Exciting news for skating in Ireland! | Golden Skate

Exciting news for skating in Ireland!

lyverbird1

lyverbird1

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http://www.independent.ie/business/...s-goahead-in-liffey-valley-plan-34990786.html

I'm very excited to hear that planning permission has been granted for a 2,500 seater Olympic sized skating arena in Dublin. I am selfishly particularly excited given that it will be less than 10 minutes drive from my home. I hope this development happens quickly and that it can herald new developments for figure skating in my country - YAY!!!!!!!
:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:
 
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Y

YesWay

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lyverbird1 said:
I'm very excited to hear that planning permission has been granted for a 2,500 Olympic sized skating arena in Dublin.
Click to expand...
2500 seats is about the right size for a Grand Prix Final... :-D

Edit, oh maybe not... got my numbers muddled up... Barcelona had roughly twice as many seats, and so does Marseille rink for this year :-/
 
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Tutto

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YesWay said:
2500 seats is about the right size for a Grand Prix Final... :-D

Edit, oh maybe not... got my numbers muddled up... Barcelona had roughly twice as many seats, and so does Marseille rink for this year :-/
Click to expand...

Well it certainly says the ice arena will have the capacity for hosting international skating & ice hockey competitions!

I must say I am more stunned than excited by the news. Is it really happening?:clap:
 
lyverbird1

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Tutto said:
Well it certainly says the ice arena will have the capacity for hosting international skating & ice hockey competitions!

I must say I am more stunned than excited by the news. Is it really happening?:clap:
Click to expand...

It's been on the cards for a while. I first read about it in February and treated the news with scepticism but the permission has been granted and looks like it's going ahead. I live very close to the proposed site near the current shopping development and not only has that development been hugely improved recently, but it looks to me like preliminary work has been done on the ground of the proposed site. It's certainly a lot closer to reality now!!!
 
Tutto

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dreamsk8 said:
Are there a lot of skating clubs in Dublin or is hockey really big? But always exciting when a new rink is being built :hap10:
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I doubt there is one single skating club. I heard of one girl in Co Cork who is skating I think at a novice level but she has to practice on a roller skates most of the year apart from Xmas time when there is a ice skating rink open in Cork.
 
lyverbird1

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Figure skating is very very much a minority interest sport here. I'm not even sure if there were any Irish people at worlds apart from me and my friend (although I'm open to correction on that). So this rink is a HUGE opportunity for us to develop ice based sports and entice young people into taking up skating. I know it will help me in my one woman ongoing quest to get people more interested in figure skating in particular...
 
Arriba627

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Sign me up for the first international event in Ireland. :hap57: Have always wanted to see Ireland! Congratulations!
 
CaroLiza_fan

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lyverbird1 said:
It's been on the cards for a while. I first read about it in February and treated the news with scepticism but the permission has been granted and looks like it's going ahead. I live very close to the proposed site near the current shopping development and not only has that development been hugely improved recently, but it looks to me like preliminary work has been done on the ground of the proposed site. It's certainly a lot closer to reality now!!!
Click to expand...

I was exactly the same as you. When I first heard about it on the campaign's page on Facebook, I thought "It'll never happen. It'll either not get permission, or there will be too many conditions put on it to make it viable". But, we were wrong!

I am really impressed that it is a proper sized rink that they are are putting in, rather than a miniature one, like the one they have in a shopping centre in Limassol:

http://mymall.com.cy/wp-content/uploads/main-mm-gall-ice-rink.jpg

And that hosts the National Championships! :eek:

A word of warning, though. Don't rest on your laurels. The battle to get an ice rink may be won. But now you have a new battle - the battle to keep the ice rink!

Just look at the Jet Centre in Coleraine. It had a very good rink (which I was on!), and it was in a good location as part of a leisure complex. It even produced the most successful skater in British Championship history. But, that didn't stop the owners closing it and turning it into a multi-screen cinema.

And I don't even have to mention what happened to the Ice Dome in Dundalk. It was in a good location too, as part of a retail park. But, even this wasn't enough to enable it to make enough money to stay open.

So, everybody down there who likes skating has to make sure that the new rink gets plenty of use to make sure it stays as an ice rink. Because if the owners can think of a more profitable use for the space, they will take it!

CaroLiza_fan
 
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YesWay

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CaroLiza_fan said:
I am really impressed that it is a proper sized rink that they are are putting in, rather than a miniature one, like the one they have in a shopping centre in Limassol:

http://mymall.com.cy/wp-content/uploads/main-mm-gall-ice-rink.jpg

And that hosts the National Championships! :eek:
Click to expand...
Nationals? In there?! o_O
I don't know whether to laugh, or cry...

