April 6, 2009

Bigger figure skating jumps with new skates

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Orangemaster @ 9:27 am
Skates

As of 11 May, the skaters of the Holiday on Ice show in the Netherlands will test a new figure skate that will send them more than two metres in the air, according to Dutch skate manufacturer, Viking. If the skates are a success, they will be put to use as of 22 October 2009 during the new ‘Spirit of the World’ show. The skates apparently increase the jumping capacity of skaters by 40 to 50 percent.

(The skates shown here are just my old ones.)

(Link: blikopnieuws.nl, Photo: Jeroen)

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January 13, 2009

Ice skates totally sold out

Filed under: General,Sports by Orangemaster @ 4:30 pm
Skates

It was bound to happen. People have been frantically trying to score new or second-hand skates for days, but alas, ice skates are totally sold out in the Netherlands, according to skate manufacturer Viking in Almere. On Monday Viking said it sold 75,000 pairs of skates, almost selling everything it had in stock.

The last two weeks were extremely busy days at Viking. Even on Monday, when the thaw set it, they were still selling skates. The buzz is that sometime around Thursday it is going to freeze again and we can all go out skating. I do hope so because I had a lot of fun skating on the canal. The picture above depicts my *ahem* custom-made French Canadian figure skates, which cost a bundle back when I was training at 5:30 am in the morning three times a week. Yes, I fell once already, thank you. However, if you want to buy Viking skates, you’ll have to wait until summer when they will make more.

Even finding a place to get my skates sharpened was not easy, but thanks to Twitter, I found a bike shop down the street that sharpens skates.

In the meantime, there’s always that huge Indoor skating rink they opened in Enschede.

(Link: z24.nl, Photo: Jeroen)

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