneaking into the pool
and jumping off of the high diving board and the stuff that would
happen during (year-end) carnivals. ‘Remember when so-and-so fell and
wiped out the whole set?' Stuff like that."
The shows and this skaters reunion are part of the Glenora Club's 50th
anniversary celebrations.
"I started (at the Glenora) when I was 11 and I started coming here in
the summers," said 2010 Olympian Cody Hay, who competed in Vancouver
with partner Langlois. "I moved over here full-time after I graduated,
so 2001.
"There have been a lot of changes since I've been here, but you go out
on the ice and it's still the same. This is where I remember skating
when I grew up. Even though I was here for the summers, this is where
I always wanted to be."
Another half of a great pairs team with fond memories of the Glenora
is Sale. The 2002 Olympic gold medallist lives in Edmonton, but said
she was thrilled to see so many familiar faces back at the
club.
"When I was a kid. this was a wonderland, it was amazing," she
said. "I just think it's a perfect club for families that do all
different kinds of things. They've got everything, it's perfect." She
added that a number of the skaters returned this weekend because of
longtime Glenora coach Jan Ullmark.
"He's such a great coach and a great person. We're happy to do it and
raise some money for a club that helped us through all of our trials
and tribulations," Sale said.
Proceeds from one of the five shows this weekend will got to a number
of charities, including Kids Up Front, Big Brothers, Big Sisters and
Military Families. Tickets for the Ice Memories Show are $25.
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