It seems to me, that there is always a more "profitable" use for a building than an ice rink... :-/ (in the minds of businesspeople)

But all is not lost - I think the more "successful" rinks are able to hold concerts and other non-skating events, by covering the ice, and reconfiguring the layout. Those 2500 seats could form a key part of such a scheme... if only they design it in, from the start...
 
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CaroLiza_fan

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YesWay said:
Nationals? In there?! o_O
I don't know whether to laugh, or cry...
Click to expand...

Yep. That's where it has been held ever since the Cyprus Skating Federation started holding National Championships.

And I reckon that that's the reason why every time we see Polinia Ustinova at the Junior GP's, there are lots of comments on here about her being slow and her jumps not being that big. It's because most of the time she is skating at that rink. And you can't really build up speed or do big jumps in a confined space like that.

Sure, Polina has the advantage over the "native" skaters in that she can train on a full size rink whenever she goes home to Ekaterinburg. But, that's only during the school holidays. For most of the year she is living in Cyprus. So she doesn't get that luxury too often.

I should add, there is actually another rink in Nicosia. But it has a big column in the middle of the ice...

YesWay said:
It seems to me, that there is always a more "profitable" use for a building than an ice rink... :-/ (in the minds of businesspeople)

But all is not lost - I think the more "successful" rinks are able to hold concerts and other non-skating events, by covering the ice, and reconfiguring the layout. Those 2500 seats could form a key part of such a scheme... if only they design it in, from the start...
Click to expand...

Well, there is a perfect example of that 100 miles up the road in Belfast. The Odyssey Arena was built as an ice hockey rink, but it doubles up as the main concert venue in Northern Ireland. And it has been VERY successful at playing both roles since the Millennium.

Put it like this: the owners of the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre would have been VERY foolish if they did not look at how the Odyssey works things and try to copy it.

CaroLiza_fan
 
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dreamsk8

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lyverbird1 said:
Figure skating is very very much a minority interest sport here. I'm not even sure if there were any Irish people at worlds apart from me and my friend (although I'm open to correction on that). So this rink is a HUGE opportunity for us to develop ice based sports and entice young people into taking up skating. I know it will help me in my one woman ongoing quest to get people more interested in figure skating in particular...
Click to expand...

Will you be forming the Dublin FSC!!! It's crazy to think there are like no skating clubs here every state has dozens upon dozen to choose from. GOOD LUCK :cheer:
 
CaroLiza_fan

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gkelly said:
How are you defining this?
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11 Championship titles. And all within in 12 years.

Although, now that I see it isolated in your quote, I meant to specify "Ladies" (I did the last time I referred to Jenna McCorkell in those terms. But I forgot this time).

Because there are probably Men's skaters way back in the early years of the Championships that were regularly getting podium positions for even longer stretches than that. But, the only records I can find just list the winners up to 1960.

Thank you for challenging my statement, because I wouldn't have noticed the all-important word was omitted otherwise.

CaroLiza_fan
 
elbkup

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If the arena becomes a reality and a FS competition is held, I will, NO doubt, be there!! Assuming of course it happens fairly quickly b/c I am old and don't have a lot of time left LOL!!
Seriously... I would love a trip to Ireland:yes:
 
CaroLiza_fan

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aromaticchicken said:
Sounds like JGP Dublin is just waiting to happen!
Click to expand...

Just thought you might be interested to know that Ted Barton has heard the news about the new rink. Because he brought it up when interviewing Sam McAllister at the second round of the Junior Grand Prix Series.

Ted Barton interviews Sam McAllister

Mind you, I don't think Ted realised that Sam is from Northern Ireland (which already has an Olympic sized rink in Dundonald), or that he lives and trains in England (he splits his training between Ice Sheffield and the National Rink in Nottingham)! So, apart from it being somewhere to go for Irish Nationals, the new rink wouldn't really affect him. But, Sam still said the right things in his answer. :agree:

What I take from this interview is this: if Ted knows about the new rink, you can bet that the powers that be at the ISU do too. And that they are actively talking about it is a good sign.

So, I would say that a Junior Grand Prix is a definite possibility.

CaroLiza_fan
 
lyverbird1

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CaroLiza_fan said:
Ted Barton interviews Sam McAllister

What I take from this interview is this: if Ted knows about the new rink, you can bet that the powers that be at the ISU do too. And that they are actively talking about it is a good sign.

So, I would say that a Junior Grand Prix is a definite possibility.

CaroLiza_fan
Click to expand...

My fingers and toes are crossed for such an eventuality. Better make sure that the guest room is prepared for anyone who wants to come!

I'd even be able to overlook the apparent lack of distinction between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland here given I'm too excited at these developments...
 
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